Grape (Vitis vinifera L. ssp. vinifera) has been identified as part of the Indus Civilization crop assemblage. As a non-native crop, with a wild ancestor that does not grow in the region, its presence in northern South Asia ca. 3200–1300 bc has thus been used to argue variously as evidence for crop diffusion, long distance trade, and the adoption of foreign agricultural strategies and foodways. Grape identification, particularly between wild and domesticated species, is complex. In this article the challenges of identifying ‘grape’ in South Asian antiquity are explored. The overreliance on length, breadth and thickness measurements, with limited description and a lack of standardisation are considered. Furthermore, an examination of the local flora demonstrates that there are multiple Vitaceae genera being possible ‘grape’ contenders in the region. Identification criteria for local Vitaceae need to be better developed to more understand the role of Indus grapes in order for the complicated social interpretations of ‘what grapes means in the Indus’ to be maintained.

葡萄 ( Vitis vinifera L. ssp. vinifera ) 已被确定为印度河文明作物组合的一部分。作为一种非本地作物，具有不在该地区生长的野生祖先，它在南亚北部的存在大约在 3200-1300 BC因此被用来作为作物扩散、长途贸易以及采用外国农业战略和食品的证据进行各种论证。葡萄鉴定，特别是野生和驯化物种之间的鉴定，是复杂的。本文探讨了在南亚古代识别“葡萄”的挑战。考虑了对长度、宽度和厚度测量的过度依赖，描述有限且缺乏标准化。此外，对当地植物群的检查表明，该地区有多个葡萄科属可能是“葡萄”的竞争者。需要更好地制定当地葡萄科植物的鉴定标准，以更好地了解印度河葡萄的作用，以便维持“葡萄在印度河中意味着什么”的复杂社会解释。