History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c11.s1.4

v1.c11.s1.4

According to the texts, Meluhha (identified with the Harappan zone) exported a variety of timbers, copper, gold dust, lapis lazuli, carnelian and other stones, ivory figurines of birds and monkeys, etc. Most of these items were available from India, except perhaps lapis lazuli. Baluchistan, Afghanistan, Oman and Rajasthan all have copper mines. Sixteen copper furnaces from Harappa, the copper workshops in Lothal, and the large quantities of copper-oxide ore from a brick-lined pit at Mohenjodaro all suggest that copper metallurgy was a developed craft in the Indus civilization. Placer gold is found in the streams of Punjab and Kashmir and may have been the source of the gold dust.