whereas donkey caravans carried less than ships, they also represented less
capital investment. Private ventures would tend to be less risky, which may
have confined them to nearby Dilmun, thus consolidating the middleman
monopoly of the Dilmunites.
Traffic, however, did not fall off in this period but rather increased.
Partnerships were common between investors and the traveling Dilmun tra-
ders but only on a transaction-to-transaction basis. Terms varied according to
whether the investor shared in the risk and thus in the profit or received a
fixed return regardless of outcome. On the positive side, the necessity of
having the capital, ships, navigational and commercial knowledge, and con-
tacts with counterparts in Dilmun all meant that the class of Dilmunite
traders must have been very small, limiting competition. On the negative
side, even private enterprise was subject to royal supervision and was heavily
taxed–ships carrying 10 tons of copper, for example, could expect to pay up
to a ton in duties–despite the merchants receiving little in protection or
other services from the state.
Mesopotamian sources indicate that the Persian Gulf–Indian Ocean trade
system peaked inc. 1800BCE. If so, at least one of the partners was already in
full decline and would soon disappear. Harappan civilization began with a
massive population shift to urban areas and ended with a reverse shift that
may have started inc. 2100BCEand appears to have run its course by 1750
BCE. This total urban collapse may be at the top of the list of ancient India’s
many mysteries. Natural disaster in the form of severeflooding caused by a
shift in the course of the river or environmental degradation and climate
change leading to ecological collapse are the most likely culprits. It is unli-
kely that a problem with trade provided the triggering mechanism, but once
trade was disrupted, it could have quickly led to deurbanization given how
dependent this society appears to have been on internal trade.
Viewing the trade from the Mesopotamian perspective, indirect contact
with the Harappans seems to have continued up to the end of their civili-
zation. Once it was gone, the Mesopotamians compensated by reinforcing
their contacts with old trade partners to the north and west. Even the tie
with Dilmun slipped. It was reconnected a millennium later under the
Assyrian Empire, which needed all the copper it could get for its war
machine. Other commodities the Dilmunites later sent to Mesopotamia
included spices, perfumes, and exotic woods, indicating that once again
Dilmun was playing a middleman role. As for Magan and Melukha, these
names became assigned to other places including East Africa probably
because it supplied some of the same products as the Harappans once did.
A closer look: lapis lazuli
To the Mesopotamians gold was the most valuable commodity whereas in
Egypt, considered to be the land of gold, silver was in greater demand. But
36 Thefirst link