Arati Deshpande-Mukherjee - Department of Ancient Indian History Culture & Archaeology, Deccan College PGRI, Pune, India

The excavations of some important Harappan settlements in district Kachchh, Gujarat has provided new insights into the development of the Indus valley civilization in this region. A close similarity in their material culture, architecture, town planning is noted with the type sites of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. One commonly shared aspect among these settlements is the recovery of a wide range of shell objects such as bangles, beads, inlays, ladles, etc. along with sawn shell fragments representing shell debitage. These have strongly indicated that shell working was an important craft activity carried out mainly during the Mature urban phase which continued into the Post urban phase as well. Hence this paper attempts to get insights into the various aspects of this ancient craft activity in Kachchh, by taking into account the shell evidence recovered from the excavated sites of Surkotada Shikarpur, Khirsara, Dholavira. Kanmer and Kotada Bhadli

Harappan, Kachchh, Turbinella pyrum, Shell working, Gulf of Kachchh