Dairy Production in India Dated to 2500 B.C.

ONTARIO, CANADA—According to a statement released by the University of Toronto Mississauga, Kalyan Sekhar Chakraborty analyzed residues in pottery from the site of Kotada Bhadli, which is located near India’s western coast, and found that dairy products may have been produced by members of the Indus Valley civilization on a large scale as early as 2500 B.C. The chemical analysis also indicates that the dairy animals were fed millet. Chakraborty suggests that the animal protein provided by dairy products may have helped to sustain the large population that lived in the Indus Valley, and perhaps provided a surplus for trade, without affecting the number of animals in a herd. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Scientific Reports. To read more about the diet of the Indus civilization, go to "World Roundup: India."