Bricks, Beads and Bones
Crafts and raw materials
Identify a craft centre from the evidence.
Chanhudaro was a tiny settlement (less than 7 hectares, much smaller than Mohenjodaro), almost wholly devoted to crafts: bead-making, shell-cutting, metal-working, seal-making and weight-making.
Beads were made of many materials: carnelian (a red stone), jasper, steatite, copper, gold, shell and faience. Making a carnelian bead took many steps: the stone was fired to bring out its red colour, then chipped into shape, ground and polished, and finally drilled.
How do archaeologists find craft centres? They look for raw material, tools, unfinished objects, and waste (rejects and scrap). Waste is the best indicator of craft work: follow the waste to find the workshop.
Raw materials came from far away, in two ways:
- settlements near the sources: Nageshwar and Balakot (shell), Shortughai (lapis lazuli, a precious blue stone), Lothal (carnelian, steatite, metal);
- expeditions to distant areas: Khetri in Rajasthan (copper), south India (gold).
Distant contacts: copper came from Oman (called Magan in Mesopotamian texts); traces of nickel in both Omani copper and Harappan artefacts link them. Texts mention contact with Dilmun (probably Bahrain) and Meluhha (probably the Harappan region). Seals show ships and boats.
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