Prehistoric India to 1000 B.C. c12.192

c12.192

We are now in a position to consider a final aspect of the Harappā civilization – its relations with foreign powers, and, in consequence, its date and position *vis-à-vis* the contemporary civilizations of Western Asia. We have already seen, in Chapter IV, that there was contact established between the merchants of the Kulli Culture in South Baluchistan and those of Early Dynastic Sumer, probably soon after 2800 B.C., but it is difficult to be sure that connexions between Harappā and Sumer were really established as early as this. At Mohenjo-daro there was found, in a very early level, a fragment of a carved steatite vessel of a type identical with those known from South Baluchistan and in Sumer in Early Dynastic times, and this might be used as evidence for equating this phase of the city with Early Dynastic Sumer. But, as we have seen, contacts between the Harappā Culture and that of Kulli (which seems to have originated this type of steatite vessel) were continuous throughout the life of the two great cities, and I have pointed out that there is actual evidence of particularly strong Kulli contact in the last phase of their history. Together with the pottery on which I based this suggestion, there were also found at Mohenjo-daro fragments of two steatite boxes (or vessels) from the latest levels; we must assume that the type had a long life in South Baluchistan, and cannot use the presence of fragments of these stone vessels in the sites of the Harappā Culture as dating material.