Harappan Trade with

Mesopotamia and Other

Civilizations
 CONTENTS:
Intoduction

Reasons and Perspectives behind trading

Raw materials and routes of trade

Transportation used in trade

Connections with Mesopotemia and other civilizations

Dilmun, Magan and Meluhha

Evidences in support of trade

Conclusions
How trade changed the world

References

Participants

Gratitudes

Introduction

The Harappan culture existed along the Indus River in what is

present day Pakistan.
It was named after the city of Harappa. Harappa and the city of
Mohenjo-Daro were important centers of the Indus valley
civilization.
This Indus Valley civilization flourished around 4000-1000 B.C.

Excavation:
Earliest recorded visit to the mound at Harappa by Charles
Mason, an antiquarian, in 1829.
Excavation at Harappa started in 1920-21.
The huge site of Mohenjodaro was discovered by D.R.
Bhandarkar in 1911-12 and R.D. Banerji later excavated
Mohenjodaro from 1923-24 onwards.
Prof. Sayce pointed the close similarity of the findings of
Harappa and Mohenjodaro with some Sumerian antiquities from
Southern Mesopotamia.
Location of Indus valley Civilization
 Reasons and perspectives behind trading

You've got the gold I need for my necklace

and I've got the silk you need for your robe.

What to do?

Nowadays, if you need something, you go to the closest mall, shell out a
few bucks and head home. Thousands of years ago, the process wasn't
nearly as simple. If you or someone in your town didn't grow it, herd it or
make it, you needed to abandon that desire or else travel for it,
sometimes over great distances.

When the first civilizations did begin trading with each other about five
thousand years ago, however, many of them got richand fast
Old World Civilizations


When people first settled down into larger towns of Indus valley, self- sufficiency
the idea that you had to produce absolutely everything that you wanted or
needed started to fade. A farmer could now trade grain for meat, or milk for a
pot, at the local market, which was seldom too far away.

Cities started to work the same way, realizing that they could acquire goods they
didn't have at hand from other cities far away, where the climate and natural
resources produced different things.

Artistic imagination of ancient trade

Role of Urbanism
As demand grew, necessity for exploring new
raw material sources became imperative.

Evidence from Harappan show emergence

and access to new raw material sources as
urbanism grew.

Control of raw materials which are restricted

to a certain region enabled for imbalance
which also contributed to economic
competition and growth.

Mechanisms developed to
transport raw materials and
finished products
Raw materials and routes of trade

The indus civilization formed part

of a much wider economic world.
Regular caravan routes linked
highlands and lowlands. They even
maintained small colonies in
afghanistan,near strategic sources
of raw materials.
The maritime trade routes of the
indian ocean were of far greater
importance .Vessels hugging the
coast linked the indus with the
persian gulf,where arabian and
african products were to be
obtained.
the trade networks, economically,
integrated a huge area, including
portions of Afghanistan, the coastal
regions of Persia, northern and
western India, and Mesopotamia.
The ruling elite controlled vast trade networks with Central Asia, and Oman,
importing raw materials to urban workshops. Harappa, along with other
Indus cities, established their economic base on agriculture produce and
livestock, supplemented by the production of and trade of commodities and
craft items.

Raw materials such as carnelian,

steatite, and lapis lazuli were
imported for craft use. In exchange
for these goods, such things as
livestock, grains, honey and
clarified butter may have been
given. However, the only remains
are those of beads, ivory objects
and other finery.
Huge quantities of everyday
commodities, such as grain,
textiles, timber and metal
ores, being imported and
exported by the major players.
The Harappans were very skilled artisans, making beautiful objects out of
bronze, gold, silver, terracotta, glazed ceramic, and semiprecious stones. The
most exquisite objects were often the most tiny.
More exotic materilas such as metals or semiprecious stones,revolved around
long-distance trade
Long carnelian and agate beads from royal burials
at Ur,Mesopotmia
Harappan artifacts found in Ur
Transportation Used in Trade
The discussion of trade focuses attention upon methods of
transport. Several representations of ships are found on seals
or as graffiti at Harappa, Mohenjodaro, etc. and a terracotta
model of a ship, with a stick-impressed socket for the mast
and eyeholes for fixing rigging, come from Lothal. The
evidence of sea trade and contact during the Harappan period
is largely circumstantial, or derived from inferences from the
Mesopotamian texts.

A second type of river transport would have been by river,

including ferries for simple river- crossings and larger boats
for carrying goods from production points to cities. This trade
must have been complemented by sea trade and perhaps
overlapped with it.
 Considerably quantities of goods of
Indus origin have been found in
Mesopotamia and there are also
many inscriptional references to
Meluhha, ships of Meluhha, men of
Meluhha. That Meluhha was located
near the mouth of the Indus in
coastal India or Pakistan has now
been generally accepted.

Boats in ancient times were made of

wood, or bundles of reeds. Modern
experiments have proved that even
the ships from Meluhha, reed boats could cross oceans. Boats
the ships from Magan,
like ancient Indus Valley craft are
the ships from Dilmun,
still used in India, Pakistan and in
He made tie-up alongside
quay of Akkad.
the Arabian Gulf.
Sea Transport Networks
Different from that of a river boat; pointed bow and keel to withstand the
sea waves; also fitted with sails.

Clay model of a high prowed sea vessel from Lothal; remains of a

dockyard.

Sealings at a single place inside warehouse; bun shapedingot; Persian Gulf

type seals from Lothal.
Three sided molded tablet. One side shows a flat bottomed boat with a
central hut that has leafy fronds and two birds on the deck and a large
double rudder. Discovered in Mohenjo-daro in 1931.

Since iron was not yet discovered in

the Bronze Age, the Meluhhan, the
Mesopotamian and the Egyptian
ships did not have mariner's
compass at their disposal.
Did those ships traverse long
distances on the sea by
referring the North Star alone?
Does it mean that their sailing
period was restricted only to
night time and clear weather
when the North Star was
visible?
The Harappan ships
probably followed the
coastline during daytime; in
case they accidentally lost
the way and came to open
sea, they seem to have kept
in their ships birds, which on
being released flew towards
land and thus showed the
way.
Connections with Mesopotamia and other
Civilizations During the 4th millennium, towns located across
the area from Mesopotamia to Baluchistan, to
control the sources of desirable raw materials and
the routes along which such goods were traded.
The emergence of the Harappan civilization in the
Indus basin and the Akkadian empire in southern
Mesopotamia in the later 3rd millennium BCE led
to a radical transformation ,drawing the resources
of the entire region preferentially towards
themselves.
Both states continued to obtain resources from
places that could only be reached overland, a new
maritime route through the Gulf became the
centre of the network, allowing direct
communications between Mesopotamia and the
Indus and the bulk transport of commodities.
Substantial amounts of precious materials, such
as lapis lazuli, and huge quantities of everyday
commodities, such as grain, textiles, timber
and metal ores, being imported and exported
by the major players.
Harappans are known to have exported many commodities to
Mesopotamia and in exchange, one possibility is woollen textiles, a
major Mesopotamian export that would have left no archaeological
trace, received.
Sumer lacked natural resources such as metals and stone, building
materials, precious stones and woods, and metal for tools were
imported in trade mostly from other sources such as Meluhha (Indus
Valley) which sent ivory and precious woods as well.
With other civilizations
During 43003200 BCE of the Chalcolithic period (copper age), the Indus Valley
Civilisation area shows ceramic similarities with southern Turkmenistan and
northern Iran which suggest considerable mobility and trade.
During the Early Harappan period (about 32002600 BCE), similarities in
pottery, seals, figurines, ornaments, etc. document intensive caravan trade with
Central Asia and the Iranian plateau.
The presence of African crops in the Indus region by 2000 BCE reveals contacts
of some sort between Africa and South Asia. Indirect and direct routes by which
this transmission might have occurred were investigated: it became clear that by
far the most probable mechanism was direct seaborne expeditions by the
Harappans to the African coast.
Sorghum, finger millet and cowpea, some of the crops
introduced from Africa to South
Asia in Harappan times.
 Dilmun, Magan and Meluhha
the ships from Meluhha,
the ships from Magan,
the ships from Dilmun,
He made tie-up alongside quay of Akkad.
One of the first indication of this three ancient places has
found in a boast of Sargon of Akkad(2334-2279 BC)

LOCATION
Several arguments equate Dilmun with the inland of
Bahrain and adjacent coast of Arabia.The
archaeological remains on Behrain are in full conformity
with the notion that it was the third millennium Dilmun.

Based on the ordering of name, Magans supposed to

be located to the east of Dilmun relating it to the south
eastern Iran and the Oman region of Arabia.

On the basis of observations and implications Melluha is

assumed to be the area be associated with Harappan
civilization, including the so called kulli culture of
mountainous Southern Baluchistan.
Since the discovery of Harappan Civilization, it has been recognized
that there was some form of interaction between ancient India and
the near east.The first useful chronology for Harrappan civilisation
came from Mesopotamia and inferences from indus artefacts found
there.
A review of the material evidence compliments the textual
evidence and serves as a useful guide for a discussion on the
location of Melluha.

Seals: The distinctive square

steatite indus stamp. Seals have
played a prominent role in the
discussion of conducts between east
and the west. A related matter of
shared ideology and meaning can
be derived from seals.

Beads: Especially those of etched

carnelian have been discussed in
terms of Indus Mesopotamian
contact.
 Sculpture of the international style:
Philip kohl conducted the most
significant study of carved steatite
materials. His intercultural style is a
synthesis of motifs presented on vessels
carved from soft stones of varying
types, but traded from the Indus to the
Mediterranean, extending into the gulf
and central asia.

Ceramics: Four harappan ceramics type

have been noted within mesopotomian
contexts: perforated wire, feeding cup,
knobbed ware and reserved slip ware.

The equating of harappan civilization

with the land of Meluhha rests on the
data which have just been received. In
the end, ancient india emerges as the
most reasonable place for us to select.
 Evidences in support of trade
The most compelling evidence for trade in the
archaeological record of the Indus Valley is the city
of Lothal near the Arabian Sea. Lothal, by all
evidence, served as an enormously important city in
the Indus Valley and the entirety of the Near East.
At Lothal, archaeologists have unearthed a large
dock complex capable of hosting and sending off
boats capable of minor crossings of the Arabian Sea.
This dock is extremely advanced, hosting an inlet
channel capable of drainage and equipped with lock
gates to ensure a safe water level.
Additional evidences are the Indus seals, used to
identify and bind trading good, that have served as
our primary example off the Indus writing system.
30 of these seals have been unearthed in
Mesopotamia proving beyond a doubt that the Indus
Valley directly or indirectly did trade with them.
Six Persian Gulf seals have been found at Indus
sites.
The Swastika,a steatite seal found in Kish, both in shape
and design exactly resembles the little square seals of steatite
and glazed paste that are so frequently found at Mohenjodaro.

An Indus unicorn type seal

impression found at Umma.It has
Harappan characters and appear
to be the impression of a true
Harappan seal.
Impression of an Akkadian cylinder seal,
the inscription states that it belonged
to
Su-ilisu, Meluhha interpreter
Small pottery figures of doves with outstretched wings are
common at Mohenjodaro. Similar figures have been found
on Crete and Tepe Musyan in Iran.
The toilet set of coper implements
The Greek Cross occurs in both comprising and earscoop, piercer and
regions. One on the bezel of a tweezers from late levels at Harappa
silver ring from Mohenjodaro and has a rather precise parallel at Ur and
Kish.
it is parallaled at Ur on the shells
of a gaming board
Left- From Ur Right-From
a)From Mohenjodaro b) From Ur
Harappa
 The Harappan weight system helped to established trade, taxation, and
architecture. Harappa and MohenjoDaroprosperous trade helped them
become large, wealthy cities.Theywould bring their goods to these places
and also their weights. This ensured that they had a fair, even trade. A few
of little stone weights that were dated to the same time period and used the
same Harappan standard have been found in some of the places they are
believed to have traded with.

Their standard weight was close to of a modern ounce and indus stone
weights found at mohenjodaro were made of chert in cubic form and
organized in series. The smallest were found in kewelers shops, presumably
for weighing precious materials. The weights double from 1-2 unites, then on
to 64 and thereafter to 160 and multiples of 160.
Conclusions
How trade changed the world:
In the absence of proper roads, the most efficient way to transport goods
from one place to another was by sea.

The first and most extensive trade networks were actually waterways like
theNile, the Tigris and the Euphrates in present-day Iraq and the Yellow
River in China. Cities grew up in the fertile basins on the borders of those
rivers and then expanded by using their watery highways to import and
export goods.

The domestication of camels around 1000 BC helped encourage trade

routes over land, called caravans, and linked India with the Mediterranean.
Like an ancient version of the Wild West frontier, towns began sprouting up
like never before anywhere that a pit-stop or caravan-to-ship port was
necessary. Many of the better-known satellite towns of Rome and Greece
were founded this way, stretching those fabled empires further afield until
their influences crossed continents

Trade was also a boon for human interaction, bringing cross-cultural contact
to a whole new level.
The Indus Valley people had one of the
largest trading areas, ranging anywhere
fromMesopotamiato ChinaWe know Indus
Valley traders went to Mesopotamia as well as
other countries, because Indus seals have
been found in there.

Indus Valley traders crossed mountains and

forests to trade. They followed rivers walking
along the river bank and used boats to cross
rivers, when needed.

The Indus Valley economy was heavily based

on trading ,it was one of the most important
characteristicsof this civilization. Almost
every aspect of their society, from the cities
they built to the technology they developed,
was to ensure that they could create high-
quality and profitable trade products for the
civilizations the Indus people traded with.
References

A pdf Meluhha by Gregory L. Possehl

A book Ancient Civilizations by Christopher Scarre

and Brian M. Fagan

www.harappa.com

http://epgp.inflibnet.ac.in/view_f.php?category=1496

http://theindusvalleyciv.weebly.com/economic-system

http://en.wikipedia.org
 Participants:

I. Sukanta Mukherjee (16510087)

II. Rajesh Maurya (16510060)

III. Uday Singh (16510092)

IV. Samten Bhutia (16510069)

V. Sanu Kr. Gangwar (16510072)

VI. Shivam Awasthi (16510077)

Gratitudes:

We are really thankful to our teacher and guide Prof.

V.N Prabhakar .

We are also thankful to our laptops.