Palaeoproteomic approach to identifying animal species use for the worked bone industry at the Bronze Age settlement of Dholavira – Association of Environmental Archaeology small research grant.

This project aims to examine a select corpus of bone and ivory(?) artefacts (n-10 ) from representative chrono-cultural contexts of the Indus Civilization site of Dholavira, a site located on the western margins of India. By employing collagen fingerprinting of their ancient animal proteins through mass spectrometry for taxonomic determination (ZooMS), an attempt will be made to reconstruct the crucial stages of their chaîne opératoire, i.e., availability and choices of animal species and their skeletal parts made by the ancient humans in crafting these artefacts. A broader implication will be to discern patterns if they exist, which underline social and economic hierarchical groups within site and whether they extended any variable influence on the access to raw material, manufacturing, and utility of bone objects as part of their survival strategies.