Plant remains of human workmanship, preserved in ancient settlements, provide evidence for reconstructing the history of the man-plant relationship. A number of ancient habitational settlements have come to light in the alluvial plains of the Gangetic Valley. However, only a few sites from the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Iron Age periods have been excavated and studied for the plant-based subsistence economy in the Gangetic Valley. The information from the Early Historic times is too limited to draw conclusions about cropping patterns or agricultural strategies, or to evaluate long-term continuity or change in eastern India, compared with better-documented developments in northern and north-western India. The present study from Ajatshatru-ka-Quilla Maidan in Nalanda District, Bihar, is the first attempt to explore the agricultural economy during the Mauryan and Sunga-Kushana cultures in the light of information from preceding Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites in the region.
