Whereas cereal cultivation has left evidence in the form of carbonized grain and impressions of stalks and grains in pottery and bricks, and pulses also preserve well, roots and tubers and many fruits and vegetables produce few or no hard parts that survive as archaeological traces, so evidence of their cultivation is rare. People were usually craftsman or farmer during this time mainly because of the river(s). The preservation of plant remains is often poor, depending on local conditions, the type of plant, and chance. Whereas in earlier times, local sources of flint were exploited by the inhabitants of each region, during the Harappan period the very high-quality brownish gray flint of the Rohri Hills was intensively extracted and distributed to every part of the Indus polity, either as a raw material or in the form of finished artifacts- For example, most of the stone tools at Balakot were acquired in finished form. It took over Shortugai and its region and ended the Indus lapis trade. The first certain occurrence of this millet in South Asia is at Pirak, in the early second millennium. Later there was ragi in Cemetery H levels at Harappa and in Late Harappan Hulas to the east, and Fuller himself has identified a grain of ragi at Hallur in South India, dated after 1800 BC. The trade in lapis lazuli seems to support this interpretation. Harappan etched camelian and long barrel camelian beads were found at Susa, as well as a cylinder seal with a Harappan bull-and-manger design and some Indus script signs, and a round seal with a bull and six Harappan signs. The economy depended greatly on trade, the inhabitants of the Indus Valley traded with Mesopotamia, Southern India, Afghanistan, and Persia for gold, silver, copper, and turquoise. Agate and other gemstones for making beads may also have been obtained by hunter- gatherers. This problem is compounded by variations in the standards of recovery in archaeological excavations and by problems of identification. A clay model from Lothal represents a boat with a mast, attachments for a sail, and a steering oar. Teak vessels had a life expectancy of many decades, possibly as much as eighty years. Today this is around 8,000 hectares in extent. In the central region, Sindh, the Indus-Ganges doab, and perhaps the western Saraswati, the floods filled numerous hollows (dhands), which for some months acted as reservoirs from which to draw water to irrigate the crops; many held water until December and some as late as February. The economy of the Indus River Valley Civilization was based on farming. The mountains of southern Irana run parallel with and chose to the coast, leaving only a narrow strip of coastal land, accessible from the interior of the Iranian plateau only through a few passes, and offering few resources to support human habitation. Cities are the symbols of the Indus Valley civilization characterized by the density of population, close integration between economic and social processes, tech-economic developments, careful planning for expansion and promotion of trade and commerce, providing opportunities and scope of work to artisans and craftsmen etc. 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. They followed rivers walking along the river bank and used boats to cross rivers, when needed. The Harappans were therefore clearly an impressive mercantile society engaged in substantial seaborne trade. 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. In the fourth millennium (Uruk period), the Sumerians turned their attentions northward, trading with northern Mesopotamia and Anatolia. Barley was more important than wheat at some sites, including the Indus outpost at Shortugai on the Amu Darya and the Baluchi site of Miri Qalat. Advancement of technology led to carts and early boats that were used as the main method of trade and travel. In the early third millennium, these sites had been in contact with settlements in the northern borderlands and the Indus plains, and these contacts continued. Some of these seals had recognizably Harappan sign sequences, but in other cases the inscriptions included some signs or sign combinations unknown in the Indus region, suggesting that they rendered non-Harappan names or words. From the Makran coast, it is a short, easy sea crossing, around 30-40 hours under sail, to Oman on the western side of the Gulf, known as Magan to the Mesopotamians, and seaborne relations between these areas may have been established by the early third millennium BC; fishing sites on me Oman coast are known by the fifth millennium. In the Indus Valley, jewelry included not only earrings like what is pictured, but necklaces, brooches (pins you wear), and bracelets. The Indus Valley Civilization was a cultural and political entity which flourished in the northern region of the Indian subcontinent between c. 7000 - c. 600 BCE. Agriculture in the mature Harappan period, as in its antecedent cultures in the Indo-Iranian borderlands, was based on wheat, barley, pulses, sheep, goats, and cattle, the same assemblage of crops and animals as the cultures to the west in the Iranian plateau, southern Central Asia, and West Asia, most of which had originally been domesticated in West Asia. This website includes study notes, research papers, essays, articles and other allied information submitted by visitors like YOU. The economy of the Indus Valley was based on trade; There was trade in the borders of the civilization and there was trade with Mesopotamia; Carts and boats, the product of technological advancements, were also used in trade; Because the Indus Valley had a lot of water they could irrigate crops well; Barley and wheat were the main crops 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. In some cases the platform may have had permanent sidepieces but many just had holes into which wooden stakes could be slotted when required to form sides supporting a load. Tin deposits are known in the Khetri belt, particularly in the Tusham Hills in Haryana, at the northeast end of the Khetri belt, not far south of the eastern region of the Harappan civilization. In the early third millennium, it was probably applied to the island of Tarut and to the Eastern Province of the adjacent Arabian mainland. In return, the people of the Aravallis obtained manufactured goods and other Indus produce, probably including objects made from the copper they had previously supplied, since Harappan arrowheads were found at Kulhadeka-Johad near Ganeshwar in the Khetri mine area and at Jodhpura. Rice husks and phytoliths have also been found in pottery and bricks at Harappa. Some involve gift giving in the context of activities involving kin or social partners; these may not require an equivalent return. The fine examples of wells in Indus towns show the high level of Harappan competence in constructing them. The irrigation system allowed this civilization to diversify its crops. The Indus people probably used lifting gear such as the shadoof to raise irrigation water from these and from streams and channels. Also, most of their trade takes place through water routes. It was among the cultivated plants at the Late Harappan site of Hulas where both wild and cultivated indica rice were identified. The number of settlements in the region expanded at least fourfold in this period. The seasonal inhabitants of these settlements brought with them copper tools, pottery, and plant foods from the interior. Oats seem generally to have been present in early archaeological contexts as a weed of cultivation that invaded stands of wheat and barley, rather than being deliberately cultivated. Gold from Karnataka in south India has a natural admixture of silver, and so the electrum objects known from the Indus civilization may indicate that gold from there was being imported and worked by the Harappans. The Indus valley civilization was the first to use wheeled transport, such as the bullock carts used in South Asia today. In the early third millennium, finds of pottery show that the Sumerians established trading relations with settlements on the UAE coast of Magan, such as Umm-an-Nar, whose inhabitants obtained copper and diorite through their connections with the interior. Rice is indigenous to parts of South and East Asia, including the Indus region and the Ganges Valley. 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. It was situated on higher ground, from which the water could run down to the fields. Marine conditions bring an abundance of fish into Arabian coastal waters during the late summer and winter, making this the main fishing season. 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. Content Guidelines 2. The economy depended greatly on trade. Native fruit trees included jujube, almond, and pistachio; a wooden mortar set in a grinding platform at Harappa was of jujube wood. Economy. Know about Indus Valley Civilization or Harappa Civilization. The Harappan people even made Terracotta Pots and painted them to trade. They could also act as carriers, transmitting the commodities of one settled region to the inhabitants of another; in exchange they could receive both foodstuffs, such as grain, and goods whose manufacture was beyond their own technological capabilities, such as copper knives. However, many of their pottery vessels resembled those of the Harappans, and other characteristic Harappan artifacts, such as model carts, were known in Kulli sites. These settlements were well placed to control the exploitation and distribution of timber such as pine, ebony, sissoo, and sal from the Himalayan foothills and deodar from higher in the mountains. 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