Neolithic pot unearthed in Kashmir

A 4,000-year-old pot excavated in the Haigam area of Sopore earlier this year has been commented upon for its unusual name — the archaeological artefact has been christened ‘Kim’, after the American reality television star Kim Kardashian. But there is much more to this truly unusual and significant find.

The pot has now been placed in the Central Asian Museum 
at the Kashmir of University [Credit: Indian Express]

‘Kim’ is the first piece of Neolithic pottery in Kashmir that has been found entirely intact. Before this, said Dr Mumtaz Yatoo of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Kashmir, only stone tools, pieces of pottery, and some human remains had been unearthed. “We found bases or rims, and would then have to imagine the rest of the design. This is the first complete piece,” said Dr Yatoo, whose research helped locate the Neolithic site where the pot was found.

According to Dr Yatoo, the pot dates back to a period in Kashmir’s prehistory about which very little is known. “The early levels of the Kashmiri Neolithic sites date from the end of the fourth to the mid-second millennia BC. This is a critical period in the history of inner Asia, but only a handful of sites are known,” he said.

The Neolithic sites are being documented under the Kashmir Prehistory Project (KPP). The discovery of the pot was reported in The Journal of Archaeological Science (Volume 11, 2017; ‘New Evidence for Early Fourth Millennium BP Agriculture in the Western Himalayas: Qasim Bagh Kashmir’). Researchers are now searching for clues to determine if these sites played a role in transmitting knowledge of agriculture, particularly wheat and barley cultivation, from western Asia into China, where farm practices played a key role in supporting the early rise of the Chinese state.

“The origins of the Kashmiri Neolithic period are poorly understood. It is likely that they are part of an important early agricultural complex that until now has remained hidden behind the mountains and valleys of the Pamirs, the Hindu Kush and the Karakoram ranges,” Dr Yatoo said.

Alison Betts, an adjunct Professor at Kashmir University and Professor of Silk Road Studies at the University of Sydney, said there is evidence in Kashmir of its links with eastern Central Asia, and hence the Valley is a key location for the study of the earliest cultural contact between China and the rest of Asia.

“Wheat and barley were first domesticated in western Asia while rice and millet were domesticated in central China. From these early centres of domestication, cereal farming spread eastwards and westwards until wheat/barley and millet cultivation met in the middle around 5,000-6,000 years ago in the Tian Shan, Pamir and western Himalayan regions of Central Asia. The Neolithic people of Kashmir were early adopters of cereal agriculture and their practice of using deep underground storage pits has preserved this evidence very well,” Dr Betts said by email.

Finds like that of ‘Kim’ also provide a boost to the larger study of archaeology in Kashmir, Dr Yatoo said. “From my personal viewpoint, the study or teaching of archaeology is essential in exploring and documenting the history of J&K and its people. It will also play a critical role in the promotion of tourism, especially to foreign visitors. A large number of tourists today are older, well educated people who also want to learn about the history and culture of the places they visit,” he said.

Author: Naveed Iqbal | Source: The Indian Express [September 15, 2017]

Read More

Earliest recorded use of zero is centuries older than first thought

The concept and associated value of the mathematical symbol ‘zero’ is used the world over as a fundamental numerical pillar. However, its origin has until now been one of the field’s greatest conundrums.

In this close-up image of folio 16v, you can see the use of a dot as a placeholder in the bottom line. This dot evolved 
into the use of zero as a number in its own right [Credit: © Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford]

Scientists from the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries, have used carbon dating to trace the figure’s origins to the famous ancient Indian scroll, the Bakhshali manuscript. The text dates back to the third or fourth century, making it the oldest recorded use of the symbol.

The research was commissioned by Bodleian Libraries, where the manuscript has been held since 1902. The text was found to contain hundreds of zeroes, and the landmark finding puts the birth of ‘zero’ or ‘nought’ as it is also known, at 500 years earlier than scholars first thought.

The concept of the symbol as we know and use it today, began as a simple dot, which was widely used as a ‘placeholder’ to represent orders of magnitude in the ancient Indian numbers system – for example 10s, 100s and 1000s. It features prominently in the Bakhshali manuscript, which is widely acknowledged as the oldest Indian mathematical text.

The earliest recorded example of the use of zero was previously believed to be a 9th century inscription of the symbol on the wall of a temple in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. The study findings predate this event and therefore have great historical mathematical significance.

Although a number of ancient cultures including the ancient Mayans and Babylonians also used the zero placeholder, the dot’s use in the Bakhshali manuscript is the one that ultimately evolved into the symbol that we use today. India was also the place where the symbolic placeholder developed into a number in its own right, and the concept of the figure zero as it exists today, was born.

Marcus du Sautoy, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, said: ‘Today we take it for granted that the concept of zero is used across the globe and is a key building block of the digital world. But the creation of zero as a number in its own right, which evolved from the placeholder dot symbol found in the Bakhshali manuscript, was one of the greatest breakthroughs in the history of mathematics.

‘We now know that it was as early as the 3rd century that mathematicians in India planted the seed of the idea that would later become so fundamental to the modern world. The findings show how vibrant mathematics have been in the Indian sub-continent for centuries.’

The Bakhshali manuscript was found in 1881, buried in a field in what was then an Indian village called Bakhshali, now in Pakistan. It is broadly recognised as the oldest Indian mathematical text, however, the exact age of the text is widely contested. The most conclusive academic study on the subject, was conducted by Japanese scholar Dr Hayashi Takao, and, based on factors such as the style of writing and the literary and mathematical content, it asserted that it probably dated from between the 8th and the 12th century. The new carbon dating reveals that the reason why it was previously so difficult for scholars to pinpoint the Bakhshali manuscript’s date is because the manuscript, which consists of 70 fragile leaves of birch bark, is in fact composed of material from at least three different periods.

Richard Ovenden, Bodley’s Librarian, said: ‘Determining the date of the Bakhshali manuscript is of vital importance to the history of mathematics and the study of early South Asian culture and these surprising research results testify to the subcontinent’s rich and longstanding scientific tradition. The project is an excellent example of the cutting-edge research conducted by the Bodleian’s Heritage Science team, together with colleagues across Oxford University, which uncovers new information about the treasures in our collections to help inform scholarship across disciplines.’

Source: University of Oxford [September 14, 2017]

Read More