CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

TRADE IN THE SUMERIAN WORLD



Harriet Crawford

T

he importance of trade as a ‘prime mover’ in the development of human society

has been acknowledged by archaeologists for many years (see, for example, Ucko

et al. 1972 ). In the 1960 s and 1970 s, it was seen as one of the major forces driving society

towards urbanism, and more recently, Wallerstein’s World Systems theory enjoyed a

vogue as an explanatory model for understanding the rise of so-called secondary states

(Renfrew 1969 ; Trigger 1972 ; Algaze 1986 ). This latter view has now been heavily modi-

fied (Stein 1999 ). On the other hand, it is generally agreed that the presence of complex

trading networks has important implications for the organisation of society, encourag-

ing the development of craft specialisation, mass production, new modes of transport,

(Algaze 2004 ) and the emergence of what might loosely be called information tech-

nologies, such as the writing and sealing practices used to track the flow of goods.

It is therefore surprising that it is not always easy to identify the presence of trade

in the archaeological record. In the absence of written evidence the presence of non-

local goods or raw materials in the material culture of any group could be thought to

indicate trade with the areas of origin of such goods, but it must not be forgotten that

there are many mechanisms other than trade, in the strict sense, by which objects can

be moved over long distances and these are frequently ignored.

Context, quantity and the type of goods concerned are important in attempting to

decide which of the many potential mechanisms was employed. Foraging for widely

available raw materials such as timber, or building stone, was a timeless method of

acquisition which became less useful as populations expanded, forests shrank and

people became more possessive of their local resources. At the other end of the spec-

trum, high-value prestige items such as ornaments and precious stones have always

been exchanged as gifts by the elite, by travellers, by nomads seeking safe passage or

carried by women as dowries. Such items may have passed through many hands before

they arrive in the archaeological context in which they are found. Equally, both goods

and women can arrive as the result of pillage or the taking of booty (Lafont 2008 : 27 ),

another timeless and effective method of moving goods around the world.

The picture is further complicated by the well-established practice of craftsmen

moving from town to town whether voluntarily or at the behest of their masters. For

example, in the mid-third millennium nine sculptors from Mari worked at Ebla, while

blacksmiths from Ebla went to Kish (Quenet 2008 : 203 / 4 , 226 ); itinerant groups of

potters or metal workers may travel over long distances and the emulation of an