A History of Agriculture in India v1.c19.s6.6

v1.c19.s6.6

It seems that trade in the Harappan times was by barter. The seals were not money, but were stamp seals, used for stamping packages. They were carved on steatite, a soft stone. It seems that families of merchants had adopted certain domestic animals as totems. That is why they engraved their likeness on the seals. From the ruins of a warehouse at Lothal 71 sealings were recovered, most of which bear impressions of cloth used for packing the cargo which was consumed by the fire. Circular plano-convex pieces of clay, according to B. B. Lal, may be regarded as tokens carried by merchants or their messengers.