Streets, brick houses and drainage
In the later third millennium BCE, Harappa, Mohenjo-daro and other large settlements developed across the Indus region. Streets connected homes and public spaces. Fired and unfired bricks served buildings, while drains, wells and washing areas managed water. Repairs and additions required coordination within neighborhoods. Farming hinterlands supplied food to populations engaged in crafts, exchange and other work concentrated within urban settings.
Craft production and measurement
Craftspeople made beads, metal objects, pottery, shell goods and seals, sometimes in specialized spaces. Related stone weights supported measurement. Seals displayed animals and signs, with short inscriptions in an undeciphered script. Materials came from plains, uplands and coasts. Drilling, polishing, smelting and firing produced both everyday household objects and items traded farther away, supporting a varied urban productive economy.
Regional exchange and urban change
River, land and sea routes connected towns with wider networks; Mesopotamian references to Meluhha are generally associated with the Indus region. Commerce moved materials and people alongside village exchanges. Early in the second millennium BCE, some large cities contracted and activities shifted elsewhere. Changing waterways and social conditions affected reorganization, while farming and crafts continued and later communities retained many earlier techniques.