The modes of production of pottery from three sites of the Harappan culture (third millennium BC) are investigated. Clay sources and paste preparation are discussed on the basis of petrographic model analysis, grain-size analysis and x-ray diffraction (XRD). Iron and manganese-rich pigments were examined by scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive x-ray spectrometry. Firing temperatures are concluded to have been above 800°C on the basis of differential thermal analysis and XRD. -- AATA