Molluscs

Shellfish were taken in considerable quantities by coastal communities. The shells were processed to make a variety of objects, particularly bangles, and this may have been the main reason for their collection, the edible molluscs being a bonus of the shell-working industry. The internal shells ("bones") of cuttlefish, found, for instance, at Othmanjo Buthi in Sindh, could have been used as an abrasive device for sanding wood or could have been ground up and made into an abrasive paste. Some settlements, such as Nageshwar on the northern coast of Saurashtra, probably existed for the specialized purpose of exploiting marine molluscs for manufacturing shell objects.

The shells were obtained in various ways. Nageshwar is situated on a freshwater lake with easy access to extensive shallow bays in the sheltered waters of the Gulf of Kutch from which abundant supplies of Turbinella pyrum (chank) and Chicoreus ramosus (spiny murex) shells could be obtained. Although these could be gathered in the shallow coastal waters, the fishers of Nageshwar seem generally to have gone into deeper water on rafts or small boats to obtain shells that were free from the boring activities of Cliona sponges and other marine organisms to which those near the shore were prey. Farther north, the shellfish collectors of Balakot and other settlements on the coast of Sindh and Makran obtained some of their shells, such as the bivalve Meretrix casta, from intertidal pools and from the shallows at low tide. Other types of mollusc had to be dived for from boats on reefs in shallow coastal waters. Here the fishers

Might encounter hazards such as moray eels, Portuguese man-of-wars and other dangerous jellyfish, and poisonous sea snakes and fishes. Fishing and diving for shells probably took place mainly before and after the monsoon, in April to June and in October to January. In addition to chank and spiny murex, these regions yielded Lambis truncata sebae and Fasciolaria trapezium shells, all used for making objects found throughout the Indus realms, as well as various species whose circulation was more restricted, such as clam shells (Tivela damaoides), which were worked at Balakot to make shell bangles worn by people in the local area and at other sites along the Makran coast but not farther afield. In addition, at Balakot Terebralia palustris molluscs, which live in mangrove swamps and brackish water, were collected in large quantities and were probably the main source of shellfish for food; they were not used for making shell objects.