The Indus Civilization (Cambridge History of India, Supplementary Volume) c15.1

c15.1

The copper referred to in the preceding sections may have been obtained within the territories of the Indus civilization if these extended as far as Robāt and Shah Bellaul in Baluchistan or Khetri in Rajputana. Some of it may have been brought from further afield: from south India or, more probably, from Afghanistan, where the ore is found between Kabul and the Kurram. The metal was sufficiently abundant for the manufacture not merely of tools but also of vessels of various kinds, though the relatively undeveloped character of the former suggests that copper was not very easy to obtain. In particular, the general frailty of the spear- and knife-blades, already noted, would seem unlikely to have persisted had the metal become available in quantity.