Subsistence Strategies and Burial Rituals: Social Practices in the Late Deccan Chalcolithic

Abstract

Shifts in subsistence strategies during the transition between Early Jorwe (1400-1000 B.C.) and Late Jorwe (1000-700 B.C.) periods of the western Deccan region of India have been the focus of much archaeological research. This article reviews the various theories proposed by researchers to explain transformations in subsistence practices at this time and suggests that these changes had multiple repercussions in the realm of social organization. These changes contrast markedly with a continuity in infant burial practices. Reconfirming burial traditions may have served to counterbalance the changes that occurred in daily practices. Even though burial practices were upheld over time, individuals and groups varied slightly in their interpretation of burial tradition, as well as their desire and ability to perform burial rites according to tradition. KEYWORDS: subsistence, burial practices, Chalcolithic, India, Deccan.