Subsistence and Economic Production
- Agriculture was an important source of subsistence for the Harappans.
- The Harappans cultivated diverse crops such as wheat, barley, lentil, chickpea, sesame and various millets.
- Agricultural surplus was an important stimulus for a number of developments.
- They adopted a double cropping system.
- The Harappans used ploughs.
- They perhaps ploughed the land and then sowed the seeds.
- Ploughed fields have been found at Kalibangan.
- They used both canal and well irrigation.
Archaeobotanists study ancient agriculture, and human and environmental relationships.
Animal Domestication
- Pastoralism was also practised by the Harappans.
- They domesticated sheep, goat and fowl.
- They had knowledge of various other animals including buffalo, pig and elephant. But horse was not known to them.
- The Harappan cattle are called Zebu.
- It is a large breed, often represented in their seals.
- They also ate fish and birds.
- Evidence of boar, deer and gharial has been found at the Harappan sites.
Craft Production
- Craft production was an important part of the Harappan economy.
- Bead and ornament making, shell bangle making and metalworking were the major crafts.
- They made beads and ornaments out of carnelian, jasper, crystal, and steatite, metals like copper, bronze and gold and shell, faience and terracotta or burnt clay.
- The beads were made in innumerable designs and decorations.
- They were exported to Mesopotamia and the evidence for such exported artefacts have been found from the excavations in Mesopotamian sites.
- Certain Harappan sites specialised in the production of certain craft materials.
- The following table presents the major centres of craft production.
Pottery
- The Harappans used diverse varieties of pottery for daily use.
- They use well-fired pottery.
- Their potteries have a deep red slip and black paintings.
- The pottery are shaped like dish-on-stands, storage jars, perforated jars, goblets, S-shaped jars, plates, dishes, bowls and pots.
- The painted motifs, generally noticed on the pottery, are pipal leaves, fish-scale design, intersecting circles, zigzag lines, horizontal bands and geometrical motifs with floral and faunal patterns.
- The Harappan pottery is wellbaked and fine in decorations.
Metals, Tools and Weapons
- The Harappan civilisation belongs to the Bronze Age civilisation and Harappans knew how to make copper and bronze tools.
- Although they produced bronze implements, they needed various kinds of tools for agriculture and craft production.
- The Harappans used chert blades, copper objects, and bone and ivory tools.
- The tools of points, chisels, needles, fishhooks, razors, weighing pans, mirror and antimony rods were made of copper.
- The chert blades made out of Rohrichert was used by the Harappans.
- Their weapons include arrowheads, spearhead, celt and axe.
- They did not have the knowledge of iron.
Rohri chert : The chert, a fine grained sedimentary rock, was found in the region of Rohri in Pakistan. It was used by the Harappans for making stone blades and tools.
Textiles and Ornaments
- The Harappans wore clothes and used metal and stone ornaments.
- They had knowledge of cotton and silk.
- The image identified as a priest is depicted wearing a shawl-like cloth with flower decorations.
- The terracotta images of women are shown wearing different types of ornaments.
- The image of dancing girl found at Mohenjo-Daro is shown wearing bangles in large numbers up to the upper arm.
- They made carnelian, copper and gold ornaments.
- Some of them had etched designs and they exported them to the Mesopotamian world.
- Faience, stoneware and shell bangles were also used.
- The ornaments produced were either sold or exchanged as part of the trade activities.