An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v2.c38.248

v2.c38.248

All this elaborate infrastructure for external trade is amply reflected in other finds from Lothal. A circular steatite seal of the class known as Persian Gulf seals (Bibby, 1958, pp. 243-4; Wheeler, 1958, p. 246; Rao, 1963, p. 37), found abundantly at Failaka and Ras-al-Qa‘la (Bahrain) on the Persian Gulf, is a surface find at Lothal, evidently the Persain Gulf sites were intermediary in the Indus trade with Mesopotamia. Conversely some of the Indus-like seals found in Mesopotamia may have been imports from Lothal. A bun-shaped copper ingot, weighing 1·438 kg follows the shape, size and weight of Susa ingots, with which the Lothal specimen shares the lack of arsenic in its composition. In addition to the Indus stone cubes of standard weights [6.29] Lothal had another series of weights conforming to the Heavy Assyrian standard for international trade. Cotton, an important produce of Gujarat, might have been an important item of export from Lothal. All this is addition to the other evidences of Indus maritime trade obtained from the Harappa centres of the Indus valley [4.9] such as ‘reserved-slip ware’, circular beads with axial tubes, etc. A terracotta male figure with a square-cut beard in the Sumerian style from Lothal as also the terracotta model of an Egyptian mummy tell their own tale. Lothal might also have been the intermediary station for the import to the Indus valley of gold from Kolar (Mysore) gold-fields, some semiprecious stones from the Deccan plateau and shell from the w. coast and in turn might have depended on the Indus valley of such items as copper and chert, their sources being nearer the Indus then Lothal. Typical Indus objects such as steatite disc, beads, long chert blades and flat copper celts of the lower Deccan Neolithic-Chalcolithic culture [4.6.9; 4.14.8] might have been introduced into that culture from Lothal.