Sharada’s research primarily lies in the reconstruction of past human-animal and human-environment inter-relationships through the scientific study of bioarchaeological remains. She has analysed faunal remains from more than a dozen sites in India and Europe to delineate the sites’ prehistoric and protohistoric animal utilisation strategies and their taphonomic trajectories. Currently, she is researching the Indus Civilization’s worked bone industry and palaeoproteomics of archaeofaunal remains.
Research Interests: Archaeozoology, Environmental Archaeology, Experimental Archaeology, Application of Sciences in Archaeology
Education:
BA: Mysore University, 2004
MA: Deccan College, Pune, 2006
MSc: Sikkim Manipal University, 2010
MSc: University of Ferrara, Italy and National Museum of Natural History, Paris, France, 2013
Double PhD: Deccan College, Pune (2014); University of Ferrara, Italy and National Museum of Natural History, Paris, France (2018).
Selected Publications:
Publications (last 5 years)
2025. A. Ghosh, V.N. Prabhakar, E. A. Reber, H. Liston, S.Kirubakaran, K.S. Sreelakshmi, U.Talekar, M.Bhardwaj, A.Vishwakarma, and S. Channarayapatna. Does form entail function? Understanding pottery functionalities through absorbed residues within ceramics from the Harappan sites of Karanpura and Ropar in India, Quaternary Environments and Humans, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.qeh.
2024. A. Ghosh and S. Channarayapatna, Food memories and diaspora of culinary traditions: echoes from voices of displacement in the rural scape of Dholavira, India, Ethnoarchaeology: Journal of Archaeological, Ethnographic and Experimental Studies, Doi:10.1080/19442890.2024.
2024. A. Ghosh and S. Channarayapatna. Exploring the Culinary Landscape and Gender Roles inside the ‘Rasodums’: A Study of Dholavira village, Gujarat, in Landscape and Gender: Traversing the Contested and Mediated ‘Spaces’ in India, S. Chatterjee and M. Dey (eds.). Primus Books. ISBN:978-93-5852-778-0.
2023. P. Valensi, A. Roussel, S. Channarayapatna , K. El. Guennouni, D. Cauche and V. Michel. Au temps des derniers acheuléens du sud-est de la France. Nouvelle synthèse sur les faunes de grands mammifères du Pléistocène moyen de la grotte du Lazaret (Nice, France), Bulletin du Musée d’Anthropologie préhistorique de Monaco , Actes du colloque international : Les premiers peuplements préhistoriques des Alpes-Maritimes, de Monaco et de Ligurie au sein de leurs paléoenvironnements, 61: 111-126
2023. P. Goyal, G.S. Abhayan and S. Channarayapatna (Editor). Animals in Archaeology, Integrating Landscapes, Environment and Humans in South Asia – a festschrift for Prof P.P. Joglekar. Trivandrum: University of Kerala. (ISBN 978-93-5810-902-3).
Conference presentations (last 5 years)
2025. Lamba, A. and Channarayapatna, S. Animal Motifs in Traditional Embroidery: Symbolism and Cultural Significance among Select Gujarat Communities. Paper presented at the 2nd Young Folklorist Conference 2025, hosted virtually by the University of Hyderabad, March.
2025. Ghosh, A., Reber, E.A., Ajithprasad, P., Liston, H., Kirubakaran, S., and Channarayapatna, S. Understanding Dietary Resource Exploitation through Compound Specific Isotope Analysis of Select Potteries from the Harappan Settlement of Bagasra, Saurashtra, Gujarat. Paper presented at the 17th Annual Workshop on South Asian Archaeology, Chicago, USA, March.
2025. Kesarwani, M., Channarayapatna, S., Goswami, V., and Paul, D. C, O and Sr Isotopes of teeth enamels of cattle/ buffalo at Dholavira: Implication to past human-animal interactions of Harappans, National Conference on 3rd Frontiers in Geosciences Research Conference, at the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, India, February.
2024. Sreelakshmi, K.S., and Channarayapatna, S. Unveiling the Mystique around Ritualistic Feasting in Vayanattukulavan Theyyam in Kerala, India. Paper presented at the 15th SIEF Ritual Year Working Group Conference: Food, Feasts, Festivities, and Folklore at the University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines, December.
2024. Ghosh, A., Rajesh, SV., Abhayan, GS., Reber, E.A., Liston, H., Kirubakaran, S., and Channarayapatna, S. Understanding Cooking techniques through Lipid Residue Analysis at the Harappan site of Surkotada, Rann of Kachchh, Gujarat. Paper presented at the conference on Culinary Histories and Cultures: Insights from South Asia at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, India, October.
Work Experience:
Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (Feb 2019 – present)
Research Fellow, Department of Humanities, Universita’ degli Studi di Ferrara, Italy (2015-2018)