dynasty refer to goods sent to Magan in exchange for copper, and for rations issued to
Magan shipbuilders. We also have part of the archive of a merchant called Lu-Enlilla
based in Ur which details the goods given to him to purchase copper and other items
from Magan. The evidence suggests that goods originating in Meluhha such as ivory
were still coming to Mesopotamia via Magan even if direct contact had ceased
(Ratnagar 2004 ). The evidence of the texts suggests that Lu-Enlilla operated on behalf
of both temple and private investors (Potts D.T. 1990 : 143 – 148 ). This commerce seems
to have ceased in the middle of the reign of Ibbi-Sin when the dynasty began to
unravel. When there is again evidence for Gulf trade, it is focused on Dilmun rather
than Magan.
SUMMARYIt is possible to chart some important changes over the course of the late fourth and
third millennia in trade routes and the way in which trade was conducted. We have
already noted that water transport was preferred to land, especially for the transport
of heavy goods, and this is reinforced by the use of the Euphrates route from Anatolia
southwards over long periods of time. Broadly speaking, the Gulf only became the
major route when the Euphrates was unreliable as a source of supply, for reasons of
unrest in north Mesopotamia or aggrandisement by local kings there wishing to
control the flow of goods on the river. We can see this shift clearly at the end of the
Uruk period, a ‘Dark Age’ in the north, when the network of ‘colonies’ goes out of
use. Jemdat Nasr pottery then occurs in graves on the routes to the copper of Oman,
the first time since the middle of the Ubaid period that Mesopotamian pottery is found
in some quantity in Arabia pointing to a renewed importance for the Gulf route. At
other times, in the second half of the third millennium for instance, both routes were
in use together and their relative importance fluctuated depending, among other things
no doubt, on the strength of cities like Mari which controlled the middle Euphrates,
and the incursions of the Amorites, who, potentially, had the power to disrupt routes
across north Mesopotamia.
Relations with Susa varied too as it moved several times from being an independent
state to a colony of the south. Susa was important not so much for its own resources
but as a ‘port of trade’ for goods from the interior of Iran. Of less significance were
other routes to the Iranian plateau through the Zagros. These channelled resources
such as copper, and perhaps tin from Iran, and luxuries like lapis lazuli from further
east. (Some of these goods were also received via the Gulf.) We can speculate that Agade
campaigning in the northeast may have been aimed at keeping these routes open in the
face of the hostile hill tribes whose advances into Mesopotamia also had to be stopped.
The main imported goods remain unchanged throughout the Sumerian period, but
their quantity increased as former luxuries such as base metals for tools and weapons
became essentials. Copper and lead predominate in the earlier part of the third
millennium, later augmented by tin and perhaps ready-made ingots of bronze. Quality
timbers for the massive building programmes undertaken by any successful ruler were
also in constant demand and arrived from both north and south. The nature of the
luxuries imported is more varied and changes over time. Precious metals and semi-
precious stones are a constant. By the later third millennium, silver must have been
readily available from Anatolia as we begin to see it used regularly as a medium of
–– Harriet Crawford ––