This presentation is prepared for the BA students, to get the basic ideas and informations regarding the topic.

1. Harrapan Economy
By,
Dr. Virag Sontakke

2. Harrapan Economy

3. Introduction
• Indus Valley Civilization was an ancient civilization
of India.
• Area Indus river in North-Western part of Indian
subcontinent.
• It was also the period of the Bronze Age.
• It is called as Harappan Civilization as it was first
discovered in 1921 at the modern site of Harappa
situated in the Punjab province Punjab of current
day Pakistan.
• Currently it also known as Indus Valley Civilization
• Time Duration of Indus Valley Civilization: 2500-
1750 B.C.E.

4. Geographical Extent
• Spread over a very large area which is today a part of North-western
India and Pakistan.
• Punjab, Hariyana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujrat, Rajasthan etc.
• It covered an area of 1299600 Sq. metre.
• This indicates that Indus Valley Civilization was the most extensive
among all other ancient civilizations.

6. Major Centres of Indus Valley
Civilization
• So far archaeologists have come across more than
1000 sites belonging to this civilization.
• Out of these, only 6 can be regarded as cities:
1. Harappa,
2. Mohenjodaro,
3. Chanhudaro,
4. Rakhigadi,
5. Kalibangan
6. Dholavira etc.

7. Important Factors of IVC
• Town Planning
• Big Urban Cities
• Uniformity
• Well settled Life
• Trade and Commerce
• Art and Crafts

8. Town Planning
• Town planning was the trademark of Harappan
culture.
• Harappan towns and cities were built as per grid
pattern wherein roads and by lanes divided each
other at right angles.
• Drainage system in Indus Civilization towns was very
impressive.
• Burnt bricks of uniform size were widely used across
towns
• Large places for communal bath were found as a part
of the towns.

13. Economy of Indus Valley

14. Evidence
• Archaeological
1. Pottery
2. Beads
3. Seals-sealings
4. Sculptures
5. Weights
6. Dockyards
7. Botanical remains
8. Zoological remains
9. Written Evidence:
Mesopotamia

15. Harrapan Economy
Subsistence
Agriculture
Animal Rearing
Hunting
Non-
Subsistance
Constructions
Maintance
Cleaning
Rituals
Art &
Crafts
Bricks
Bangles
Beads
Pottery
Seals
implements
Sculptures
Trade Commerce

16. Agriculture
• The Harappan people were dependent on agriculture
as the primary source of living.
• Kalibangan gives us the idea about IVC agriculture.
• They also knew the use of sickle and used to cut crops
with it.
• The surplus produce was stored in the granary.
• They grew wheat, rice, maize, cotton and various
vegetables in their fields.
• The agriculture depended on rainfed water.
• In case of need they irrigated their land with water
from the Indus.

17. Agriculture
• Double crop system
• Kalibangan: fileld
• Banawali and shortughai: TC
plough
• Stone Blades: Sickle
• Seals: Humped Bull
• Botanical Remains: Wheat,
Barley, sesame, cotton etc.

18. Agriculture
• The floods in the Indus inundated the fields and left a
fertile silt-cover on the fields after the flood water
receded.
• This fertile silt would yield a bumper harvest during
agricultural seasons.
• For all practical purposes, agriculture was the principal
means of sustenance for the IVC people.

19. Crop Pattern
• The Indus people sowed seeds in the flood plains in
November when the flood water receded, and reaped
the harvest in April before the advent of next flood.
• They produced two types of wheat and barley.
• They also produced rai, peas, sesamum and mustard.
• Evidence of use of Rice has been found only from
Lothal.
• Indus people were the earliest people to produce
cotton.

20. Crops Cultivation
i. Rabi Crops:
• Wheat and barley were the staple cereals of rabi
cultivation.
• Barley was more important than wheat
• The Harappans grew three or four varieties of barley,
including both naked and hulled types.
• The Harappans cultivated various types of wheat

21. ii. Millets
• Number of indigenous cereals were brought under
cultivation by the Indus civilization.
• Little millet (Panicum sumatrense) was common at
Mature Harappan Rojdi, Oriyo Timbo, and Babar Kot
in Gujarat and present at Harappa around 3000 BC,
and
• Browntop millet (Brachiaria ramosa) was also grown
at Rojdi.
• A small amount of Setaria sp. was cultivated at
Surkotada and Rojdi- Foxtail millet (Setaria italica),
known in the Late Harappan period, is thought
possibly to be a local domesticate but was more
probably introduced.

23. iii. Rice:
• Rice is indigenous to parts of South and East Asia,
including the Indus region.
• Wild Rice grew in Gujarat.
• Charred rice husks and impressions of rice husks and
leaves in Harappan pottery have been found in this region,
at Lothal and Rangpur.
• Rice husks and phytoliths have also been found in pottery
and bricks at Harappa.
• Rice, probably wild, is known from Early Harappan Balu
in Haryana and Kunal.
• By the early second millennium, however, rice was
certainly being grown in the eastern Indus region.
• It was among the cultivated plants at the Late Harappan
site of Hulas where both wild and cultivated indica rice
were identified.

25. Edible Plants:
• Wild plants were also important as well
as providing grazing for domestic
animals.
• Some, such as Chenopodium, were
undoubtedly exploited as human food.
• In this way rice, some millets and
pulses, and a number of vegetables are
likely to have first been incorporated
into the diet and then added to the
range of crops.
• Fruits such as jujube, almond, and
pistachio were gathered.
• Wild plants were collected particularly
when cultivated crops were unable to
supply the full needs of the community,
either because of bad harvests or
because of population increase in the
region.

26. Animal Rearing
• Zoological Remains:
cattle, bull, sheep,
goat, pigs, camel
• T.C. figurines
• Symbols on seals

27. Animals
1. Oxen,
2. Buffaloes,
3. Goats,
4. Sheep and
5. Pigs were domesticated.
6. Humped bulls were favoured.
7. Dogs were regarded as pets.
8. Cats were also domesticated. •
9. Asses and camels were used as beasts of burden. •
10. Horses were not in regular use.
11. Harappan people were also familiar with Elephants and
Rhinoceros.

28. Hunting
Hunted Animals:
Deer, chital, pigs,
variety of fishes,
birds

29. Hunting Tools:
Harpoons, bone
tools, copper
implements

30. Industry
• The industrial know-how of the IVC people was unique.
• They were busy in manufacturing many articles and each of their handiworks
reveals an exquisite artistry.
1. Metal
2. Beads
3. Pottery
4. Terracotta
5. Stone items
6. Seals
7. Brick Manufacturing
8. Wooden items
9. Weaving
10. Animal sellers
11. Boat makers
12. Seller

34. Art
• Centers: Chahundaro, Lothal etc.
• Raw material centers: Khambat, Nageshwar, Balakot, Sukkar, Shortughai etc.
• Centers at the cities: Mohanjodaro, Hadappa, Lotha, Dhaoulavira etc

35. Bangle workshop

36. Craft of Toy Making

37. Weights conform to standard
binary weight system that was
used in all the settlements. They
increased in ratio 1:2:4:8:16:32.
These weights may have been
used for controlling trade &
possibly for collecting taxes

38. Beads Making centers
• Faience:
• Steatite:
• Stones:
• T.C.
• Metal

39. Metal
Tools and weapons were simple in shape.
They included flat axes, scissors,
arrowheads, spearheads, knives, saws,
razors, and hooks.
People also made copper and bronze
vessels. They made small plates and
weights out of lead, and gold and silver
jewelry of great sophistication.

40. Pottery
• The technology of
pottery was fairly
advanced. Most of
the pots were made
on the wheel.
• Large storage jars
were also produced.
The pots were
beautifully painted
black on the bright
red surface with
geometric patterns,
plants, animals and
some pains the
pictures seem to
represent scenes
from stories.

41. Semi-precious
Stone Beads
The Harappans embellished
various categories of bead.
Various materials such as
steatite, agate-carnelian, lapis
lazuli, turquoise, faience,
jasper, onyx, and others.
Analysis reveals that 41 new
raw materials were added
long barrel cylindrical beads’
(also known as long carnelian
beads and long bicone beads)
and decorated (etched /
bleached) carnelian beads, are
the most important ones

42. Sculpture Making

43. Pottery Making

44. Stone Blades

45. Timber:
• Timber used as a building material, for fuel, for many domestic purposes, and
for export.
• Useful species included sissoo, acacia and tamarisk, which were widely
available.
• Sissoo was used for roof beams at Mohenjodaro, while acacia was found at
Lothal and Rangpur, used for making tools and furniture as well as in
construction.
• The main use of tamarisk was for fuel, though it could be used for making
many objects and structural elements; it is attested to at Rangpur.
• Rosewood was available on the plains, as well as in peninsular India. It was
used for one of the wooden coffins found at Harappa and was also employed
for making furniture, tools, and the wheels of carts. In the east the forests also
held sal trees.
• The trees at higher altitudes in the mountains included deodar and pine,
known from Harappa and Mohenjodaro and used in buildings and for other
purposes;
• Teak, generally useful and particularly suitable for shipbuilding because it is
water-resistant tough tubular stems up to 5 meters long that were suitable for
making smaller boats.
• Bamboo was available in the Makran and its wood was found at Harappa.
Date palms grew in the Makran and in Sindh- As well as their fruit, they
yielded wood, leaves for making baskets, mats, and roofs, and fiber for ropes
and cords.

46. Procurement Centres
• These settlements were well placed to control the
exploitation and distribution of timber from higher in the
mountains.
• Gold dust may also have been available on the upper Sutlej.
• The most distant (and surprising) outpost was at Shortugai
in Afghanistan.
• The Indus town of Lothal was manufacture of various Indus
products such as beads and objects of copper, shell, and
ivory.
• Shell from Nagwada
• Beads from Khambat
• Cherts from Rohri
• Tin from Haryana

47. Trade and Commerce
• Indus Valley were Trading Communities
• Trade and commerce was flourishing in Harappan age.
• Trade and Commercial activities were carried on through
sea as well as land routes.
• Carts, chariots and animals were means of transports as
far as land trade is concerned.
• For sea trade, big boats were used.
• Harappan people had trade relations within India, as well
as with countries outside India.
• The Mesopotamian texts of the same period refer to trade
relations with ‘Meluha’ which was the ancient name given
to Indus region.
• With no clear evidence of currency/money being used the
exchange must have been through barter system.

48. Trade Network
• Gold: Karnataka
• Silver:
Afghanistan/Iran
• Copper: Rajasthan
• Tin: Haryana
• Lapis: Badaksha
• Chert: Rohri
• Shell: Nagwada
• Timber: Himalaya

49. Overland Trade across the
Iranian Plateau:
• From the earliest period of settlement at Mehrgarh in the
seventh millennium, far-reaching trade networks had given the
village’s inhabitants access to the products of other regions
• such as seashells from the Makran coast, turquoise from Kyzyl
Kum in Central Asia, and lapis lazuli probably from Badakshan
in Afghanistan.
• By the fifth millennium, lapis and turquoise were also reaching
Susiana and Mesopotamia at the western end of the Iranian
plateau, showing that trading networks operated right across
these regions.
• These became more developed in the fourth millennium, with a
number of trading towns growing up in the Iranian plateau,
particularly at nodes in the trade routes, some procuring raw
materials, some working local or imported materials, and most
reaping the benefits of transit trade.

51. Foreign Trade: Archaeological Findings
• Mesopotamia: Carnelian Beads
• Mesopotamia: Inlay work items
• Lothal: 3 Persian /Gulf seals
• Lothal: Mesopotamia copper inlets

52. Foreign Trade: Literary Evidence
• Mesopotamia: Melhua (Indua), Magan (Oman), Dilmun (Bahrain)
• List of imported items from Melhua: Varies types of timber, Golds,
Copper, Carnelian, Ivory, Beads etc.
• Akkadian Court: Translator of Melhua
• Mesopotamia: Melhua traders Village
• Mesopotamia: reference of Melhua Ships

53. Land Transport:
• Local transport was on foot or by bullock cart.
• Terra-cotta models provide a clear picture of the
wooden carts with solid wooden wheels that were
widely used for land transport over short distances.
• These carts were drawn by oxen or bullocks, of which
there are also terracotta models.
• Land transport over long distances probably generally
employed pack animals.

55. Water Transport:
• Most of the major settlements were linked by a network of waterways
• Water transport along the rivers and streams
• Coastal communications by sea would have linked communities
within Gujarat, and those of Gujarat with those of the Makran coast.
• Boats like these with a shallow draft can be used on the Indus except
during the most turbulent period of the summer inundation;
• The Saraswati system must also have offered water transport.
• A clay model from Lothal represents a boat with a mast, attachments
for a sail, and a steering oar.
• The boats depicted on the seals and pottery resemble the boats used
in the Sindh and Punjab regions (even today).

57. Seals of Indus Valley Civilization
• Seals and sealings were used to facilitate long distance
communication.
• The sealing also conveyed the identity of the sender.
• Most commonly made of ‘steatite’ (soft stone), Seals
were the greatest artistic creation of Harappan people.
• The majority of the seals have an animal engraved on
them with a short inscription.
• ‘Unicorn’ is the animal most commonly represented
on the seals.
• Seals were extensively used during trading of goods

58. Seals

59. Weights
• Trade requires regulation of trade and weights and measures.
• Organized nature of the trade network
• Standardized system of weights and measures.
• Harappan weights and measures were cubic and spherical in shape
and made of chert, jasper and agate .
• First doubling, from 1, 2, 4, 8, to 64, then goes to 160; then
• Decimal multiples of sixteen, 320, 640, 1600, 6400 (1600 × 4), 8000
(1600 × 5) and 128,000 (i.e. 16000 × 8).
• Kenoyer (1998, 99) notes that groups of weights have often been found
near the gateways of Indus cities, suggesting that they were used by
officials who were regulating the flow of goods into the city and
collecting dues on them.
• The tradition of the 16th or its multiples continued in India until the
1950s. Sixteen chhatank made a ser (equivalent to one kilo) and
16 annas made a rupee.

61. Conclusion
• Intensive agricultural production and large-scale trade
played an important role in the flourishing of Indus
Valley civilization.
• The elegant social structure and standard of living must
have been achieved by highly developed
communication system and strong economy.
• The trade must have been internal at the start, that is to
say between one zone and another.
• Agricultural products, industrial raw materials
(including copper ores, stone, semi-precious shells,
etc.) have been traded on a large scale.