Indus River Valley Civilization

In three of the world's oldest civilizations, the development of Agriculture proved surprisingly similar. Despite long distances between each culture, especially in the case of
Mesoamerica, all three developed “staple” crops that proved very important for their food sources (BBC, FAO, Nair, National Geographic). While China and the Indus River Valley domesticated various animals for food, Mesoamerica did not rely on domesticated animals nearly as much (BBC, Nair), not even for labor (FAO). Although the types of crops they grew resulted in different diets for all three civilizations, the Neolithic Revolution remained the fundamental basis for all their nutritional development (BBC, FAO, Nair). Even with various different features in climate,

In the Indus River Valley
Civilization, cattle, pigs, sheep and goats were the animals they domesticated (BBC). The cattle were used as their beasts of burden, to help them plow the fields, while the other animals were mostly food (BBC). As both food sources and the means through which the
Indus River Valley people could develop more food sources in the form of crops, the domestication of animals proved crucial for them.
The results of the Neolithic Revolution, however, proved slightly different for

The Mesoamerican cultures, with their heavy emphasis on crops as their food source, had primarily vegetarian diets (FAO). A similar phenomenon was observed in the
Indus River Valley Civilization, as examinations of teeth found in human remains at the site revealed that the local people's diets involved more fruits and vegetables than meat, despite the variety of animals they domesticated there (BBC). In China, there is more evidence to suggest that hunting and gathering, in the form of fishing, hunting deer, and gathering acorns, was also important to supplement people's diets (Nair). Unlike the other two civilizations, evidence seems to suggest that heavier human labor with growing rice led to a much greater emphasis on meat in people's diets in ancient China (Bloom, Nair). No matter the difference between diets, the reliance on crops for all three civilizations proves the importance of the
Neolithic Revolution for them.
As such, no matter how varied the results of archaeological studies were in the ruins of each of these civilizations, the main observation remained that ancient China, the Indus River
Valley Civilization, and the Mesoamerican peoples all relied on certain crops for their