Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c10.s4.8

v1.c10.s4.8

Lapis lazuli has been in great demand in Mesopotamia and used for personal adornment and for the decoration of temples. Beads of the mineral have been found in most Pre-Harappan sites in India as well. Lapis bead factories have been found in Mehargarh III, Mundigak II, Shahr-i-Sokhta II etc. Although Chakrabarti (1978) considered the possibility of some Indian sources of lapis lazuli, it seems (Hermann, 1968: 21-57; Asthana, 1982: 273) that a group of four mines in the Kerano Munjan District of Badakshan Province in the northern Afghanistan was the major source of lapis during the Pre-Harappan Period. The Harappans took over the control of the lapis trade from the Iranians during the middle of the third millennium BC, and established a trading post at Shortugai on the Oxus river in north Afghanistan (Asthana, 1982: 273) which overlooked Turkemenia or the south of Soviet Asia. The Mundigak-Shortugai axis in Afghanistan also supplied silver and lead and ensured supply of turquoise to the Pre-Harappan sites in the Indian sub-continent. Most of the lapis collected by the Harappans used to be exported to Mesopotamia through the Makran coast. Cuneiform texts from Mesopotamia (Leemans 1960) lists lapis as one of the commodities apart from copper, ivory etc. coming from Meluhha (India).