History of Curry from Indus Valley Civilization

Punjabi Cuisine

 It turns out we’ve been eating the spiced dish for a lot longer than anyone ever imagined. The Punjabi curry predates European presence in India by about 4,000 years. Villagers living at the height of the Indus civilization used three key curry ingredients—ginger, garlic, and turmeric—in their cooking. This proto-curry, in fact, was eaten long before Arab, Chinese, Indian, and European traders came in touch with India in the past thousand years.

While the ancients left behind plenty of broken pots and mud-brick house foundations, they generally didn’t leave us their recipes. And foodstuffs, unlike pots, rapidly decay. But thanks to technological advances, scientists can identify minute quantities of plant remains left behind by meals cooked thousands of years ago.

Serving Pot from Harappa

They found additional supporting evidence of ginger and turmeric use on ancient cow teeth unearthed in Harappa, one of the largest Indus cities, located in the West Punjab near the border with India. Why would cattle be eating curry-style dishes? Stephen A.Weber notes that in the region today, people often place leftovers outside their homes for wandering cows to munch on. The Harappan ruins also contain evidence of domesticated chickens, which were likely cooked in those tandoor ovens and eaten.

Ancient Tandoor from Harappa

Vasant Shinde, an archaeologist at Pune University in India who directs the dig at Farmana, is delighted with the discovery. He says the find demonstrates that the Indus civilization pioneered not just good plumbing and well-planned cities, but one of the world’s most loved cuisines. “I have been arguing for a long time that the [Indus people] are responsible for introducing most of the traditions in south Asia,” he says, “and that includes tandoori chicken.”

Non-vegetarian Cuisine from Harappa

A new study has revealed that the diet of people from the accident Indus Valley civilization was dominated by meat. The study published in Journal of Archaeological Science has shown that apart from cultivating and growing crops, the civilization also used to eat meat. In fact, experts assume that the Tandoori Roti and Chicken Curry may have first come from the Indus Valley civilization.

The study has found that the diet was dominated by meat of animals like pigs, cattle, buffalo and goat. Dairy products were also used in the civilization which is lies in northwestern India and primarily in Punjab.

Vasant Shinde, an Internationally renowned Archaeologist and former Vice-Chancellor of the Deccan, says, "Indus Valley Civilization developed on the banks of the Indus river. Harappa and Rakhigarhi in Punjab, Mohenjodaro in Sindh, Kalibanga in Rajasthan, Lothal and Dholavira in Gujarat were its main centers. It was spread over Pakistan, Northwest and parts of Western India and Afghanistan".

The Indus Dining Experience included Khatti Daal, Kachri ki Sabzi, Black Chana stewed with Jaggery and Seasame oil, Raggi Laddu, Barley Griddle Cakes, Sweet Rice with banana and honey and a special “Indus Valley Khichri”. However its cuisine was dominated by non-vegetarian menu, which included Meat Soup, Quail roasted in Saal patta and Salt Cured Lamb.

Their cooking implements, vessels, fire pits, and tandoors were so sophisticated, they even barbecued meat and distilled spirits. Architect and conservation consultant Somi Chatterjee explains how there might have been Hilsa and Shutki fish (dried fish). When she reaches the Harappan sites on the Markan coast in the Balochistan province on the map, we learn how the Harappans tamed their camels who could often act fussy. “They made a paste out of dates (seeds) and powdered fish bones. And the mash was fed to the camels to sustain them. They also ate the same thing,” Chatterjee reveals slowly and carefully, waiting to see the reaction. “We shared bread with the camel,” she declares with a hint of pride. 

Clay Fire Pit from Indus Valley

The Indus Valley people used simple yet effective cooking techniques. They baked bread on hot stones or in clay ovens, boiled grains and legumes in earthen pots, and roasted meat over open fires. Archaeologists have also found that kitchens were a part of the courtyard in the Harappan civilization. Each home had a fireplace built with bricks for cooking. Various different vessels and pots for cooking were also found.

The people of the Indus Valley Civilization in northwest India had a predominantly meat-heavy diet, comprising animals like pigs, cattle, buffalo and sheep, along with dairy products, a study published in Journal of Archaeological Science has shown.

High proportions of cattle bones was also found, which may suggest a “cultural preference for beef consumption” across Indus populations, the study, titled, Lipid residues in pottery from the Indus Civilization in northwest India, said.

For details, see the following:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440320302120?via%3Dihub

 It was led by Akshyeta Suryanarayan as part of her PhD at the University of Cambridge.

“Our study of lipid residues in Indus pottery shows a dominance of animal products in vessels, such as the meat of non-ruminant animals like pigs, ruminant animals like cattle or buffalo and sheep or goat, as well as dairy products,” Suryanarayan said, according to a press release by the Cambridge University.

Thali, the Copper Plate from Harappa

The study of lipid residues involves the extraction and identification of fats and oils that have been absorbed into ancient ceramic vessels during their use in the past. It provides chemical evidence for milk, meat, and possible mixtures of products and/or plant consumption. Lipids are relatively less prone to degradation and have been discovered in pottery from archaeological contexts around the world.

 On average, about 80% of the faunal assemblage from various Indus sites belong to domestic animal species, the study said. Out of these, cattle or buffalo are the most abundant – averaging between 50% and 60% of the animal bones found – with sheep and goat accounting for 10% of animal remains.

“The high proportions of cattle bones may suggest a cultural preference for beef consumption across Indus populations, supplemented by the consumption of mutton/lamb,” the research said.

Wild animal species like deer, antelope, gazelle, hares, birds, and riverine/marine resources were also found in small proportions, suggesting that “these diverse resources had a place in the Indus diet”, the study notes.

References:

•  How-scientists-are-figuring-out-what-curry-was-like-4500-years-ago
  
•  What kinds of things did the Indus people eat?. Harappa.com.
  
• The Origins of Curry in the Indus Civilization. Published May 30, 2016.
• Petrie C, Bates J, Higham T, Singh R. Feeding ancient cities in South Asia: dating the adoption of rice, millet and tropical pulses in the Indus civilisation. Antiquity. 2016;90(354):1489-1504. doi:10.15184/aqy.2016.210.
  
•  Fuller, D. (2002) Fifty Years of Archaeobotanical Studies in India: Laying a Solid Foundation in S. Settar and R. Korisettar (eds.) Indian Archaeology in Retrospect, Volume III. Archaeology and Interactive Disciplines, Publications of the Indian Council for Historical Research. New Dehli: Manohar: Pp. 247-364.
• Fuller, D. (2003) African crops in prehistoric South Asia: a critical review in K. Neumann, A. Butler and S. Kahlheber (eds.) Food, Fuel and Fields. Progress in Africa Archaeobotany, Africa Praehistorica 15. Colonge: Heinrich-Barth-Institut: Pp. 239-271
• Fuller, D. (2003) Indus and Non-Indus Agricultural Traditions: Local Developments and Crop Adoptions on the Indian Peninsula, in S. Weber and W. Belcher (eds.) Indus Ethnobiology: New Perspectives from the Field. Lexington Books, Lanham, Maryland: Chapter 10.
• Fuller, D. Q (2005). "Ceramics, seeds and culinary change in prehistoric India." Antiquity 79 (306): 761-777.
• Fuller, D. Q and E. L. Harvey (2006). "The Archaeobotany of Indian Pulses: identification, processing and evidence for cultivation." Environmental Archaeology 11(2): 219-246.
• Fuller, D. Q (2006). "Agricultural Origins and Frontiers in South Asia: A Working Synthesis." Journal of World Prehistory 20: 1-86
• For animals, the domesticates humped cattle, sheep, goat, and perhaps water buffalo were of principle importance for both primary (after death) and secondary (before death) products. See:
• Meadow, R.H. and A.K. Patel (2003) Prehistoric pastoralism in northwestern South Asia from the Neolithic through the Harappan Period. In S. Weber and W. Belcher, eds., Indus Ethnobiology: New Perspectives from the Field. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books (Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group), pp. 65-93.