Estrategias de gestión de los recursos animales en la Civilización del Valle del Indo. Evolución diacrónica del manejo ganadero en las comunidades Harapienses a través de la Zooarqueología y el análisis de isótopos estables

Abstract

The Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) was one of the earliest urban societies in South Asia, emerging at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BCE across present-day Pakistan and northwest India. This doctoral thesis focuses on the central or nuclear region of the IVC, specifically the lower Indus basin (Sindh, Pakistan), during the Early/Transitional and Mature Harappan phases (ca. 2800–2200 BCE). Through an interdisciplinary methodology combining classical zooarchaeology, sequential isotopic analysis (δ13C, δ18O, 87Sr/86Sr), and the development of a regional Isoscape of bioavailable strontium, the research examines two key sites: Bhando Qubo and Taloor Jee Bhitt. The findings suggest an intensive caprine exploitation, predominantly local mobility with signs of seasonal transhumance and interregional exchange, and reproductive planning of small livestock. This study provides new insights into the productive and economic articulation between rural and urban settlements in the core region of the IVC.