A 03: Stones from the South. Exchange of Resources between Mesopotamia and the Region of the Persian Gulf

Summary

The project will analyse the role of the region of the Persian Gulf in the long-range distribution of resources. Especially it will try to shed light on the question of how the cultural valuation of resources developed during the 3rd mill. BC. The influence of the Mesopotamian states has to be scrutinised, as well as the question which kinds of socio-cultural dynamics in the Gulf region and in the expanding states and empires of Mesopotamia were generated by this. During the 3rd mill. BC the periods of the rivalling city states or Early Dynastic period (2900 – 2350 BC) and the time of the Akkadian Empire (2350 – 2150 BC) are in the focus of interest. It will be analysed how the culturally determined use of resources changed in these periods and which specific ResourceCultures developed in the contact-zones of the states and in their distant partners in the exchange network.

Case Study

Our theoretical starting point will be the traditional paradigm, assuming that the early states and empires of Mesopotamia developed interregional exchange only to acquire raw-materials, necessary to satisfy the demand of local economy. This view will be contrasted with the hypothesis that the acquisition and valuation of materials with considerable cultural connotation played an equally important, or even more important, role as a motivation to create exchange networks. This approach works on the assumption that the Mesopotamian societies of the 3rd mill BC got involved in the region of the Persian Gulf because they turned certain materials into resources by assigning a specific cultural meaning to them. This was mainly applied to gemstones reaching Mesopotamia via the Persian Gulf, Lapislazuli, Carneol, Diorit and Chlorit being the most important ones for the cultures during the 3rd mill. BC.

While the cultural valuation of these resources was quite obviously initiated by the Mesopotamian cultures, it has to be asked what kinds of socio-political and socio-cultural dynamics were triggered by this exchange in the contact-zone between Mesopotamia and the regions providing the supply of the resources. The emergence of distinct ResourceCultures in the Gulf region during Early Dynastic and Akkadian times, triggered by this exchange, can be expected.

Serving as an example for the project, the region around Hormuzgan on the Iranian coast of the Gulf within the Strait of Hormuz was chosen. The project includes an archaeological survey of selected parts of the region of Hormuzgan, focussing on sites from the 3rd mill. BC. Using GIS-methods to reconstruct ResourceComplexes, the survey will closely cooperate with geography. Another close cooperation is planned with ethnologists from Tübingen, who already successfully accomplished several research projects in the region. While conducting preliminary ethno-historical investigations at the Strait of Hormuz about the exchange of resources and its influence on settlement pattern and infrastructure, they already established a fruitful cooperation with the Ferdowsi University at Mashhad.

Impact for the Collaborative Research Centre

For the benefit of the Collaborative Research Centre the project will provide insights into the interrelationship of far-distance resource exchange and the cultural valuation of resources. A better understanding of the emergence of socio-cultural dynamics in the contact-zones of different ResourceCultures will be achieved. Because the project deals with the involvement of states and empires in the exchange of resources, instructive conceptual comparisons with the development in other less hierarchized societies studied by other projects of the Collaborative Research Centre will be facilitated.

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