The Indus Civilization (Cambridge History of India, Supplementary Volume) c15.13

c15.13

Whether for overland traffic the "ship of the desert" was used by the Harappans is less certain. Part of the scapula of a camel, found at the considerable depth of 15 ft. at Mohenjo-daro,³ is the only direct local evidence for the existence of this animal at the time, but it receives some slight support from a fragmentary bronze or copper rod bearing the representation of a seated camel from a grave at Khurāb, near Bampur in south-eastern Persia,⁴ where it probably dates from the second millennium B.C. Incidentally, this little figurine appears to have the forepart of a Bactrian camel and the single hump of a dromedary; though whether the disharmonic details are accidental or whether they correctly represent some lost species remains uncertain. There is no evidence of any kind for the use of the ass or mule. On the other hand, the bones of a horse occur at a high level at Mohenjo-daro, and from the earliest (doubtless pre-Harappan) layer at Rana Ghuṇḍai in northern Baluchistan both horse and ass are recorded.⁵ It is likely enough that camel, horse and ass were in fact all a familiar feature of the Indus caravans. Whether the elephant was tamed for transport or haulage is more conjectural. Representations on seals prove a close knowledge of the animal, and part of an elephant’s skeleton has been found in a high level at Mohenjo-daro. Elephant ivory was used fairly freely but does not, of course, imply domestication.