The great majority of the Harappan population must have been primary producers: farmers, pastoralists, fishers, or hunter-gatherers. Many, however, probably also engaged in other occupations during the periods in the year when there was time to spare from subsistence activities. The bulk of agricultural work took place during the winter months, allowing farmers to engage in other activities during the summer months, including craft production. When kharif (summer) cultivation of millets became important in Gujarat during the early second millennium, this may have changed. Marine fishing and shellfish collection also had seasonal periods of activity and slack periods in which other occupations could be followed, that of shellworking being particularly likely; river fishing was less seasonally dependent but could not be pursued during the annual inundation, at least in Sindh. Pastoralists and hunter-gatherers who moved between seasonal pastures and the localities where other resources were available at particular times of year also acted as carriers, moving raw materials and finished goods between producers and consumers. In addition hunter-gatherers, and perhaps pastoralists, could include in their seasonal round visits to places where other resources could be obtained, so they may have been largely responsible for mining gemstones and for quarrying flint in the Rohri Hills.
While many artisans may have practiced their craft on a part-time basis, there were also full-time specialists. These resided in the towns and cities, and many of them were highly skilled individuals producing special products, such as steatite seals, large storage jars, or the exceptionally long carnelian beads. Such skills required many years to perfect and were probably handed down from parent to child. Also resident in the urban settlements (though less visible archaeologically) were priests, officials, and other presumed members of the elite, as well as those who engaged in menial tasks such as cleaning drains. The arrangement of some houses to include a cubicle at the front door suggests that some households employed the services of a watchman. There may have been other full-time specialists, particularly in the cities, such as builders to maintain the wells and civic amenities, though these tasks might alternatively have been undertaken by citizens as corvee. It seems likely that the latter was also the means used to bring together the large teams required to construct major projects such as the platforms on which many towns and cities were built.
Merchants must have had their homes in the towns and cities, though their work would have taken them far afield. Overseas trade required skilled navigators and sailors. While conditions at sea limited sea voyages to certain times of the year, sea trade was probably a full-time occupation, involving long stays in foreign parts waiting for the right sailing conditions for the journey home. Repairs to vessels and the construction of new ones would have occupied the months back home and also involved specialist skills. River traffic, however, was possible for most of the year and may well have been conducted by people who lived in houseboats like those of modern river folk such as the Mohana, who are sailors and fishers.
World History
