Editing Indus Valley Civilisation (section)

=== Trade and transportation ===
{{further|Lothal|Meluhha|Shortugai}}

[[File:Bronze Age IVC Trade Route.png|thumb|Archaeological discoveries suggest that trade routes between [[Mesopotamia]] and the Indus were active during the 3rd&nbsp;millennium BCE, leading to the development of [[Indus–Mesopotamia relations]].<ref name="JR12">{{cite book |last2=Reade |first2=Julian E. |title=The Indus-Mesopotamia relationship reconsidered |first1=GS Elisabeth |last1=During-Caspers |date=2008 |publisher=Archaeopress |isbn=978-1-4073-0312-3 |pages=12–14 |url=https://www.academia.edu/28245304 |access-date=5 April 2019 |archive-date=14 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220114145706/https://www.academia.edu/28245304 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]

[[File:Disha Kaka Boat with Direction Finding Birds, model of Mohenjo-Daro seal, 3000 BCE.jpg|thumb|Boat with direction-finding birds to find land.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kenoyer |first1=Jonathan M. |last2=Heuston |first2=Kimberley Burton |title=The Ancient South Asian World |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-522243-2 |page=66 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7CjvF88iEE8C&pg=PA66 |language=en |quote="The molded terra-cotta tablet shows a flat-bottomed Indus boat with a central cabin.  Branches tied to the roof may have been used for protection from bad luck, and travelers took a pet bird along to help them guide them to land." |access-date=24 June 2022 |archive-date=23 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220623163920/https://books.google.com/books?id=7CjvF88iEE8C&pg=PA66 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Mathew|2017|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=u0IwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT32 32]}} Model of [[Mohenjo-daro]] tablet, 2500–1750 BCE.([[National Museum, New Delhi]]).{{sfn|McIntosh|2008|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1AJO2A-CbccC&pg=PA158 158]–[https://books.google.com/books?id=1AJO2A-CbccC&pg=PA159 159]}}{{sfn|Allchin|Allchin|1982|loc=pp. 188–189, listing of figures [https://books.google.com/books?id=r4s-YsP6vcIC&pg=PR10 p.x]}} Flat-bottomed river row-boats appear in two Indus seals, but their seaworthiness is debatable.<ref name=robinson>{{citation|last=Robinson|first=Andrew|title=The Indus: Lost Civilizations|location=London|publisher=Reakton Books|pages=89&ndash;91|isbn=9781780235417|year=2015|quote=To what extent such a reed-made river vessel would have been seaworthy is debatable. ... Did the flat-bottomed Indus river boats mutate into the crescent-shaped hull of Heyerdahl's reed boat before taking to the Arabian Sea? Did they reach as far as the coast of East Africa, as the Tigris did? No one knows.}}</ref>]]

The Indus Valley civilisation may have had [[bullock cart]]s identical to those seen throughout South Asia today, as well as boats. Most of these boats were probably small, flat-bottomed craft, perhaps driven by sail, similar to those one can see on the Indus River today;.  An extensive canal network, used for irrigation, has however also been discovered by H.-P. Francfort.{{sfn|Singh, Upinder|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&pg=PA157 157]}}

During 4300–3200&nbsp;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 3200–2600&nbsp;BCE), similarities in pottery, seals, figurines, ornaments, etc. document intensive caravan trade with [[Central Asia]] and the [[Iranian plateau]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Parpola|2005|pp=2–3}}</ref>

Judging from the dispersal of Indus civilisation artefacts, the trade networks economically integrated a huge area, including portions of [[Afghanistan]], the coastal regions of [[Persian Gulf|Persia]] connected by the [[Gulf of Oman]] from the [[Arabian Sea]], northern and [[western India]], and [[Mesopotamia]], leading to the development of [[Indus-Mesopotamia relations]]. Studies of tooth enamel from individuals buried at Harappa suggest that some residents had migrated to the city from beyond the Indus Valley.<ref>{{cite web |title=Surprising Discoveries From the Indus Civilization |work=National Geographic |first=Traci |last=Watson |date=29 April 2013 |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130425-indus-civilization-discoveries-harappa-archaeology-science/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130502003818/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130425-indus-civilization-discoveries-harappa-archaeology-science/|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 May 2013}}</ref>  Ancient DNA studies of graves at Bronze Age sites at [[Gonur Depe]], Turkmenistan, and [[Shahr-e Sukhteh]], Iran, have identified 11 individuals of South Asian descent, who are presumed to be of mature Indus Valley origin.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Narasimhan|first1=Vagheesh M.|last2=Patterson|first2=Nick|last3=Moorjani|first3=Priya|last4=Rohland|first4=Nadin|last5=Bernardos|first5=Rebecca|last6=Mallick|first6=Swapan|last7=Lazaridis|first7=Iosif|last8=Nakatsuka|first8=Nathan|last9=Olalde|first9=Iñigo|last10=Lipson|first10=Mark|last11=Kim|first11=Alexander M.|date=6 September 2019|title=The Formation of Human Populations in South and Central Asia|journal=Science|volume=365|issue=6457|pages=eaat7487|doi=10.1126/science.aat7487|issn=0036-8075|pmc=6822619|pmid=31488661}}</ref>

There was an extensive maritime trade network operating between the Harappan and Mesopotamian civilisations as early as the middle Harappan Phase, with much commerce being handled by "middlemen merchants from [[Dilmun]]" (modern [[Bahrain]], [[Eastern Arabia]] and [[Failaka]] located in the [[Persian Gulf]]).<ref>{{cite book |title=Underwater archaeology proceedings of the Society for Historical Archaeology Conference at Kingston, Jamaica 1992 |last=Neyland |first=R.S. |publisher=Society for Historical Archaeology |year=1992 |location=Tucson, AZ |pages=68–74 |chapter=The seagoing vessels on Dilmun seals |editor1=Keith, D.H. |editor2=Carrell T.L.}}</ref> Such long-distance sea trade became feasible with the development of plank-built watercraft, equipped with a single central mast supporting a sail of woven rushes or cloth.<ref name="Maurizio Tosi 1993, pp. 745-61">Maurizio Tosi, "Black Boats of Magan. Some Thoughts on Bronze Age Water Transport in Oman and beyond from the Impressed Bitumen Slabs of Ra's al-Junayz", in A. Parpola (ed), South Asian Archaeology 1993, Helsinki, 1995, pp. 745–761 (in collaboration with Serge Cleuziou)</ref>

However, the evidence of sea-borne trade involving the Harappan civilisation is not firm. In their book ''Rise of Civilization in India and Pakistan'' archaeologists [[Bridget Allchin]] and [[Raymond Allchin]] write: <blockquote>... (p. 173) the settlement at Lothal ... along the east side was a brick basin. It is claimed by its excavator to have been a dockyard, connected by channels to a neighbouring estuary. ... On its edge the excavator discovered several heavily-pierced stones, similar to modern anchor stones employed by traditional seafaring communities of Western India. This interpretation, however, has been challenged, and indeed the published levels of the basin and its entrance relative to the modern sea level seem to argue against it. Leshnik has cogently suggested that it was a tank for the reception of sweet water, channelled from higher ground inland to an area where the local water supplies were anciently, as still today, saline.  We regard either interpretation as still unproven, but favour the latter. ... (p. 188&ndash;189) The discussion of trade focuses attention upon methods of transport.  Several representations of ships are found on seals and graffiti at Harappa, Mohenjo-daro (Figs. 7.15&ndash;7.16], etc, and a terracotta model of a ship, with a stick impressed socket for the mast and eyeholes for fixing rigging comes from Lothal.  We have already seen above that the great brick tank, interpreted by Rao as a dock at Lothal, cannot yet be certainly identified. The evidence of sea trade and contact during the Harappan period is largely circumstantial, or derived from inferences from the Mesopotamian texts, as detailed above. (Figure 7. 15 had caption: Mohenjo-daro: representation of ship on a stone seal (length 4.3 cm) (after Mackay).  Figure 7.16 Mohenjo-daro: representation of ship on terracotta amulet (length 4.5 cm) after Dales)</blockquote>

Daniel T. Potts writes:

<blockquote> It is generally assumed that most trade between the Indus Valley (ancient Meluhha?) and western neighbors proceeded up the Persian Gulf rather than overland. Although there is no incontrovertible proof that this was indeed the case, the distribution of Indus-type artifacts on the Oman peninsula, on Bahrain and in southern Mesopotamia makes it plausible that a series of maritime stages linked the Indus Valley and the Gulf region. If this is accepted, then the presence of [[etched carnelian beads]], a Harappan-style cubical stone weight, and a Harappan-style cylinder seal at Susa (Amiet 1986a, Figs. 92-94) may be evidence of maritime trade between Susa and the Indus Valley in the late 3rd millennium BCE. On the other hand, given that similar finds, particularly etched carnelian beads, are attested at landlocked sites including Tepe Hissar (Tappe Heṣār), Shah Tepe (Šāh-Tappe), Kalleh Nisar (Kalla Nisār), Jalalabad (Jalālābād), Marlik (Mārlik) and Tepe Yahya (Tappe Yaḥyā) (Possehl 1996, pp. 153-54), other mechanisms, including overland traffic by peddlers or caravans, may account for their presence at Susa.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica|title=Maritime Trade i. Pre-Islamic Period|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/maritime-trade-i-pre-islamic-period|access-date=2023-02-14|last=Potts|first=Daniel T.|year=2009|archive-date=27 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180927030247/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/maritime-trade-i-pre-islamic-period|url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote>

In the 1980s, important archaeological discoveries were made at [[Ras al-Jinz]] ([[Oman]]), demonstrating maritime Indus Valley connections with the [[Arabian Peninsula]].<ref name="Maurizio Tosi 1993, pp. 745-61"/><ref>Maurizio Tosi: ''Die Indus-Zivilisation jenseits des indischen Subkontinents'', in: ''Vergessene Städte am Indus'', Mainz am Rhein 1987, {{ISBN|3-8053-0957-0}}, S. 132–133</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.visitoman.nl/pdf/RAJ%20English%20brochure%20copy.pdf |title=Ras Al Jinz |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160910032138/http://www.visitoman.nl/pdf/RAJ%20English%20brochure%20copy.pdf |archive-date=10 September 2016 |url-status=dead |publisher=Ras Al Jinz Visitor Center }}</ref>

Dennys Frenez recently regards that:

<blockquote>Indus-type and Indus-related artifacts were found over a large and differentiated [[ecumene]], encompassing Central Asia, the Iranian Plateau, Mesopotamia and the northern Levant, the Persian Gulf, and the Oman Peninsula. The discovery of Indus trade tools (seals, weights, and containers) across the entire Middle Asia, complemented by information from Mesopotamian cuneiform texts, shows that entrepreneurs from the Indus Valley regularly ventured into these regions to transact with the local socioeconomic and political entities. However, Indus artifacts were also exchanged beyond this core region, eventually reaching as far [as] the Nile River valley, Anatolia, and the Caucasus. On the contrary, only a handful of exotic trade tools and commodities have been found at sites in the Greater Indus Valley. The success of Indus trade in Central and Western Asia did not only rely on the dynamic entrepreneurialism of Indus merchants and the exotic commodities they offered. Specific products were proactively designed and manufactured in the Indus Valley to fulfill the particular needs of foreign markets, and Indus craftspeople moved beyond their native cultural sphere adapting their distinctive productions to the taste of foreign elites or reworking indigenous models. The adoption of specific seals and iconographies to regulate external trade activities suggests a conscious attempt at implementing a coordinated supraregional marketing strategy[...]<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Asian History|title=Indus Valley: Early Commercial Connections with Central and Western Asia
|url=https://oxfordre.com/asianhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277727-e-595|access-date=2023-12-15|last= Frenez | first= Dennys|year= 2023| doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.595|isbn=978-0-19-027772-7
}}</ref></blockquote>