Title: Understanding the landscape adaptive strategies of early settlers in the Outer Plains of Jammu India

Abstract: The historiography of Jammu region in northern India, is a later phenomenon which essentially encompasses the cultural processes of the medieval period. Archaeology therefore as a tool in reconstructing the early history of the area is significant. The evidence of early historic settlements in the area from two apparent zones – RS Pura and Akhnoor – has greatly added to the antiquity of the area. The pattern of occupation in the initial phases of the early Historic period of these two zones however differed from each other in terms of distribution of sites.
The current paper therefore aims to bring a new understanding of the area by setting the chronology based on tangible evidence and seeking the reasons to understand these selected preferences of one zone over the other. The untangling of this complex land-people relationship can be achieved when the physical landscape is studied vis-à-vis cultural developments. The process of cultural developments therefore is reconstructed using the data gathered for four seasons of exploration in the area by the researcher in addition to the data accumulated by the surveys done by Archaeological Survey of India. This will help to understand the land usage pattern by the early settlers of Jammu plains in a new light.