A breakthrough excavation near the ancient coastline of Sindh has uncovered a specialized Harappan workshop dedicated to the manufacture of nautical navigation instruments. The find includes rare terracotta 'compass housings' and calibrated bone rulers that archaeologists believe were used in conjunction with celestial observation to guide Meluhhan merchant vessels across the Arabian Sea to Mesopotamia.
The workshop contains evidence of precision craftsmanship, with master artisans using copper-alloy drills to create intricate sight-lines in stone gnomons. This discovery provides the first physical evidence of the mathematical tools that allowed the Indus Valley civilization to dominate Bronze Age maritime trade routes, long before the invention of the magnetic compass.