The people of the Indus valley used different kinds of stone such as limestone and alabaster for everyday objects and decorative stones like agate, amethyst, turquoise, jasper, bloodstone and chalcedony. Clay for pottery came from the alluvium deposited by the Indus. Clay objects were fired in circular kilns. The seals from which much about the civilisations has been learnt were made from steatite rock. The pattern was carved, buffed and then fired for hardening. Shells, pearl and ivory were used in ornaments and inlay work on wood.

Being a Bronze Age civilisation, the Indus valley people had metallurgical skills. Gold was used for ornaments. Silver, which probably came from Afghanistan, Armenia and Persia, was used for a similar purpose. These people were ahead of Mesopotamia in the knowledge of smelting bronze from copper and tin. However, their metal work skills are inferior to that of the Sumerians. Copper vessels were made of hammered sheet; rings were made of coiled wire. The Indus valley civilisation did not attain the knowledge of smelting iron.

Accounts exist of professional metalworkers who used the wing of a bird to fan the flames of the furnace in lieu of bellows. By now, metallurgy became so common that most household utensils were made of copper, bronze or iron. Clothes were made of cotton, wool, linen, silk and hemp.

A unique work of metallurgy is the Iron Pillar at Delhi, built in memory of Emperor Chandragupta (ca. 376-415 CE). Over twenty-tree feet high, it is a solid piece of metal whose magnitude could not be matched by western technology until a few hundred years ago. Though almost pure iron in composition, it has withstood 1500 years to the elements without any sign of rusting. The method of building this pillar is lost, but it probably required immense effort in casting, heating and setting the metal.¹

1. A. L. Basham, "The Wonder that was India", (Sidgwick and Johnson Limited, 1967), p. 219-220.