PI (Cameron Petrie) has engaged in project management, supervision and mentoring, as well co-ordinating the fieldwork programme, and taking a lead role in preparing project publications. The fieldwork has included reconnaissance of locations for palaeoclimate sampling (2016), fieldtrips to collect palaeoclimate samples (2017, 2018, 2019), co-direction of collaborative excavations at at Khanak (2016), Lohari Ragho (2017) and Masudpur I (2018), and data collecting trips (2018, 2019, 2020).
The project involved five PDRF and four funded PhD researchers and one non-funded PhD researcher.
PDRF1 (Hector Orengo) developed cutting edge approaches for using Big Data to carry out remote sensing analysis to assess the long-term hydrological evolution and landscape formation and transformation of the plains of northwest India. All of the objectives of this role have been achieved. The post ended, but he continued to collaborate in both research and publications.
PDRF2 (Adam Green) interrogated the published archaeological records related to settlement distribution, and constructed a pilot for a comprehensive register of archaeological sites within the greater Indus region. He studied the settlement location data in the project study area, and ground-truthed site locations. The post ended, but he continued to collaborate on the project in both research and publications.
PDRF3 (Cemre Ustunkaya) collaborated with PDRF4 to carry out growth experiments on millet and barley species to collect primary data about how plants respond to different watering conditions, with her specific focus being the assessment of the levels of grain size variation and quantity in plants subjected to variable watering regimes. The post ended, but she is completing the writing up for publication.
PDRF4 (Emma Lightfoot) has collaborated with PDRF3 to carry out growth experiments on millet and barley species to collect primary data about how plants respond to different watering conditions, with her specific focus being the assessment of the levels of isotopic variation in plants subjected to variable watering regimes. She collected samples of animal bones for stable isotope analysis. The post ended, but she is completing the writing up for publication.
PDFA5 (Andreas Angourakis) has engaged in Agent Based Modelling to assess various project hypotheses. He has developed the ‘Indus Village’ agent-based model. He is on track to complete the research for this role, and the approaches that have been developed for the agent-based modelling have the potential to transform the way that modelling of village-scale decision making is carried out.
PhD1 (Jean-Philippe Baudouin) carried out background research on the weather parameters that need to be considered for the successful weather modelling of the winter and summer rainfall regimes relevant for the project. He has carried out a systematic assessment of rainfall patterns and variability in the Indus River Basin, with attention being given to both the winter Western Disturbances and the summer Indian Monsoon weather systems. He submitted his PhD thesis in 2020.
PhD2 (Alena Giesche) analysed of samples from the palaeolakes, speleothems, and coastal cores. She submitted her thesis in March 2020.
PhD3 (Joanna Walker) modeled land and channel systems within the study area using GIS approaches, and this laid the fundamental foundation for extensive and intensive geoarchaeological fieldwork that focused on the relationship between the settlements at Lohari Ragho, Masudpur I and Masudpur VII, and their landscape context. She is completing her PhD thesis.
PhD4 (Alessandro Ceccarelli) designed and executed a systematic approach to the analysis of archaeological ceramics from Khanak, Lohari Ragho, Masudpur I and also the site of Alamgirpur. He conducted typological analysis, and collected samples for petrographic and compositional analysis. He also collected data on ethnographic potters, and samples of local clay sources close to each settlement. He submitted his PhD thesis in Nov 2019.
The work of the TwoRains project is promoted through the project website [https://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/two-rains] and regular updates are posted via our blog page [https://tworains.wordpress.com/].
