The inhabitants of the Indus Civilisation enjoyed thriving trade with Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf region. How did their merchants overcome the nearly 2000 km distance in the 3rd millennium BCE?
We can be certain that, in addition to using land routes, they also sailed. However, shipwrecks have not yet been discovered in the archaeological finds. Maritime activity is indicated by the depiction of boats on seals and a few terracotta boat models.
The question of sailing came into the centre of interest when archaeologists unearthed a port town in the state of Gujarat, in India. The ruins of Lothal were excavated in the 1950s, and the leader of the excavation called the site the oldest port town. There was a rectangular construction on the eastern side of the town, approx. 200 m long and 40 m wide which he considered to be a dock.
However, not everyone agreed with his views. Several scholars thought that the rectangular construction was not used as a dock, but simply as a reservoir. Their main objection was that the construction had no connection to the sea. The debate between the two camps dragged on for decades.
At the end of the 20th century, however, many technological innovations appeared that made the work of archaeologists easier. These new methods shed new light on the question of the dock at Lothal.
By analysing the satellite images, it became possible to prove that during the prosperity of the town of Lothal, the Gulf of Khambat extended inland more significantly. An ancient river bed near the town also became visible, connecting the dock to the sea at high tide.
The merchants of the Indus Civilisation carried out their long-distance trade deals by sailing both on rivers and on the coastal waters of the Arabian Sea, in addition to land caravans.
Source of images:
1: Green, A.S. 2021. “Killing the Priest-King: Addressing Egalitarianism in the Indus Civilization.” Journal of Archaeological Research 29 (2):153–202. Fig. 1.
2: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Disha_Kaka_Boat_with_Direction_Finding_Birds,_model_of_Mohenjo-Daro_seal,_3000_BCE.jpg
3–4: earthexplorer.usgs.gov
5: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lothal-reconstruction_India_bronze_age_(XXIV-XV_centuries_BC).jpg
