The Indus Civilization (Cambridge History of India, Supplementary Volume) c16.3

c16.3

Perhaps most interesting of all are undisputed traces of cotton cloth which have survived at Mohenjo-daro in contact with copper or silver objects through the creation of metallic salts in the damp alkaline soil.¹ The occurrence is by far the earliest known; in Egypt cotton, though an abundant crop to-day, was not cultivated in ancient times. Bast fibres were also found at Mohenjo-daro, in one instance wound round a fish-hook, but linen has not been observed there.