such as Ugarit and Byblos on the eastern Mediterranean coastline acted as mediators
for all four directions.
NOTES
1 The French word Levant defines the eastern Mediterranean region, an alternative term is Syria-
Palestine.
2 Major collections of cuneiform tablets were discovered from Amarna (Egypt), Boghazköy
(Turkey), Ugarit (Syria), Emar (Syria), Ekallate (Syria) and Hana (Iraq). Cf. Pedersén ( 1998 ).
3 Cf. the groundbreaking work by Brinkman ( 1976 ). More details will emerge after the full
publication of the 2 , 000 Middle Babylonian cuneiform tablets. See, meanwhile, Sassmanshausen
( 1995 ) and Pedersén ( 1998 : 103 – 120 ) for the current state of the Middle Babylonian archives
of Nippur as well as those from Dur-Kurigulzu, Babylon, Ur and Tell Imlihiye.
4 Diffusion as the transfer of limited or single cultural components from one society to another
may occur with or without contact between peoples, which means that certain cultural aspects
may have been transmitted via a second people to a third one (cf. Haviland 1993 : 402 – 432 ).
Within the Ancient Near East it is sometimes difficult to establish what the origin of an
innovation is and which people is the final recipient thereof. The great variety of Sumerian
innovations had a major influence on the Ancient Near East, without direct contact being very
widespread.
5 Acculturation as a process of extensive cultural exchange which arises from continuous contact
between peoples generates unavoidable change on a large scale to both cultures. Cultures which
come into contact (cf. Haviland ( 1993 : 402 – 432 ) with one another have a reciprocal influence
on each other, but seldom to the same extent such as the cultures on Babylonia and the Levant
during the Kassite period.
6 These exchanges took place on various levels, such as individual or social levels, and also appear
in various categories of society such as economic, political, religious, social and kinships, etc.
7 Hirth 1978 : 37.
8 Hirth 1978 : 35 – 46 ; Burghardt 1971 : 269 – 285 ; Flannery 1968 : 79 – 110.
9 Hirth 1978 : 35 – 46 ; Burghardt 1971 : 269 – 285 ; Flannery 1968 : 79 – 110.
10 The best possible understanding of the cultural panorama in the Ancient Near East can most
probably be found in a ‘dendritic structure’. This structure derives from the nervous system
in the human body and it has different shapes and several gateways or thoroughfares to serve
as intermediates for several places which provide raw material or manmade objects. Cf. the
discussions on the dendritic market networks by Hirth ( 1978 : 37 – 42 ), Kelley ( 1976 : 219 – 254 ),
Burghardt ( 1971 : 269 – 285 ), Johnson ( 1970 ) and Vance ( 1970 ).
11 Certain gateway communities can be clearly identified in the Ancient Near East during the
third, second and first millennia BC. Even certain very interesting developments can be defined,
however, more detailed studies are needed in order to display a more continuous development.
Although the entire picture during the second millennium BCcannot at this stage be regarded
as fixed, substantial features can be identified which provide more than a test for corroboration
in this regard.
12 I am using the word ‘eye’ which is taken from the dendritic structure of the nervous system
and normally used in connection with gateways. The eyes of the nervous system are never at
the same place and change without knowing why and how this has occurred. A layout and
visual display of the nervous system with the eye at different places in the system can be found
in most biological and physiological handbooks.
13 This so-called ‘Dark Age’ has been discussed at a separate congress in Vienna ( 2000 ) and the
papers published by Hunger and Pruszinszky ( 2004 ).
14 For a summary of the various aspects of trade in Ancient Ugarit, see the discussion and extensive
bibliography by Cornelius ( 1985 : 13 – 31 ).
15 Gordon ( 1997 : 82 – 83 ) described this as the ‘Amarna Age’ accepting the Mitanni empire as
the leading power at the start of the Amarna Age taken over by the Hittites in the fourteenth
century BCand followed by the Assyrians during the thirteenth century BC.
— P. S. Vermaak —