The story of mid-third millennium BC contacts between the Indus Civilization and the west has been told in several places (e.g. Oppenheim 1954; Asthana 1976, Ratnagar 1981; Possehl 1996a) (Fig. 1). In fact, it was seals from Susa, Ur and other sites in Mesopotamia that were stylistically similar to those found at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa that gave archaeologists their first chronological estimate for the age of the Indus Civilization (Sayce 1924). There are many perfectly good Indus artifacts in Mesopotamian sites of the third millennium. A selection of these is given in Fig. 2, with the site and a citation. If ‘Meluhha’ is a Sumerian referent for the Indus Civilization, which seems to be the case, then there were Indus peoples in Mesopotamia, even a translator of the Meluhhan language (Possehl 1996a). The documentation of Indus, or Indus-like, material in the west is reasonably strong, but the record is not balanced. There is not nearly as much Mesopotamian, or Mesopotamian-like, material in the Indus. But, there is some, and this paper offers me an opportunity to present it, in light of Professor Lamberg-Karlovsky’s long interest in third millennium trade. Another presentation of this theme was attempted by the late E. C. L. During Caspers (1985). This paper should be used cautiously. Whether her thesis that there were Sumerian merchants resident in Indus settlements is correct or not, can be left to the individual reader.

Indus-Mesopotamian trade: The record in the Indus

This paper provides a comprehensive examination of the seals of the so-called ‘Gulf Type’, which date to the end of the third millennium BC. It is argued that the Gulf Type seals are of key importance to our understanding of the origin of sealing and other administrative technologies within an emerging Early Dilmun ‘state’. Based on principal component analysis it is demonstrated that the shape of Gulf Type seals with inscriptions in Indus characters is distinct from seals without inscriptions. It is further argued that Gulf Type seals found in the Indus Valley, Iran, Mesopotamia/Bahrain and Bahrain can be connected with relatively discrete morphological groups apparently corresponding to different areas of production. The Indus inscriptions on the seals are investigated with particular emphasis on the abnormal occurrence of prefixed ‘twins’ signs in the western inscriptions. The hypothesis that a language different from that of the Harappans was used on these seals is reconfirmed on the basis of a newly found seal with a particular instructive pseudo-inscription. The paper concludes that breakaway Harappans operating in the western orbit invented the Gulf Type seals but that the type from around 2050 BC became practically synonymous with the merchant communities in Dilmun.

The westward transmission of Indus Valley sealing technology: origin and development of the ‘Gulf Type’ seal and other administrative technologies in Early Dilmun, c.2100–2000 BC

A recent discovery of considerable interest is the fragmentary blank of a black steatite seal, found lying on the surface of rough ground 200-300 m south-east of the well complex at Diraz on the north coast of the island of Bahrain, in an area* littered with ridged Barbar potsherds (During Caspers, 1976, 8-17). With an actual size of 2.2 x I -7cm and a thickness at the widest point of the collar of 0.4 cm, this seal falls within the category of small stamp seals known to have come from both Bahrain and from Failaka island belonging to the third and early second millennia BC. Of seals in this category, only a very few represent the early type, with an Indian influenced ‘button’ boss at the back, scored by one or two grooves and transversely pierced at right angles to the scoring. This particular type of seal was often characterized by the portrayal of an Indus bull with a lowered head (During Caspers, 1976, 23 ff). Although the greater majority of the Dilmun or ‘Persian Gulf’ seals from Bahrain and Failaka were manufactured of a greyish kind of steatite, a small number was cut from black steatite, and amongst this latter group are specimens of the early ‘button’ bossed type (Glob, 1968, P1. p. 103; Bibby, 1970, P1. 7 ~ ) . Comparable to the bead making process, the contours of the blank had been roughly shaped, and the face left uncarved. The boss had been marked with one incised groove across, but there is an absence of further characteristic features, such as the four dot-in-circle patterns engraved on either side of the central groove which distinguish the later stamp seals from the early ‘button’ boss type. The cutter’s next step towards completion of the seal seemed to be the drilling of the suspension hole, and the discarded blank in question shows clearly that the seal cutter had miscalculated the direction of the drill holes. These had been commenced separately on either side, but instead of joining in a straight line within the boss, both attempts were deflected and

A Dilmunite seal cutter’s misfortune

The purpose of this note is to draw attention to a small stone sculpture from Dabar Kot, representing a male head, five centimetres high, first published by Sir Aurel Stein (n.1). From the photographs (PL. XL) we can see that the eyebrows are marked by a thick continuous notched groove, the large eyeholes da not contain eyeballs, the k g e projecting nose is broken off far the @eater part and that the small mouth consists only of two slits. A peculiarity is the rendering of the ears by fiat, oval protuberances, which show no further mark of detaiL On the neck, the small round holes, originally inhid, must suggest a string of beads. Adornment with necklaces, bracelets or anklets OCCUFS repeatedly on the ‘Mother goddess’ figurines in the cultures of the peasant communities of Baluchistan, as well as in the Harappan Civilization. From Sir Aurel Steinas description it is not clear what the exact circumstances of this find were. Because, however, he makes no mention of earlier material found in the same trench-indeed apparently none has been found in situ--but only of objects from the Harappan Civilization and possibly later periods, it seems to me unlikely that this head could be regarded as pae-Harappan. As there are no indications to place it in a later period, and in view of the foregoing considerations, it seems more probable that this head comes from the Harappan layer found at Dabar Kot which indeed was once a trading post for that civilization. On examination of the photographs it also seems that this head, although found in Northern Baluchistan, shows some characteristics of the sculpture from Sumer and the river Diyala area in the EarIy Dynastic Period. The rendering of the ears by fiat, oval protuberances has no parallels in the Harappan Civilization, but can be paralleled in a head from the Nintu Temple VI of Khafajah, dated by*H. Frankfort in the Early Dynastic I1 Period (n. 2). This indication, together with the clumsy workmanship of the piece, could perhaps suggest an Early Dynastic I1 dating, although the clumsy workmanship could also be a sign it is a local imitation made after a Mesopotamian model. E. C. L. DURING CASPERS PLATE XL

E. C. L. During Caspers

Papers

A Dilmunite seal cutter’s misfortune

A Male Head Found at Dabar Kot