RESEARCH ARTICLES CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 120, NO. 11, 10 JUNE 2021 1728 *For correspondence. (e-mail: patelhim412@gmail.com; pokharia.anil@gmail.com) Rithi Ranjana: reconstructing crop economy based on archaeobotanical evidence and radiocarbon dates from an Early Iron Age site in semi-arid Vidarbha, Maharashtra, India Himani Patel 1,2, *, Anil K. Pokharia 1, *, Nihildas, N. 3 , Niraj Rai 1 and Rajeshwar P. Sinha 2 1 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, 53 University Road, Lucknow 226 007, India 2 Centre of Advance Study in Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221 005, India 3 Institute of Archaeology, Archaeological Survey of India, Greater Noida 201 310, India We present results of the macrobotanical remains from an Early Iron Age site Rithi Ranjana in the Vidarbha region, Maharashtra, India. Analysis of 34 floated samples indicates that the likely staple food- grains were Oryza sativa, Hordeum vulgare and Triti- cum aestivum. Besides, few minor crops, pulses and oil/fibre-yielding plants have been retrieved. In addi- tion, there is evidence of fruits like Carissa sp., Zizi- phus nummularia and Emblica sp., which may have been gathered by the ancient settlers for consumption. The macro-botanical finds indicate the presence of winter and summer crops. Few weeds and other wild taxa as an admixture with the above economically important remains were also retrieved. The AMS radiocarbon dates of the plant remains and recovered archaeological artifacts support the affirmation of Early Iron Age cultural period at the site. Keywords: Archaeobotany, crop economy, microbota- nical remains, radiocarbon dates, semi-arid region. VIDARBHA is the present-day eastern part of Maharashtra, India, and includes 11 eastern-most districts of the state. The town of Nagpur is the most administrative centre of the region. This is a lesser known region for multidiscip- linary archaeological research. Absence of direct radio- carbon-dated remains has been the limitation to advance chronological framework of an Iron Age site in this region. Agricultural evidence can be seen in the form of macrobotanical remains, agricultural tools and imple- ments recovered during excavations. The beginnings of the Iron Age in India is a matter of debate. Archaeologi- cal finds from the Indian subcontinent reveal that iron appeared in a diverse cultural context and this poses an issue regarding the exact date of the beginning of the Iron Age in India. Early Iron Age in Vidarbha is determined on the basis of occurrence of iron implements in the stra- tigraphy accorded with carbon dates. It is preceded by Vidarbha Chalcolithic. Thus, the occurrence of iron implements along with black- and redware pottery in the stratigraphy is considered as Early Iron Age in Maharashtra, which is associated with megalithic culture. Earlier exca- vations at Raja Nal-Ka-Tila and Lahuradewa in Middle Ganga Valley, North India, and Komaranhali and Hallur in south India have provided evidence which allows placing the Iron Age to be the second half of the second millennium BC in the Indian subcontinent 1 . The Early Iron Age culture of Vidarbha has been well documented and studied by many scholars for more than a century 2–16 . The Early Iron Age is represented by non-megalithic sites like Kaudinyapur 17 , Paunar 18 , Arni 19 , Kahali– Brahmapuri 20 and Adam 21 . At these sites, Megaliths or megalith building-related concepts do not appear to have been part of life, though these communities were syn- chronous with and sympatric to the Early Iron Age mega- lithic culture. Iron is ubiquitous in both cultural traditions of Vidarbha but the megalith builders are regarded as pioneers in the introduction of iron technology 22,23 . This development of iron, in particular, is dated to c. 700–500 BCE based on 30 radiocarbon dates from Takalghat, Naikund, Khairwada and Bhagimohari 24 . Iron technology was introduced relatively late in Vidarbha, much later than its adoption in the northern and southern regions of India at 1800–1600 and 2300–2000 BCE respectively 25 . It is still unclear whether the megalith builders and non- megalithic Early Iron Age culture of Vidarbha exchanged iron artifacts, as all megalithic sites excavated so far in the region have yielded iron artifacts. These items are almost always associated with human burials, but the iron objects excavated from both megalithic burial sites and habitation-cum-burial sites were mostly utilitarian. They can be categorized as agricultural tools, weapons, vessels and horse-harnessing equipment like stirrups and horse bits. Naikund is a highly significant site in this regard as