The closely integrated nature of the Indus realms implies the existence of efficient communications networks, utilizing inland routes over land and by river and along the coast by sea.
Land Transport. Local transport was on foot or by bullock cart. Terra-cotta models provide a clear picture of the wooden carts with solid wooden wheels that were widely used for land transport over short distances. These are virtually identical to those of modern farmers of the Indus region. Some consisted simply of a solid wooden platform above the axle, others had an open framework. In some cases the platform may have had permanent sidepieces but
Terra-cotta models show that the Harappans used a range of wooden carts with solid wheels, drawn by oxen, to transport goods and sometimes people over short distances. Modern wooden components have been added to this model to replace those used by the Harappans, which have long since decayed away. (Sharri R. Clark and Laura J. Miller, Courtesy Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Pakistan)
Many just had holes into which wooden stakes could be slotted when required to form sides supporting a load. These carts were drawn by oxen or bullocks, of which there are also terra-cotta models. A different style of cart, with a short chassis, a roof, and high sides, was probably a vehicle in which people traveled. A small platform in front of the cab provided a seat for the driver.
Land transport over long distances probably generally employed pack animals, though small valuable commodities could be carried by people on foot. In modern South Asia, pastoralists play an important role in providing links between settled communities and in transmitting goods from place to place as they move in their seasonal round. Seasonal movement was an important part of the pastoral economy in Harappan times, and it seems highly probable that people taking their animals through different parts of the Indus realms would have acted as carriers, moving goods from source to consumer and participating in a complex network of connections among pastoral groups from different regions, enabling the produce of one region to be transported to others. While the camels and horses available to more recent pastoralists were not present in Indus times, cattle can transport heavy loads and even sheep can be used as pack animals. While many goods probably moved within private transactions, pastoralists may also have been entrusted with the carriage of official consignments of goods by representatives of those in authority.
Many of the routes traveled today were probably also used in the past because many of the constraints are likely to be timeless in their effect. Thus routes from the mountains into the Indus regions are channeled through the existing passes; where rivers have followed the same course, suitable crossing points are likely to have been in use for millennia; in arid stretches, routes pass through places that water can reliably be found; and other features of the terrain similarly dictate the following of certain routes. On the other hand, many of the rivers of the greater Indus region have changed their course or the volume of water flowing in them has changed, affecting the routes along and across them. Volcanic activity has not only altered mountain landscape but has also affected other regions, such as Gujarat. Deforestation has created routes through regions that were once impenetrable. Changes in sea level and the buildup of alluvial deposits have altered the coastline. For instance, though land routes now cross the Ranns of Kutch in the dry season, in the Indus period access to Kutch must have been by boat across open water. Thus, although information on modern routes is helpful in reconstructing those of the past, it must be used with caution and combined with data on the topographical and ecological situation in the Indus period.
Water Transport. Although land transport was important, particularly over short distances and between lowland and highland regions, water transport along the rivers and streams would have been easier for long-distance transport, particularly of heavy or bulky goods. Most of the major settlements were linked by a network of waterways that were navigable for at least part of the year. The Indus is navigable from where it enters the plains in Punjab, south of the Salt Range. Coastal communications by sea would have linked communities within Gujarat, and those of Gujarat with those of the Makran coast.
The development of watercraft was stimulated by the needs of fishers and the colonization of areas where water transport was required, such as the islands of Gujarat and the shores of Lake Manchar. During the rainy season, when a huge area surrounding Lake Manchar is submerged by floods, modern inhabitants of the region abandon their homes on its shores and take to houseboats, or they live year round on houseboats, a way of life that may have existed in Indus times. Modern communities also live on houseboats on the Indus in Sindh. Boats like these with a shallow draft can be used on the Indus except during the most turbulent period of the summer inundation; other branches of the modern Indus, such as the Western Nara, are navigable for most of the year. While the course of the Indus and its branches and tributaries have changed since Harappan times, there is no reason to suppose that it was any less navigable then than now. The Saraswati system must also have offered water transport.
Two illustrations, on a clay tablet and a stone seal from Mohenjo-daro, show a flat-bottomed boat with a cabin on its deck, resembling modern Indus houseboats. It has a high stern, high bow, and a pair of steering oars or paddles. Although the illustrations are too schematic for certainty, it would appear that these vessels were constructed of bundles of reeds lashed with cords. The material used may have been baru grass (Sorghum halepensis), which grows in Gujarat and is used today for boats in the region. The cabin appears to have had four outer posts of reed bundles within which was a flatroofed structure, possibly of fabric, supported on four thin poles. Such boats could have been used both on the rivers and at sea, and they had the advantage of being able to operate in shallow water, making them easy to load and unload without a quay or dock. Their life expectancy, however, would be limited to a few months. This could be extended by caulking with bitumen, which was available to the Harappans from sources in the Kachi plain and possibly on the upper Indus; however, traditional South Asian ship construction in recorded times did not use bitumen.
A rough graffito on a sherd, also from Mohenjo-daro, may depict the same type of craft or a sailing boat with a mast and perhaps a furled sail; lines at one end may be a steering oar. A clay model from Lothal represents a boat with a mast, attachments for a sail, and a steering oar. It seems to have had a keel, a flat bottom, and high bows, with a lower stern. Such a ship could have been used both for coastal sailing and for seafaring in the Gulf where its shallow draft would have been advantageous. Although the model gives no indication of the material from which such vessels would have been built, teak, a preferred timber for shipbuilding, grows in Gujarat, where the Harappan seagoing ships would have been constructed, as does Thespesia populnea (country teak), a wood used particularly for the keels of ships. It is likely that Harappan ships would have been built of these timbers, which were also among the Harappan exports to Mesopotamia where they were also destined for shipbuilding. Teak vessels had a life expectancy of many decades, possibly as much as eighty years. Although there is no evidence of the method of construction, it is possible that they were made of planks stitched together, as are many modern South Asian boats. Vessels constructed in this way are very
Resilient. Other country craft include boats made of hollowed logs, and such vessels may also have been used by the Harappans for coastal or river travel and fishing, though only plank-built vessels would have been suitable for carrying any volume of cargo.
The growth of sea fishing and the collection of marine molluscs in the Harappan period would have encouraged the development of seagoing ships, and these are known to have existed by the twenty-fourth century BCE (when they were mentioned in Akkadian texts), if not before. On the western coast of South Asia, the efficient exploitation of marine resources requires the use of offshore boats; globally, areas with such resources have tended to develop seagoing boats and the skills and knowledge to venture out to sea, whereas areas with rich resources near to land generally do not. The topography of Gujarat, with Kutch probably an island year-round, many permanent creeks and seasonal waterways, as well as many natural anchorages, would also have favored the development of boats at an early date. The presence of hunter-gatherer communities in this area before 3000 BCE suggests that boats at least for inshore use existed by this period, and the great development in the exploitation of marine resources in the Harappan period implies the corresponding development of boatbuilding, boat design, and navigation skills.
A prismatic seal from Mohenjo-daro bearing one of the few Harappan depictions of watercraft: a flat-bottomed boat with a central cabin, resembling modern houseboats used on the Indus River. (J. M. Kenoyer, Courtesy Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Pakistan)
One of the Mohenjo-daro illustrations shows two birds on the boat's deck. Birds may have been kept for navigation: in recent times birds have been released from boats at sea so that their flight could indicate the direction of land. Many other natural clues, such as types of fish and coastal land animals, and the shapes of land and rocks, must have been utilized to aid navigation. For example, in the classical text The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, the approach to the Indus estuary was identified by changes in the color of the water and the presence of large numbers of sea snakes. In addition to the position of the stars and the sun, cloud patterns, currents, wave patterns, and wind directions would have provided information on position and the direction of travel.
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