probably in use at any one time and that their relative importance changed as society
developed and goods that had been luxuries, like copper and bronze, became essentials.
Change can be seen in the goods imported, the routes by which they travelled, and
the status of the people carrying the goods. For example, merchants became increas-
ingly professional as the goods they carried became utterly essential to the social and
economic systems of Mesopotamia and the volume of goods increased exponentially.
The Sumerian word for merchant, damgar, is found on some of the earliest tablets
when it already seems to have been an established profession. It has been suggested that
damgaris rather more all-encompassing than the translation ‘merchant’ would suggest.
Foster has proposed that it should more accurately be translated as ‘man of business’
or ‘business agent’ (Foster 1977 : 35 ) as they also seem to have lent money and carried
out commissions for the state institutions and for individuals. Their status in relation
to the state institutions is often difficult to determine, but by the Agade period there
seem to have been ‘private sector’ merchants who were organised into groups, often of
family members, and who were led by an ‘overseer’. It is also important to remember
that the bulk of the merchants’ business was conducted within southern Mesopotamia
and was not concerned with international trade (see below). This chapter will attempt
to track changes in all these areas through the late fourth millennium and the suc-
ceeding Early Dynastic, Agade, and Ur III periods.
Foreign trade is not of course the whole story. It is also recognised that intraregional
exchange within south Mesopotamia was important and made up the bulk of a
merchant’s business. Different cities on the southern plain developed manufacturing
specialities, or acted as entrepotsfor the forwarding on of foreign goods (Foster 1977 :
36 ). It seems that Isin was well known for its leather goods, while Adab may have been
a forwarding agent for decorated steatite/chlorite vessels from Iran and the Gulf which
were in vogue in the middle of the third millennium (Kohl 1975 ). Under the Third Ur
dynasty very large amounts of bitumen were forwarded by Girsu to Ur, five shiploads
are mentioned in one text (Forbes 1964 : 18 ). This transaction also illustrates well the
difficulty of interpreting the texts as it is not clear whether this is really trade, or was
tribute or taxes to the centre. An emphasis on foreign goods and raw materials alone
certainly underestimates the total volume of goods exchanged as too does the fact that
many of the items concerned in a whole range of transactions are now generally
accepted to have been perishable or invisible (Crawford 1973 ). Textiles and food stuffs,
both major exports, leave little trace in the archaeological record, while knowledge and
technical skills leave only indirect evidence.
South Mesopotamia has never been a self-contained unit. Almost from the time of
the first permanent settlements in the Ubaid period there is evidence for contacts with
the outside world. Some of the earliest of these demonstrate contacts southwards down
the Gulf, where Ubaid 2 / 3 pottery occurs, thus predating Ubaid dealings with north
Mesopotamia which belong to the later Ubaid 3 / 4 period (Carter 2010 ). Ubaid 3 / 4
pottery has been found over much of north Mesopotamia and southeast Anatolia,
while at Deg ̆irmentepe there appears to be an Ubaid village (Yener 2000 : 30 ). There are
also stylistic similarities with the pottery of southwest Iran. The nature of the relation-
ship between the southern plain and these adjacent areas is far from clear. It certainly
differed from region to region and the desire for foreign goods may not have been the
sole motivation. Indeed, there is little evidence from southern Ubaid sites such as
Ouelli for the use of imported materials. Some of the contacts may reflect the search
–– Trade in the Sumerian world ––