INTRODUCTION

The Indus civilization, in addition to possessing the prerequisite of high agricultural productivity, was unusual in being well-endowed with local supplies of minerals and other important natural resources. In the greater Indus region, there were limestone and exceptionally good flint in the Rohri Hills; agate and carnelian in Gujarat; bitumen in the Bolan Valley; widespread sources of clay for potting and mud for construction; timber and woody shrubs for building and fuel from forests along the rivers and in the adjacent hills; and gold in the upper reaches of the Indus. Although agriculture and pastoralism were the mainstays of the Indus economy, some settlements were situated to manage economically important resources such as seashells or timber.

The society was organized so that regionally available raw materials, such as marine shells and Rohri Hills flint, were distributed throughout the Harappan realms. High-quality manufactured goods, such as fine pottery, were similarly widely distributed, and both raw materials and manufactured goods reached not only towns and cities such as Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, and Dholavira, but even small settlements. Some settlements such as Manda in the Himalayas seem to have owed their existence to the need to obtain resources (such as timber); in others, such as Lothal in Gujarat, manufacturing, procurement, and distribution played major roles, well beyond the needs of their inhabitants and hinterland. The existence of a standardized system of weights and measures implies an integrated network of internal communications and control over trade and probably an overall authority. Numerous seals of a standard design reflect some regulation of distribution and suggest the existence of merchants acting as government officials. A few sealings bearing the imprint of such seals have been found, sometimes preserving an impression of the material of the packages to which they had been attached; in some cases these were associated with buildings that were probably warehouses.

The rivers provided a principal transport network, particularly for bulky goods such as timber. Overland transport over short distances utilized bullock carts. The seasonal movements of pastoralists enabled the latter to play a major role as carriers in the internal trade network; hunter-gatherers, similarly mobile, were probably important in providing links with areas outside the Indus region.

Adjacent areas could furnish the Indus realms with other natural resources such as stone and gemstones, copper ore from Rajasthan, and timber from adjacent uplands. Some resources, however, had to be obtained from more distant regions, including the Iranian plateau, Turkmenia, Oman, Mesopotamia, and possibly south India. The establishment of a Harappan town at Shortugai in northern Afghanistan, the presence of resident Indus merchants in southern Mesopotamia, and the prominence of Indus material in Gulf settlements show the importance attached to this trade and the active role played by the Harappans in long-distance trade. However, surprisingly little evidence of foreign trade has been found in sites of the Indus civilization itself.