Science And Technology In Harappan Culture

The Harappan people achieved great accuracy in measuring length, mass and time. The people of Indus valley civilization were among the first to develop a system of uniform weights and measures. Their smallest division which is marked on an ivory scale found in Lothal was approximately 1.704mm the smallest division ever recorded on a scale of the Bronze Age.

Harappan followed the decimal division of measurement for all practical purposes including the measurement of mass as revealed by their hexahedron weights. These brick weights were in a perfect ration of 4:2:1 with weights of 0.05,0.1,0.2,0.5,1,2,5,10,20,50,100,200 and 500 units with each unit weighing approx 28 grams and smaller objects were weighed in similar ratios with the units of 0.871.Unique Harappan inventions include an instrumentwhich was used to measure whole sections of the horizon and the tidal dock.They also evolved new techniques in metallurgy and produced copper,bronze,lead and tin.the engineering skills of Harappans was remarkable especially in building docks after a careful study of tides,waves and currents. A touchstone bearing gold streaks was found in Banawali which was probably used for testing the purity of gold.