Archaeological Perspectives on Agriculture in South and East Asia

This essay provides a detailed comparison of agricultural development in South and East Asia, focusing on archaeological evidence. It explores the emergence of agriculture in both regions, highlighting key crops, irrigation systems, and technological advancements. The essay contrasts the early agricultural practices of South Asia, particularly in the Mehrgarh and Indus Valley civilizations, with those of East Asia, emphasizing the significance of rice and millet cultivation in China. It also addresses the similarities and differences in agricultural techniques and crop production between the two regions, ultimately concluding that while both regions share ancient agricultural roots, cultural changes over time have led to distinct food habits and agricultural practices. Desklib offers a wealth of similar solved assignments and resources for students.

Running head: ASIAN ARCHAEOLOGIES
ASIAN ARCHAEOLOGIES
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Introduction
Asia is one of the largest producers of agricultural crops. This includes rice, wheat and
various other staple crops which is used by people throughout the world as their primary food.
China and India the two countries with the world’s largest population is also the largest producer
of stable crops like rice, wheat, maize, sugarcane, and plantation crops like tea, coconut, jute and
similar ones. The region has long history of agricultural development and since ancient times
people have been depending on agricultural activities to sustain their own life and also to gain
profits by selling the surplus amount.
The countries in the South Asian region presently are India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal,
Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Maldives. The countries in the East Asian regions are China,
Korea, Japan, Vietnam and Mongolia (Holcombe 2017). In the following paragraphs
development and history of agriculture in these two parts of Asia are discussed and compared.
Emergence of agriculture in South Asia
The most important agricultural producer in South Asia presently is India having highest
amount of agricultural production. In the traditional Historical texts it is stated that the normal
agricultural activities started during the 9000 BCE (Ludden 2013). However the “mythological”
texts of the region places agricultural activities to be much older than that era. The region is also
characterized by double monsoon season therefore the producers of the crops were getting more
advantage of producing larger amounts. The early ages of human civilization such as the
Neolithic age the primary agricultural activities were planting the crops, threshing of the crops,
and building small granaries to store the grains. The primary cultivation that was found in this

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age was Wheat and Barley, and all these features were found in the Mehrgarh civilization
(Denham 2013).
It is believed that some of the oldest civilizations thrived in this region of South Asia
including the Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro civilization which is often referred to as the oldest
civilization. All these civilizations were all dependants on agriculture and had advanced
irrigation systems. It has been found in the Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro that the people had their
own brick houses often double storeyed and the drainage system was well developed. The
irrigation system had been also quite developed and supported the agriculture of the region.
There are many remarkable features of civilization found in this region in the discussed era.
According to Bhutani (2013) “The Kandian Home Gardens in Sri Lanka, the terraced rice
gardens of Nepal, the Apatani system in northeast India and the fish-rice farming system in
Bangladesh are all well-known examples of this unique wealth of knowledge.” The system of
agriculture in this period was very much sustainable and environment friendly. The agricultural
system was not harming the land and the vegetation. This unique feature of agriculture is one of
the characteristics of the agricultural development in the South Asia region.
In the Mehergarh civilization the primary food crop grown was barley and this was the
oldest evidence of agriculture. Apart from that wheat was grown. The four types of wheat that
was grown in this region included emmer, durum, einkorn and bread white. Later on other crops
were being grown within this civilization and cotton was one of the main. In south east Asia
other important crops were Mung Bean, horse gram, black gram, pigeon pea and similar grains.
The modern day rice was probably grown in 4500 BC or later. In the civilization of Harappa and
Mohenjo Daro dates, field peas, sesame and lentils were also found. Textile industry became
well developed because of growth of cotton (Spengler et al. 2014).

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Emergence of agriculture in East Asia
A portion of the world's most imperative harvests, including rice and soybean, begin from
eastern Asia. This area is likewise the first home of a few minor harvests, for example,
buckwheat and certain kinds of millet. In their look for the soonest cultivates, archeologists have
been attracted to China's two noteworthy waterway valleys: the Yellow River in the north and
the Yangtze River in the south (Boestel, Francks and Kim 2013). Grains of broomcorn and
foxtail millet have been found in Neolithic farmsteads in the Yellow River district, and
destinations in the Yangtze River locale have yielded the world's most punctual proof of
collected rice grains. Millets and rice were critical for the statistic history of China. This survey
draws on current archaeobotanical prove for rice and millets crosswise over China, Korea,
eastern Russia, Taiwan, Mainland southeast Asia, and Japan, adopting a basic strategy to dating
proof, confirm for development, and morphological training. There is no proof to recommend
that millets and rice were tamed all the while inside a solitary district. Rather, 5 areas of north
China are contender for autonomous early development of millets that prompted training, and 3
locales of the Yangtze bowl are possibility for partitioned rice taming directions. The joining of
rice and millet into a solitary rural framework occurred in 4000 BC and after this the spread of
farming frameworks and populace developments are proof (Ebrey and Walthall 2013). The most
striking confirmation for rural dispersal and populace development occurred somewhere in the
range of 3000 and 2500 BC, which has suggestions for significant dialect dispersals. Individuals
in northern China tamed foxtail and broomcorn millets, hemp, and Chinese cabbage, among
different yields, while their counterparts toward the south domesticated rice (Li et al. 2014).
Water bison, swine, and chickens were additionally tamed, however their most punctual history
isn't yet recorded in any detail. Agricultural people group started to prosper somewhere in the

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range of 8000 and 7000 BP in China, some depending on dry field generation and others subject
to the yearly ascent and fall of water levels along the edges of waterways, lakes, and bogs in the
Yangtze River bowl. The smart innovation of paddy fields inevitably came to imitate the regular
wetland natural surroundings supported by rice and allowed the extension and increase of rice
creation (Elson 2016). China, Japan and parts of the East Asia are still significantly at the top of
the list of countries which produces rice, wheat, and barley.
Comparison between Agricultural Developments of the Two Regions
There are some significant similarities and important in the agricultural practice in these
two regions. The historicity of the two civilizations is very ancient and the age of the south Asian
civilization even predates the East Asian civilization. Therefore the technology used in the
agriculture of both the regions is significantly old and similar. In the beginning phase of
agriculture the irrigation system was not available, this came much later. In the regions of
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro which is also popularly known as the Indus Valley Civilization the,
system of irrigation started to develop which was not found in the Mehergarh civilization.
Similarly in the East Asian region irrigation came much later on after the domestication or
taming of the crops started. The people involved in the agricultural activities in both of these
regions realized the importance of bringing in water from the nearby river and innovated or
devised the system of irrigation in agriculture (Adshead 2016). Whether or not it was the East
Asian region who started this trend or it was the South Asian region is still a question that is not
answered perfectly.
In terms of crop there were a lot of similarities but there were few minor differences. The
first difference being the species of crops, which were grown abundantly in these regions. In the
Indian subcontinent or the South Asian region, wheat maize and barley were principally

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produced, however in the East Asian region the predominant food crop was rice. Rice was
abundantly grown in this region and still today China is the largest producer of rice in the world.
China and Japan are two of the countries which have rice as their staple food within the country
and also they export a huge amount of rice. India is the second largest producer of both rice and
wheat and also exports a large amount of the mentioned crops. This was also prevalent during
the era of Indus Valley Civilization when exchange of goods took place among the various
regions which were accessible to each other. In southern part of Asia one of the predominant
crops which were produced much later and gained popularity all over the world are spices.
Spices are Indian crops which were even exchanged for Gold or other valuable jewels. This
species of crops were not vastly found in East Asia.
Conclusion
It can be concluded from the above discussion that the two regions off South Asia and
East Asia were both important in terms of agricultural growth. China is often called the rice bowl
off the world for its abundant growth of rice. India is second and other Asian countries are close
in competition. The comparison in the historical growth of agriculture proves that the similarities
were greater than the differences, however with time new cultural changes came in which
differentiated the food habits of people of these regions. A close study of agricultural history also
gives an idea about cultural history of the people of these two regions.

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Reference:
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agricultural research and development and its impact on smallholder farmers.
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Denham, T., 2013. Early farming in Island Southeast Asia: an alternative
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