Abstract The way that people manage their livestock tells us about their interactions with the landscape, particularly the nature of adaptation to specific environments, social organisation, resilience and long-term farming sustainability. Globally, there is considerable variation in how these practices are manifested, due to differences in water availability, levels of environmental diversity and aridity, and also the nature of cultural choices. South Asia's Indus Civilisation (c.3000–1500 BCE) provides an important opportunity for investigating how populations managed their animals, because the region shows considerable diversity in rainfall distribution, seasonality and intensity, which results in marked environmental variability that is susceptible to change over time. The latter is particularly significant when it comes to consideration of the impact of the 4.2 ka BP event and its relation to the deurbanisation of the Indus Civilisation. This paper presents carbon isotope data from animal teeth from nine archaeological sites distributed across northwest India that are suitable for exploring how diverse practices were, and how animal management strategies changed through time. These data show clear differentiation in feeding practices between species, with cattle and water buffalo consuming very high proportions of C4 plants, while sheep and goat ate varying quantities of C3 and C4 plants. This pattern is generally consistent across sites and throughout different periods, suggesting that the strategy was adapted to a range of environmental conditions and settlements of different sizes. We suggest that humans controlled cow and water buffalo diets, and they were likely provided with fodder. In contrast, sheep and goats had a less controlled diet, and were presumably more likely to roam the landscape. These animal management strategies must have involved some separation of tasks, although it remains unclear if this was on a household, settlement or population level.

中文翻译：

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喂养牲畜：动物饮食的稳定同位素分析及其对了解印度西北印度河流域文明的社会组织的意义

摘要人们管理牲畜的方式告诉我们他们与景观的相互作用，特别是对特定环境的适应性，社会组织，适应力和长期农业可持续性。在全球范围内，由于水的可利用性，环境多样性和干旱水平的差异以及文化选择的性质的差异，这些做法的表现方式也存在很大差异。南亚的印度河文明（约公元前3000-1500年）为调查人口如何管理动物提供了重要的机会，因为该地区的降雨分布，季节和强度变化很大，导致明显的环境变化，很容易发生变化。时间。当考虑到4.2 ka BP事件的影响及其与印度文明的城市化的关系时，后者尤其重要。本文介绍了分布在印度西北部的9个考古遗址的动物牙齿中的碳同位素数据，这些数据适合于探索各种做法以及动物管理策略随时间变化的情况。这些数据表明，不同种类之间的喂养方式存在明显差异，牛和水牛消耗了很高比例的C4植物，而绵羊和山羊则食用了数量不同的C3和C4植物。这种模式通常在站点之间以及整个不同时期都是一致的，这表明该策略已适应一系列环境条件和不同规模的居民区。我们建议人类控制母牛和水牛的饮食，并且很可能会提供饲料。相比之下，绵羊和山羊的饮食控制较少，并且大概更有可能在风景中漫游。这些动物管理策略必须涉及一些任务分离，尽管目前尚不清楚这是在家庭，定居点还是人口层面。