Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. Proceedings of The Seminar For Arabian Studies

INTERCULTURAL/MERCANTILE CONTACTS BETWEEN THE ARABIAN GULF AND SOUTH
ASIA AT THE CLOSE OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM B.C.

Author(s): E. C. L. During Caspars
Source: Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, Vol. 22, Proceedings of the
Twenty Fifth SEMINAR FOR ARABIAN STUDIES held at Cambridge on 23rd - 25th July
1991 (1992), pp. 3-28
Published by: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd.
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41223378
Accessed: 27-11-2018 09:06 UTC
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3
INTERCULTURAL/MERCANTILE CONTACTS BETWEEN THE ARABIAN GULF AND

SOUTH ASIA AT THE CLOSE OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM B.C.
Dr. E.C.L. During Caspers
One of the most interesting developments in Middle Asian

Archaeology in recent years has been the emergence of an even clearer
pattern of intercultural links and trading exchanges over a very wide
area in the late third and early second millennium B.C. We should
begin by defining this area. It ranges from South Turkmenia and the
ancient deltaic basin of the Murghab, also called the lower Murghab,
and in ancient times known as Magiana; Uzbekistan, now part of the
Soviet Union; and the oases of northwest Afghanistan (Dawlatabad,
Farukabad and Dashly) , in ancient times known as Bactria; central
Baluchistan; southern Pakistani and Iranian Baluchistan; the Indus
Valley Civilization; Iran; the Arabian Gulf areas, viz. Bahrain, parts
of coastal Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman; and
ancient Mesopotamia. My aim is to select certain material goods which
give irrefutaole evidence of these contacts. Also among these goods
were raw materials such as lapis lazuli, agate and carnelian,
turquoise, gold, silver and ivory. Besides this, we may also postulate
a trade in more perishable substances such as foodstuffs, fabrics,
timber and finished wood products. These latter articles have left no
trace, so we are not in a position to prove that they actually did
exist in a basically non-recorded trade economy.
We should now examine some of the sites more closely. Since 1969,
the Afghan-Soviet archaeological missions, in which Prof. Viktor
Sarianidi has played a prominent role, have concentrated on the three
oases of northwest Afghanistan, viz. Dawlatabad, Farukabad and Dashly.
More than 70 sites have been recorded in these localities. Over a
hundred graves in the Dashly Oasis have been excavated, and more than
seven hundred graves have been excavated at Dharkutan in southern
Uzbekistan (1). Some of these graves have been cut into the habitation
deposits, but more frequently they have been encountered in the ruins
of abandoned sites and, most commonly, they are located in cemeteries
proper. Besides single, double and multiple burials, there are also
cenotaphs. The graves themselves were dug directly into the soil and
consist of a sort of funeral chamber at the end of a relatively deep
shaft. This chamber is either placed directly at the bottom of ehe
shaft or is extended from one of its sides. Frequently bricks were
placed on top of the grave (2).
thpiZ-'Vf11181!^8 deceased were lying in a flexed position,

-Й h 9ΐ °r S ' bUt S8ldOm in a prone or suPine Po
furnished ;heir ^ds.w^re h with turne^ toward the north. The graves were ric
furnished with pottery -- sometimes as many as a score of items rich
4
been recorded in one grave. Furthermore, such artefacts as copper

needles and pins with richly decorated heads, cosmetics flasks of
copper or pottery, steatite flacons, copper bracelets, copper blades,
gold, silver and copper/bronze vases, stone beads, copper and stone
stamp seals and cylinder seals have also been discovered in large
numbers ( 3 ) .
Architectural similarities, the funerary rites performed in

connection with the graves as judged by the presence of food offerings,
the occasional interment of rams in separate graves also provided with
offerings, and the objects buried with the rams and with the dead
themselves, suggest a clear cultural identity between the lower
Murghab region of southeastern Turkmenia called Margiana, and the
valley of the Surkhan-Daria River in south Uzbekistan (the sites
Sapalli, Dharkutan and Mullali) and northwest Afghanistan, the latter
two known as Bactria ( 4 ) .
Regular Soviet excavations in the lower Murghab region, the

territory of ancient Margiana, have taken place as early as 1972 with
the expeditions to Auchin-tepe and Takhirbay . In 1974, excavations
started in the oases of Gonur and Togolok. Gonur I is the largest
site of ancient Margiana, while another settlement-cum-ternple complex
lies in the oasis of Togolok. Excavations continued in 1977 and
1984-1986 (5). More to the north lie the sites of the Kelleli oasis
with Taip-tepe south of the latter (6). However, the number of
scientifically excavated graves in Bactria falls far short of the
presumably many thousands of graves illicitly opened and subsequently
plundered by local Afghan farmers since 1974. Particularly extensive
grave robbery has taken place in the neighborhood of the villages of
Akcha , Farukabad , Dawlatabad and Nikcha in the province of Balkh.
Many of the Bactrian graves are located almost directly below the
surface, a fact which, according to Kohl and Pottier, not only
explains why so many thousands have been illicitly opened and
plundered, but also why so many seem to contain incomplete or
secondarily deposited skeletons (7).
The Soviet archaeologists still adhere to the Soviet uncalibrated

C-14 dates of the mid-second millennium B.C., which are too low.
However, if one assembles all the dates reported in the Soviet
literature, adjusts them to the 5730 half line, and applies the
correction factors advocated by the MASCA Laboratories in Philadelphia,
a fairly consistent sequence of nearly fifty dates is obtained which
pushes the Central Asian sequence back to a date even slightly earlier
than Western archaeologists have so far favoured (8). These available
corrected radiocarbon determinations and stylistic parallels to
historically "secure" sequences, in Kohl's view suggest the initial
expansion of Central Asian settlements into the lower Murghab, viz.
Margiana, and onto the norhtern and southern Bactrian Plain, viz.
southern Uzbekistan and northwest Afghanistan, during the second half
of the third millennium B.C., and which will have continued,
particularly the development of this culture in southern Bactria,
throughout the first half of the second millennium B.C. (9).
The extensive grave robbery has meant that innumerable funerary

objects have subsequently flooded the markets of the antique dealers
in Kabul and from there have found their way into museums and private
collections in Europe and the United States, where they have already
become the subject of articles and museum catalogues. Then, at the
Sixth International Conference of the Association of South Asian
Archaeologists in Western Europe in 1981, M. Santoni reported on some
5
recent discoveries in the southern sector of the large prehistoric

site of Mehrgarh in the northern part of the Kachi Plain of central
Baluchistan, Pakistan (10). There, south of the fourth and third
millennium B.C. mound, lay a badly eroded cemetery which included
graves containing flexed skeletons, cenotaphs and simple deposits,
chronologically assigned to Mehrgarh Period VIII, viz. the late third-
early second millennium B.C. This funerary area yielded abundant
material presenting obvious parallels with cultural complexes of
eastern Iran, viz. the still enigmatic site of Shahdad (11) on the
edge of the Dasht-i Lut; northwest Afghanistan, viz. the Dashly Oasis
(12); southern Uzbekistan, viz. Sapalli Tepe (13); and the lower
Murghab region, formerly Margiana (14). A settlement near Mehrgarh
called Sibri contained a cultural horizon similar to Mehrgarh Period
VIII (15), as does a new site called Dauda Damb a few kilometers
northeast of Sibri, the surface of which is littered with shards in
the Mehrgarh VIII style. Once again, both sites show a strong
Murghabo-Bactrian character ( 16 ) .
At the Eighth International Conference of South Asian Archae-

ologists at Moesgaard, Denmark in 1985, J.-F. Jarrige and M. Usman
Hassan (17) made the first announcement of the exceptional chance
discoveries of two clusters of antiquities at Quetta, northwest of
Mehrgarh in central Baluchistan. One of these two clusters was
associated with a human burial and, on the basis of the associated
artefacts, was dated to the Mehrgarh VIII Period. The other was a
deposit not far from the first grave. This has since become known as
the Quetta hoard because of its unique assortment of typical Murghabo-
Bactrian objects including, for example, round copper/bronze discs
like mirrors without handles, one of the three types of mirror known
from Bactria, and a gold goblet decorated with four embossed lions
set between two relief uands and with a double-grooved, twisted,
rope-like band in the lower register, to which reference will be made
later on. This Quetta hoard, from which I have selected two items
because of their relevance to the Arabian Gulf material which forms
the nub of this paper, illustrates yet again the existence of strong
cultural ties and exchange of luxury goods with the Murghab delta,
viz. Margiana and the Bactrian territories of northwest Afghanistan,
and southern Uzbekistan, towards the close of the third millennium
B.C. Here it should be stressed that Kohl and Pottier have pointed to
the fact that Jarrige favours an early relative correlation of the
Mehrgarh and Sibri data with the Murghabo-Bactrian sequence, linking
these materials specifically to remains from the Kelleli Oasis in
Margiana and to the earliest known Bronze Age remains in southern
Uzbekistan from Sapalli Tepe (18).
Evidence for direct cultural and mercantile contacts between the

Bactrian-Margiana region and the Indus Valley Plains has also been
amply demonstrated in recent research by H . -M . Pottier, who has
assembled available archaeological evidence hitherto left unnoticed
(19). In a forthcoming publication, I will demonstrate the extistence
of still other archaeological items coming from the main Indus cities,
which equally show contacts with the Bactrian-Margiana culture,
thereby enlarging the archaeological evidence now available (20).
The theme of this paper is to discuss a few very distinctive

pottery types and metal vessels from central Baluchistan, southern
Pakistani and Iranian Baluchistan, and the Arabian Gulf regions, which
will then be compared with similar types and objects encountered in
the Bactrian-Margiana region.
6
Among the Murghabo-ßactrian material from the South Cemetery at

Mehrgarh VIII are pedestalled goblets with a distinct joint between
the upper bowl section and the splayed f oot ; they are said to have
been decorated with red paint (21) (Plate la). With their character-
istic plastic ridge at the junction of the bowl section and the
splayed foot, the goblets have close counterparts in, for instance,
Dashly 1 & 3 in northwest Afghanistan ( 22 ) , and the Margiana
settlements (23) where they can be dated towards the end of the third
millennium B.C. Furthermore, similarly shaped pottery goblets have
been encountered in Bahrain (24), Saudi Arabia (25) and the Oman
Peninsula (26). An initial reference to the correlation between the
goblets from Mehrgarh VIII and those from Bahrain can be found in my
paper "Some Remarks on Oman", published in the Proceedings of the
Seminar for Arabian Studies, Vol. 19, 1989 (pp. 19-20).
In Bactria and Margiana, the cup section of these pedestalled

goblets shows a great variety of profiles ranging from a slender
version like the ones from Mehrgarh VIII to distinctly globular
(Plate lb-c-d). One variety shows a straight-walled profile, and
there are also examples showing pronounced concave walls (27)
(Plate 2). As we will demonstrate, the latter type has, so far, not
been reported from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia or the Oman Peninsula, but
the Khurãb cemetery in the Bampur Basin, which I will discuss later,
does furnish such a straight-walled goblet, made of red pottery (28)
(Plate 3a).
Since it is our aim to test the validity of archaeological

evidence for cultural/mercantile contacts, we will first view the
goblets found in three variously located groups of tumuli on Bahrain
against the recently published excavations at Mehrgarh in central
Baluchistan, Pakistan. The first item to be considered is the upper
part of a 9.1 cm. high wheel-thrown, brick-red coloured rimless
goblet which must originally have stood on a splayed pedestalled
foot. It was discovered in the Hamala North tumulus (29). Tha cup
of this goblet is decorated with a row of five cross-hatched butterfly
motifs, interspersed once only by a tree or vegetation design, also
painted in plum-red (Plate 3b). This goblet can be dated by
associated finds to the late third millennium B.C., viz. an omega-
shaped pin(?) or hold-fast, a type also discovered by Bent and
Prideaux in mounds at fAli (Mound В and J)(30), and with parallels
in Akkadian and Ur III graves in Mesopotamia and at Susa in a
comparable chronological context (31). This late third millennium
B.C. corresponds neatly with a ca. 2000 B.C. date proposed for the
Mehgarh VIII Cemetery.
In connection with our efforts to establish evidence for the

trade network, it must be mentioned here that the Hamala North
tumulus has also furnished a tiny copper/bronze horned animal,
probably a goat, measuring 2 cm. high, possibly once part of a pin
(32) (Plate 3c). Recently I have proposed treating this tiny bronze
as a possible Harappan import (33), but in the course of our survey
of the pedestalled goblets it may emerge that a Murghabo-Bactrian
provenance would be equally feasible.
Secondly, three red-slipped, glossy pedestalled goblets have

also been discovered in the course of the rescue dig near 'Ali on
Bahrain, mounted by the Danish Expedition between 1961 and 1962 (34)
(Plats 3d). All three goblets show the characteristic thickened
plastic ridgs at the junction of the cup and the splayed steal, and
two of them are decorated with cross-hatched, upturned triangles in
7
black with single rows of horizontal dashes between them. The third
appears to have been left undecorated.
Thirdly, three more pedestalled goblets have recently been found

by the Arab Expedition at Sãr el-Jisr (Plate 4a), all three discovered
in Type 1 mounds characterized by a single burial ( 35 ) . These burials
are built above the surface of the ground, with a ringwall and
containing a burial chamber with one or two alcoves. Two of these
goblets were found in the same mound (S-1D0). The third example was
found singly (S-54). One of the two goblets from tumulus S-100 has
been described as being of dark grey-black ware with glossy burnishing
and turned on a wheel (36). It has an elongated cup and a thickened
plastic ridge at the junction between the cup and the hollow splayed
concave foot. In fact, it is a close counterpart of the red burnished
goblet from iMehrgarh Cemetery VIII in central Baluchistan, Pakistan
(Plate la).
The other two goblets from Sãr el-Jisr are said to be of the red
ware type of the three fAli examples. The smaller of the two, from
the same burial S-100 as the unpainted grey-black burnished goblet,
shows a fairly broad zone of criss-cross hatching or a net-like design
executed in black paint under the outer rim. The shorter, less
splayed foot is only partly hollow. The larger goblet from tumulus
S-54 shows a herring-bone pattern in between two parallel lines
executed in black, below an indistinctly painted row of fishes (Plate
4a). Although in both of these cases the diagnostic plastic ridge at
the junction of cup and stem is absent and, in addition, the goblet
from S-54 has a completely solid, low foot, the fact that both are
manufactured in fine red clay and also resemble the other goblets
under discussion in general appearance, warrants their inclusion in
this easily distinguishable group of Bahrain burial pottery.
Fourthly, fragments of very fine reddish slipped stemmed goblets

decorated under the rim with a zone either of stylized caprids or of
gazelles, painted in black on a whitish background, were discovered in
the levels 19, 17 and 15 of City II at the Qala'at al-Bahrain
(Northwall sequence? )( 37 ). These levels date to the late Akkadian,
Ur III and Isin-Larsa periods (ca. 2200-1600 B.C.). Since these
pedestalled cups appear to match those from Hamala North, fAli and
Sãr el-Jisr, this could be an important step towards a chronological
correlation between City II of the Qala'at al-Bahrain and a certain
group of grave mounds.
In the fifth instance, we are presented with the possible

presence of pedestalled goblets in one of the Suq-Sunaysl graves in
Oman, dated to about 2000 B.C. (38). These would provide a chrono-
logical link with the Bahrain goblets on the one hand, and with a
small chlorite flask of Murghabo-Bactrian origin from Tomb A at Hili
North (U.A.E.) on the other (Plate 4b), since the assemblage of Tomb A
at Hili North indicates g rather safe chronological mark, viz. the
21st, or at the earliest the late 22nd, century B.C. (39).
The next find to be considered, representing a sixth example, is

a small group of pedestalled goblets with a distinct joint between the
upper bowl section and the splayed foot, decorated with a simple
painted pattern of vertical and horizontal lines, which were
discovered in the Dhahran tumuli of Saudi Arabia (40) (Plate 4c).
These afford another chronological check. Zarins correlates this
moundfiald with the City II occupation on Bahrain, which would place
the date of these goblets towards the closing stages of the third
8
millennium B.C. Furthermore, the close parallels with the pedestalled

goblets from the iMehrgarh VIII Cemetery and from Bactria and Margiana
almost certainly point to a Central Asian connection for this type of
ware, although a local production of the painted goblet variety from
Saudi Arabia, from the tumuli at Hamala North, 'Ali and Sar el-Jisr on
Bahrain, and in City II of the gala 'at al-Bahrain, and the ones from
Oman, cannot be ruled out.
Having reviewed finds of pottery goblets, I now wish to discuss

discoveries of the same type of object in metal. An 18 cm. high
rimless copper/bronze goblet on a short, hollow cylindrical stem with
a splayed foot and a concave base was also discovered in the tumulus
at Hamala North on Bahrain (41) (Plate 4d). It had been carefully
positioned with some stones at its base, possibly to prevent it
tipping over. This suggests that it once contained some sort of
liquid, perhaps beer or wine, both known from the ancient Near Eastern
":exts. Unfortunately, the goblet is too corroded to permit analysis
of the inner surface. This goblet has so far remained the only
published one from the Arabian Gulf area, and there has been no more
than a suggestion that metal goblets either preceded those made of
pottery or else that both varieties were contemporaneous (42).
On the other hand, large collections of copper/bronze -- and, to

a far lesser extent, of gold and silver -- goblets and vases of
different shapes, displaying high artistic competence, are known to
have come from the plundered graves in Bactria. Among the gold
vessels from the Fullol hoard in the Badekhshan region of northeastern
Afghanistan is the 'iowl of a pedestalled gold goblet, of which the
lower part of the ctem is missing (43) (Plate 5a). However, a
distinctive thickened ridge at the junction of the cup with the
beginning of the stem is clearly visible. The decoration consists of
an embossed geometric pattern. A similarly shaped pedestalled goblet,
alço in gold and pertaining to the Quetta deposit or "hoard" (44)
(Plate 5b), also shows α pronounced chickened embossed ridge between
the bowl and the stem, and its shape closely resembles the pedestalled
plain ceramic goblets from Mehrgarh, Period VIII.
The copper/bronze goblet from Hamala North has no thickened

ridge, but this is also the case of the two painted pedestalled
goblets from the Sãr el-Jisr moundfield. The painted cup section of
the goblet from the Hamala North tumulus is broken off just above the
point where one would expect to find a distinctive joint, had there
been one, and similarly the goblet fragments from the City II levels
at the Gala 'at al-Bahrain do not afford a reliable reconstruction
either . Conversely, the painted pottery goblets from 'Ali and from
Dhahran do have this distinct ridge. Although the absence of this
feature on the goblet from Hamala North may ba indicative of a local
initiative taken in production, considered in conjunction with the
painted decoration on some of the Arabian Gulf goblets, which is
definitely non-iMurghabo-Bac trian , both ths Murghab delta region and
Bac:ria also show in their pedestalled goblet potteries various types
which Co not have this distinct ridge under their cup section.
The emergence of evidence of α local copper production on Bahrain

would demolish the argument that we can consider the copper/ bronze
goblet only as a direct import piece and, in the absence of any metal
analysis tests we can, for the moment, only surmise that either a
Murghabo-Eactrian prototype may have been used in the local production
of this copper/bronze pedestalled goblet from the Hamala North grave:
mound or that we are, indeed, dealing with an actual import, since
9
another copper/bronze goblet, said by C.S. Phillips to look identical

to the one from Bahrain, was found in the Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah
together with a typical Bactrian weapon.
It would be beyond the scope of this short paper to consider

other additional evidence of a possible contact between the Arabian
Gulf and the Bactria-Margiana cultural sphere of influence having
resulted in local imitations in the Gulf area. These will be
discussed in a forthcoming contribution to the N.G. Majumdar Commemo-
ration Volume, to be published in India (45).
Although we are confronted with clear evidence of Bactrian

contacts in the Oman Peninsula, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, this does
not mean that we can point to any of these areas in particular as
having been instrumental in their production. An intricate network of
mercantile interaction connecting the Arabian Gulf and South Asia may
be held responsible and may have resulted in equally intricate
cultural intercourse. One example is the typical Umm an-Nar "black-
on-grey ware" canister jars encountered in Umm an-Nar tombs, in Hili
Grave 1059 and in Graves M at Hili, A in Hili. North, in the United
Arab Emirates (46) (Plates 5c & d, 6a & b) and at 'Amlah in Oman (47).
These canister jars provide a correlation with pottery from south-
eastern Iran where both the shape and the mode of decoration occur in
the burnished black-on-grey ware of the Bampur V,2 and VI Periods (48).
De Cardi has noted strong Kulli-Mehi traits in this later Bampur
material and the characteristic Kulli-Mehi canister-type pottery could
well have been the prototype of the black-on-grey canister jars of the
Bampur V and VI Periods. Recent ceramic analysis of some of the Umm
an-Nar black-on-grey ware (Umm an-Nar island, Baat, Maysar and Hili 6)
has led R. bright to consider this pottery ware as a variant of the
Indo-Iranian Emir Grey, and a southeastern Iranian origin for the Umm
an-Nar black-on-grey pottery has, therefore, been suggested (49).
Nevertheless, the Arabian Gulf may have been under the direct
influence of the Kulli-Mehi culture of southern Baluchistan, since the
latter shows an unmistakable Murghabo-Bactrian element amidst its
otherwise local Baluchistan tradition, hence the occurrence of
Murghabo-Bactrian products and/or concepts in the Gulf.
Although the published data from both Pakistani Baluchistan, viz.

the Kulli-Mehi sites and the cemetery of Shahi Tump and from the
Bampur Valley, such as the Khurãb cemetery and Fanuch, are totally
incomplete and inadequately published, Kohl and Potter emphasize (50)
that, contrary to the theory of the possible arrival of Central Asian
peoples at Mehrgarh, Sibri, Quetta and now also at Dauda Damb and
possibly other sites in the Kachi Plain of central Baluchistan, the
supposition of a large-scale movement of Central Asian peoples into
the Bampur Valley or Pakistani Baluchistan cannot be supported by the
present archaeological evidence. They suggest the Murghabo-Bactrian
materials, to which we will turn shortly, might be more economically
explained as resulting from contacts, possibly established during
annual migratory cycles , with new peoples now living immediately to the
north in central Baluchistan and on the edge of the Dashti-Lut. The
continuity of materials in the local tradition manifested both at the
Bampur sites and in southern Baluchiscan certainly lends weight to
their suggestion.
But it still remains to be seen whether Pakistani Baluchistan or

the Bampur Valley region did indeed afford an easy corridor for the
cultural and economic contacts with the Arabian Gulf. Therefore, we
should take a closer look at the finds from these two areas. The
ΙΟ
limited scope of this paper has made me decide, however, not to

include the cemetery of Shahi Tump since the Murghabo-Bactrian objects
discovered by Sir Aurel Stein are, on a whole, of a different nature
than those found at Mehi and at Khurãb, Dãmin and Fanuch in the Bampur
Valley area. We will, therefore, concentrate on the first two sites.
The funerary deposits II and III at Mehi, on which Sir Aurel

Stein has reported (51), consisted either of simple cremation remains
or of ashes and remains of bones from completely cremated bodies in
cinerary urns (52), a custom not comparable to the Murghabo-Bactrian
practice of placing the body in a shallow pit in a flexed position.
They were, however, accompanied by several objects of Bactrian
provenance. It would be tempting to explain these recorded data as
burials of persons of Bactrian descent wno had to comply with a
non-Bactrian , perhaps local, practice of cremation.
A copper/bronze mirror with an anthropomorpnic handle from Mehi

burial deposit II ( 2 . 1 . a . ) ( 53 ) ( Plate 6c & d) is the only example of
its kind so far found outside its homeland Bactria (Plate 7a & b), and
therefore places the anthropomorphic bronze handle of a mirror, in the
shape of a small naked male figurine, very much in the ancient
Sumerian tradition, from the Barbar Temple IIA on Bahrain, in its
proper perspective (54) (Plate 7c & d). It stands on a curved base,
the foot of which has two rivet holes and a slot, and points to a
cultural interplay between Mesopotamia, the Dilmun culture of Bahrain,
the Kulli-Mehi culture of southern Baluchistan, and the Murghabo-
Bactrian cultural environment. However, it is a misconceived copy,
for the functional artistry of the copper/bronze mirrors from Mehi and
the Bactrian graves, which have a handle representing a stylized
female figure, is entirely lacking in the one from Bahrain. In the
case of the mirrors from Mehi and Bactria, the head of the stylized
figure is provided only by the reflection of the face of the user in
the mirror, but the Barbar figurine has to be turned upside down in
order to use the mirror properly.
From the same burial deposit as the large copper mirror with a
handle inthe shape of a stylized figure, arms akimbo, comes a copper
pin with a large, neatly worked head in the shape of a stamp seal
(Mehi II .2 .2 .a. )( 55 )( Plate 6c & d), a type often encountered in
Bactria, viz. southern Uzbekistan, at the sites Sapalli Tepe and
Mullali (56). This type of pin also occurs, for instance, at the
cemetery of Dãmin (57), whereas a bird-headed, single- and double-
looped and button-headed pins coma from cenotaphs at Mehrgarh VIII
(53), the latter two also of Murghabo-Bactrian origin. A single-
looped pin was also discovered at Kulli (Kul. 1 . 1 .8 .2 ) ( 59 ) . A
second copper pin with a head formed by a lapis lazuli bead was
discovered in Mehi burial deposit III ( . 6 . 9 ) ( 60 ) ( Plate 6c & d). The
lapis lazuli head of this pin points to a Bactrian source of
inspiration, if not to a Bactrian origin. Another important discovery
in burial deposit III (6.18) was a stamp seal thought by Stein to have
been carved of bone (61) (Plate 8a). This bone (or perhaps alabaster?)
stamp seal is of particular interest because it is of a type known
from the Bactrian-Margiana cultural complex, being almost identical to
a series of stamp seals in the shape of a star or a flower and made of
stone and alabaster (62) (Plate 8b).
The burial deposit III (.6) at Mehi has also produced a large
unpainted red goblet with a wide, shallow open cup section with
rounded sides and a high, widely splayed foot, as well as a triple set
of truncated conical bowls with clipped and indented rims (Mehi III
11
.6.13 & Mehi III .6.2 & 3)(63)(Plate 8c & d; Plate 9). They have
extremely close, almost identical parallels in Margiana, for example
at the Kelleli Oasis, at Gonur-tepe 1 and Togolok-tepe 1,21,24, and in
Bactria, for instance at Sapalli-tepe and at Dashly 1 & 3 (64), where
both types come in a great variety of shapes and sizes and with
various profiles and rim details (Plate 2c & d; Plate 8c & d; Plate
9a) .
At this point we have to turn our attention to the Bampur Valley,

to the cemetery at Khurãb, which has already been mentioned in
connection with our discussion of the pedestalled goblets from the
Arabian Gulf. The burial custom at Khurãb differs from the cremation
practice prevailing at Mehi and shows instead what looks like
fractional or secondary burials. The üurial L.i at Khurab, which has
furnished the straight-walled pedestalled goblet already referred to
(L.i 278)(Plate 3a), also contained a close counterpart of the chalice
cup on a high, widely splayed foot discovered at Mehi. This
pedestalled chalice (L.i. 279 )( 65 )( Plate 9b) was also made of red
clay. From the same burial L.i. at Khuräb came what Stein has
described as a "flowerpot", which is, in fact, one of the varieties of
truncated conical cups or bowls with clipped and indented rims
particularly common in the Murghabo-Bactrian pottery corpus (66) (Plate
9c).
To the same series of truncated conical cups or bowls belong

those discovered in Khurãb burials D (D .245, 246), Ε. i (.256) and
F. i. (.267)(67). A detailed examination, if such is still possible,
of the bronze/copper and alabaster vessels and other metal objects
from the richly furnished Khurãb ourials would certainly be rewarding
in providing more parallels with the Central Asian materials (68).
One example, not illustrated, may serve to underline this suggestion.
Sir Aurel Stein mentions in passing that in Burial L.ii(?) at Khurãb
he found a large flat plaque which might have formed a part of a
mirror ( 69 ) .
When we recurn once more to the cemetery at Mehi in southern

Baluchistan, we find that burial deposit III also contained a thin
copper uisc, which Stein thought was probably a mirror (Mehi III. 6. 5)
(70)( Plate 6c & d). Taking these two accounts into serious consid-
eration, we may well have two more Murghabo-Bactrian mirrors, in this
case the type without a handle.
Finally from burial deposit II(.7) at Mehi emerged a rim fragment

adorned with an animal with a pendent tail, presumably a dog (71)
(Plate 9d). This animal is crudely fashioned in clay and its four
feet have been placed on either side of the rim.
Bactrian graves in the northwest Afghan province of Balkh and at

sites in the lower Murghab area, viz. Margiana, have provided vessels
with straight walls and a low ring base, thrown from red clay and with
a cream coloured slip. They are decorated with snakes crawling on the
inside and over the rim, and also seals, horned animals, possibly
zebus, as well as other animals less readily identifiable, and human
beings, all having a place on the rim (72). This type of vessel
decorated with human beings and animals modelled on the rim was
apparently quite popular, and they are regarded oy Viktor Sarianidi as
having served an important cultic and deep religious purpose. A
complete vessel with a similar plastic decoration was discovered in
Margiana in tha site complex of Togolok and again shows seals, snakes,
possibly wolves, birds(?) ana human beings (73) (Plate 10a, b, с & d).
12
The rim fragment from burial deposit I I (.7) at Mehi, with its
plastic decoration in the shape of a dog (which meanwhile has also
come to the notice of Sarianidi, who incorporates it in his most
recent 1990 publication), may, therefore, illustrate that even this
rather special type of pottery has found its way to southern
Baluchistan. This leaves us with the intriguing but rather speculative
question of whether the cultic and religious ideas of the Murghabo-
Bactrian world had also travelled to southern Baluchistan and to the
Bampur Valley region. Notwithstanding, we are still left with a
fascinating, emerging pattern of contacts throughout a wide area in
the late third and early second millennium B.C.
NOTES & REFERENCES
1 ) For the major publications of the Murghabo-Bac triari materials see

Askarov, A. 1973 Sapalli- tepe . Taškent; Id. 1977 Drevnezemledel !
(feskaja kul'tura epokhi bronzy juga Uzbekistana; Masimov, I.S.
1981 »The Study of Bronze Age Sites in the Lower Murghab'. The
Bronze Age Civilization of Central Asia: Recent Soviet Discoveries
Ph^L. Kohl (ed.) New York: 194-220; Id. 1981a »Novye nak
pe'catej epokhi bronzy s nizovij Murgaba'. Sovetskaja Arkheologija
2: 132-150; Pettier, M.-H. 1 984 Matériel Funéraire de la Bactriane
Méridionale 1T Age du Bronze. Ed. Recherche sur les civilisations
A.D. P. F. Paris (with a detailed bibliography: 103-129); Pyankova,
L. 1989 »Pottery Complexes of Bronze-Age Margiana (Gonur and
Togolok 21 ) f . Information Bulletin, Unesco, International
Association for the Study of the Cultures of Central Asia, Issue
16, Moscow: 27-54; Sarianidi, V.l. 1 97 A »Baktrija v epokhi bronzy1.
Sovetskaja Arkheologija 4; 49-71; Id. 1976 ' issledovanie
pamjatnikov Dašlinskogo oazica1. Drevnjaja Baktrija: 21-86; Id.
1976a » Pec'ati-amuleti Murgabskogo stila1. Sovetskaja Arkheologija
1: 42-68; Id. 1977 Drevnii zemledelTcy Afghanistana. Matériau
Sovetskoj-Afganiskoj Ekspedisii 1969-1974. Moscow; Id. 1979 'New
Finds in Bactria and indo-iranian Connections1. South Asian
Archaeology 1977, M. Taddei (ed.) Naples: 643-659; Id. 1981
'Margiana in the Bronze Age1. The Bronze Age Civilization of
Central Asia: Recent Soviet Discoveries, Ph.L. Kohl (ed.)
New York: 165-193. Id. 1981a »Seal-Amulets of the Murghab Style1.
Kohl (ed.): 221-255; Id. 1986 »Le complexe culturel de Togolok
en Margiane1 . Arts Asiatiques XLI; Id. 1986a Die Kunst des Alten
Afghanistan. Architektur, Keramik, Siegel , Kunstwerke aus Stein
und Metal. Leipzig; Id. 1990 Drewnosti Stranii Margush. Akademiya
Nauk Turkmenskoi SSR . AsjgabacT
2) Pottier 1984: 6.
3) Pottier 1984: 7; see also her reference to Sarianidi, V.l. 1976

f Issledavanie pamjatnikov Daslinskogo oazica1 Drevnjaja Baktrija:
34-43, 72-83.
4) Pottier 1984: 6-7.
5) Sarianidi 1990.
6) Masimov 1981: 194-220.
13
7) Kohl, Ph.L., Pottier, M.-H. (in press) 'Central Asian1 Materials

from Baluchistan and Southeastern Iran at the end of the third
Millennium B.C.: Some preliminary observations1. To be published
in Pérsica XIV (1990-1991).
8) Kohl, Ph.L. (ed.) 1981 'Introduction- The Namazga Civilization:

An Overview': xxviii-xxxiii ; Pottier 1984: 53-55.
9) Kohl (ed. ) 1 981 : xxix.
10) Santoni, M. 1984 'Sibri and the South Cemetery of Mehrgarh: third
millennium connections between the northern Kachi Plain (Pakistan)
and Central Asia'. South Asian Archaeology 1981, B. Allchin (ed.),
Cambridge: 52-60.
11) Hakemi, A. 1972 Catalogue de l'exposition Lut-Xabis ( Shahdad ) .

Teheran .
12) Sarianidi, V.l. 1976, 1977.

13) Askarov, A. 1973, 1977
1 4 ) See note 1 .
15) Santoni 1984: 54-59.
16) Jarrige, J.-F., Hassan, M. Usman 1989 'Funerary Complexes in

Baluchistan at the end of the Third Millennium in the Light of
recent Discoveries at Mehrgarh and Quetta'. South Asian Archaeo-
logy 1985, K. Frifelt, P. Sórensen (eds.) London: 150-166, esp.
Dauda Damb : 165.
17) Jarrige & Hassan 1989: 153-164.

18) Kohl & Pottier (in press)
19) Pottier 1984.
20) During Caspers, Elisabeth C.L. ( for thcoming b )' Widening Horizons:
The Indus Valley Civilization and Central Asia in the late third
and early second millennia B.C.'
21) Santoni 1984: 54, Fig. 8.3.1 on p. 55.

22) e.g. Sarianidi 1976: Figs. 18, no. 4, 19, no. 8, 21, nos. 10,23
(Dashly 1), 33, no. 9, 34, no. 23 (Dashly 3); Id. 1986a: 94.
23) e.g. Pyankova 1989: Figs . 4 , no. 28, 6, nos. 11-14 (Togolok 21);
Sarianidi 1990: Pis. I, no.1, II, nos. 1,15 (Auchin 1), VII, no.1,
XIII, no. 7 (Gonur 1), XCV, no. 12, XCVIII, no. 8, XCIX, nos. 5, 28,
С, nos. 4-5 (Togolok 21 ) .
24) During Caspers, Elisabeth C.L. 1972 'The Bahrain Tumuli'. Procee-
dings of the Fifth Seminar for Arabian Studies, 1971: 9-19 esp.
12; Id. 1972-1974 'The Bahrain Tumuli'. Pérsica VI: 131-156, esp.
141-142; Id. 1980 The Bahrain Tumuli - An Illustrated Catalogue
of Two Important Collections, Nederlands Historisch-Archeologisch
Instituut te Istambul XLVII: 3, 43; Bibby, T.G. 1964 'Arabiens
Arkaeologi'. Kuml : 86-111, esp. 103, Fig. on p. 90; Id. 1970
Looking for Dilmun, New York: PI. 16A; Rice, M. 1985 Search for
the Paradise Land. London: 165, Pl.X; Ibrahim. M. 1982 Excavations
of the Arab Expedition at Sar el-Jisr. State of Bahrain, Ministry
of Information: 32, Fig. 38, 1-3, PI. 49, 1-3; Bibby, T.G. 1986
'The origins of the Dilmun Civilization'. Bahrain through the
ages- the Archaeology, Shaikha Haya Ali Al Khalifa, M. Rice
(eds.), London: 108-115, esp. 113; Bahrain National Museum.
Archaeological Collections Vol. I 1989 P. Lombard, M. Kervran
(eds.), State of Bahrain: 15, no. 10.
14
25) Zarins, J. 1989 'Eastern Saudi Arabia and External Relations:

selected ceramic, steatite and textual evidence- 3500-1900 B.C.1.
South Asian Archaeology 1985, K. Frifelt, P. Sdrensen (eds.) ,
London: 74-103, Fig. 13, nos. 6, 12, 18.
26) Frifelt, K. 1986 »Burial mounds near Ali excavated by the Danish
Expedition1. Bahrain through the ages- the Archaeology, Shaikha
Haya Ali Al Khalifa, M. Rice (eds.), London: 125-134, esp. 133.
27) e.g. Sarianidi 1976: Figs. 37, nos. 4,9, 39, no. 20, 40, no. 13,
43, no. 19, 45, no. 10, 46, no.1 (Dashly 3); Masimov 1981: Fig. 5,
nos. 26-28 (Murghab settlements).
28) Stein, Sir M.A. 1937 Archaeological Reconnaissances in North-

western India & South-Eastern Iran. London: 121, Pis. XV Khur.L.
i.278, XXXII, no. 19.
29) During Caspers 1972, 1972-1974, 1980 (see note 24).
30) Reade, J., Burleigh, R. 1978 »The fAli Cemetery: Old Excavations,
Ivory and Radiocarbon Dating». The Journal of Oman Studies 4: 81,
PI. 32c.
31) During Caspers 1972-1974: 142 and footnotes 33-35.

32) During Caspers 1972-1974: 142, Fig. 3b; Id. 1980: 5, Fig. 4b, PI.
VII, 2.
33) During Caspers 1987 fA copper-bronze animal in Harappan style

from Bahrain: Evidence of Mercantile Interaction1. Journal of the
Economic and Social History of the Orient XXX, Part I: 30-46.
34) Bibby 1964: 86-111, 6 figs; Rice 1985: 165, PI. X.
35) Ibrahim 1982: 32, Fig. 38, 1-3, PI. 49, 1-3.
36) Ibrahim 1982: 32
37) Bibby 1986: 113; Lombard & Kervran (eds.) 1989: 15, no. 10.
38) Frifelt 1986: 133.
39) Cleuziou, S., Vogt, В. 1985 f Tomb A at Hili North (United Arab
Emirates) and Its Material Connections to Southeast Iran and the
Greater Indus Valley1. South Asian Archaeology 1983,
J. Schotsmans, M. Taddei (eds.), Naples: 249-277, esp. 255, Fig.
4.5.
40) Zarins 1989: Fig. 13, nos. 6, 12, 18.

41) During Caspers 1972-1974: 142, Fig. 2d on p. 138; Id. 1980: 5,
Fig. 2d, PI. VI 1-2.
42) Ibrahim 1982: 32.
43) Sarianidi 1986a: 171-172, PI. 64 on page 189.

44) Jarrige, J.-F. 1987 'Der Kul turcomplex von Mehrgarh (Periode
VIII) und Sibri. Der "Schatz" von Quettaf. Vergessene Städte am
Indus. Frühe Kulturen in Pakistan vom 8 bis 2. Jahrtausend.
Verlag Philipp von Zabern. Mainz am Rhein: Abb. 85; Id. 1989:
156, Fig. 6-7.
45) During Caspers ( f orthcominga ) »The Reliability of Archaeological
Evidence for Mercanti le/Intercul tural Contacts between Central
and South Asia, the Arabian Gulf, and the Near East in the late
Third and early Second Millennium B.C.1. N.G. Majumdar Commemora-
tion Volume , Debala Mitra (ed.).
15
46) Bibby, T. G. 1966 »Arabian Gulf Archaeology1. Kuml : 90-95, Figs.

11-12; Id. 1970: Fig. on pp. 300-301; Cleuziou, S. 1984 »Oman
Penninsula and its Relations Eastwards During the 3rd Millennium
B.C.1. Frontiers of the Indus Civilization; Sir Mortimer Wheeler
Memorial Volume, B. Lai, S.P. Gupta (eds.) , New Delhi: 371-394,
esp. pp. 383-384, Figs. 41.17, nos. 4, 6, 41.19, nos. 1-4, 41.20,
nos. 2, 5-6; Vogt, В. 1985 fThe Umm an-Nar Tomb A at Hili North:
A preliminary report on three seasons of excavation, 1982-1984».
Archaeology in the United Arab Emirates IV, Department of
Antiquities and Tourism: 20-37, esp. 29-30, Pis. 25, no. 10, 26,
nos. 2-5; Frifelt, K. 1975 f On Prehistoric Settlement and Chrono-
logy of the Oman Peninsula1. East and West (NS) Vol. 25: 359-425,
Fig. 11, a,b,d; Cleuziou & Vogt 1985: 267-268, Fig. 8, nos. 1,5-6.
47) Cardi de, В., Collier, S., Doe, D.B. 1976 »Excavations and Survey
in Oman, 1974-1975». The Journal of Oman Studies 2: 101-198, esp.
pp. 122-123, Fig. 17, nos. 18-25.
48) Cardi de, В. 1970 Excavations at Bampur, A Third Millennium
Settlement in Persian Baluchistan, 1966. Anthropological Papers
of the American Museum of Natural History 51/3, New York: 309-
310, Figs. 38, nos. 361-363, 43, nos. 477-484.
49) Blackman, M.J., Mery, S., Wright, R.P. 1989 »Production and
Exchange of Ceramics on the Oman Peninsula from the Perspective
of Hili1. Journal of Field Archaeology 16/1: 61-77.
50) Kohl & Pottier (in press).
51) Stein, Sir M.A. 1931 An Archaeological Tour in Gedrosia MASI 43,
Calcutta: 154-163, esp. pp. 157-160.
52) Stein 1 931 : 1 63.
53) Stein 1931: 157, PI. XXXII Mehi . 1 1 . 2 . 1 . a .

54) Glob, P.V. 1954 »Temples at Barbar». Kuml : 142-149 Danish text;
149-153 English text, Fig. 6; Rao, M.S.N. 1969 fA bronze mirror
handle from the Barbar Temple, Bahrain. A further link with the
Kulli culture--South Baluchistan: 218-220, 2 Figs.; During
Caspers, Elisabeth C.L. 1973 »Sumer and Kulli meet at Dilmun in
the Arabian Gulf». Archiv für Orientforschung XXIV: 128-132,
Figs. 1-3.
55) Stein 1931: 158, PI. XXXII Mehi . 1 1 . 2 . 2 . a .

56) Askarov 1977: PI. XL, nos. 8-10, 13 ( Sapalli- tepe ) , PI. LXVII,
no.1 (Mullali); see also Sarianidi 1 986a , 1 77- 1 84 for a discussion
of the various types of decorated pins from Bactria.
57) Tosi, M. 1974 »Bampur: A Problem of Isolation». East and West 24
( 1-2) : Figs. 20-21 .
58) Santoni 1984: Fig. 8.1. A, C. On page 54 Santoni men t ions : "The
bronze objects found in the cenotaph area include ear-rings and
bangles, pins (double-spiral-headed, bird-headed (Fig. 8.1.C),
and button-headed), cosmetic bottles (Fig. 8.1. A), and toilet
objects (mirror, scissors (?)), blades or spatulae. These are all
types known from Bactria and Margiana (Askarov 1977: Plates
XXVI-XXVIII, XXXVII, XLI; Sarianidi 1977)".
59) Stein 1931: PI. XXII Kul.1.i.8.a.
60) Stein 1931: 157-158, PI. XXXII Mehi . 1 1 1 . 6 . 9 .

61) Stein 1931: 158, PI. XXXI Meh i . 1 1 1 . 6 . 1 8 .
16
62) Sarianidi 1 986a »Chapter VI, pp. 221-295, esp. PI. 86; Sarjanidi
1990: PI. XXXI, Togolok 9,21,24, Gonur 1.
63) Stein 1931: 158, Pl . XXX Mehl . 1 1 1 . 6 . 1 3 & Mehi . 1 I 1 . 6 . 2 , Mehi. 111.
6.3.
64) e.g. Askarov 1981; Masimov 1981; Pyankova 1989; Sarianidi 1976;
Sarianidi 1990.
65) Stein 1937: 121, Pis. XV Khur . L . i . 279 , XXXII, no. 9.

66) Stein 1937: 121, Pis. VI Khur . L . i . 276 , XXXIII, no. 15.
67) Stein 1937: 123, Pis. XV Khur. D. 245, Khur. D. 246, XVI Khur . Ε . i . 256 ,
Khur. F. i. 267.
68) Reference should be made to the contents of a grave at Qidfa,

Emirate Fujairah (U.A.E.) excavated by the museum of ΑΙ-Ain, Abu
Dhabi. This grave has been dated by its contents to the second
and first millennia B.C. An important collection of bronze objects
included daggers and open bowls and judging by the photographs
published by P. Corboud (Archaeological Survey of Fujairah, 1
( 1 987 ) 1988: Figs. 4-7) the copper /bronze bowls are not unlike
the one illustrated by Stein 1 937 , PI . XVIII Khur. D. 247 (which has
a disc base). Other possible comparisons are Khur. B.ii. 216, 218.
69) Stein 1937: 122.
70) Stein 1931: 158, PI. XXXII Mehi . 1 1 1 . 6 . 5 .

71) Stein 1931: PI. XXXI Mehi . 1 1 . 2 . 7 . a .
72) Sarianidi 1986a: 116-143, Pis. 32-35, Fig. on page 138 (Togolok);
Id. 1990: Pis. XII, nos. 6-7 (Togolok 21), LXXIV (Togolok 21),
LXXV (Togolok 21), LXXVI, nos. 2-3 (Togolok 21), LXXVII (Gonur 1).
73) Sarianidi 1986a: Pis. 32-35.
17
Plate 1 a Mehrgarh VIII, by Courtesy of J.-F. Jarrige 1987, Abb. 77.
1 b Togolok 21, by Courtesy of L. Pyankova 1989, Fig. 6.
18
1 с Gonur 1, by Courtesy of V.l. Sarianidi 1990, PL. XIII , no . 7 .

1 d Dashly 1, by Courtesy of V.l. Sarianidi 1976, Fig. 18, no. A.
1 e Dashly 3, by Courtesy of V.l. Sarianidi 1976, Fig. 33, no. 9.

1 f Dashly 3, by Courtesy of V.l. SarianJdi 1976, Fig . 34 , no . 23 .
19
2a&b:Dashly 3 (Sarianidi 1976 : f ig .40, no. 13 )
2d: Murghab settlements (Masimovl981 : f ig . 5)
2 с Dashly 3, by Courtesy of V.l. Sarianidi 1976, Fig . 37 , nos . A & 9.
20
PI. За: Khurab burial Li (Stein 1937:pls.XV,

XXXII ,no. 19)
PI. 3b: Hamala N . (Dur ing-Caspers 1980 : f ig . 2 , c-d ;
courtesy of the Trustees of the B.M.,W.A.A.)
PI. 3c: Hamala N. (During Caspers JESHO XXX,
1987, pl. 1,1; courtesy as 3b)
PI. 3d: 'Ali (courtesy M.Rice 1985:pl.x)
21
4a
PÍ. 4a: Sar el-Jisr (courtesy of M. Ibrahim 1982:

fig. 38,1-3) .
PI. 4b: Tomb A at Hili North (courtesy of
S.Cleziou & B.Vogt 1985 : f ig . 4 , no . 5 )
( КВЛ 4c:Dhahran Tumuli (courtesy 4b
' ISSr j/ Zarins 1989:fig. 13,6-12, 18)

V ЮЬу j/ 4d:Hamala N. (During Caspers 0 1 5
^^J9D^ 1980:pl.6f no. 2;courtesy of
^[y^ the Trustees of the B.M., 1 ■ I '
|T W.A.A.)
4c
•Id
22
Plate 5 a Fullol hoard, by Courtesy of V . I . Sarianidi 1986, PI. 64.

5 b Quetta hoard, by Courtesy of J.-F. Jarřige 1987, Abb. 85.
5c-d "Black on grey ware canister jars" from the Arabian Penin-
sula and Shahr-i Sokhta, by Courtesy óf B. Vogt 1985,Taf.57.
23
Plate 6a-b "Black on grey ware canister jars" from the Arabian Penin-
sula and Barapur, by Courtesy of B. Vogt 1985, Taf.57
Plate 6c-d Mehi burial deposits 11 & 111. Stein 1931, PI. XXXII.
24
Plate 7a-b Bactrian mirrors, by Courtesy of M. -H. Pottier 1984, Figs.

38 & 39.
7c-d Mirror handle Barbar Temple IIA, Bahrain (left), mirror

from Mehi (right); During Caspers 1973, Figs. 2 & 3.
25
Plate 9 a Dashly" 3, by Courtesy of V.l. Sarianidi 1986a, PI. 24.

9 b Khurãb burial L.i. Stein 1937, Pis. XV & XXXII, no. 9.
26
Plate 8 a Mehi stamp seal . Stein 1931, PI. XXXI.

8 b Margiana stamp seals, by Courtesy of V.l. Sarianidi 1986a,
PI. 86.
8 с Mehi burial deposit 111. Stein 1931, PI. XXX.

8 d Mehi burial deposit 111. Stein 1931, PI. XXX.
27
Plate 10a Togolok cultic vase, by Courtesy of V.l. Sarianidi 1986a,

PI. 33.
10b Togolok cultic vase, by Courtesy of V.l. Sarianidi 1986a,

PI. 35.
28
9 с Khurãb burial L.i. Stein 1937, Pis. VI & XXXIII, no. 15

9 d Mehi burial deposit 11. Stein 1931, PI. XXXI.

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INTERCULTURAL/MERCANTILE CONTACTS BETWEEN THE ARABIAN GULF AND SOUTH

ASIA AT THE CLOSE OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM B.C.

INTERCULTURAL/MERCANTILE CONTACTS BETWEEN THE ARABIAN GULF AND

Dr. E.C.L. During Caspers

One of the most interesting developments in Middle Asian

thpiZ-'Vf11181!^8 deceased were lying in a flexed position,

been recorded in one grave. Furthermore, such artefacts as copper

Architectural similarities, the funerary rites performed in

Regular Soviet excavations in the lower Murghab region, the

The Soviet archaeologists still adhere to the Soviet uncalibrated

The extensive grave robbery has meant that innumerable funerary

recent discoveries in the southern sector of the large prehistoric

At the Eighth International Conference of South Asian Archae-

Evidence for direct cultural and mercantile contacts between the

The theme of this paper is to discuss a few very distinctive

Among the Murghabo-ßactrian material from the South Cemetery at

In Bactria and Margiana, the cup section of these pedestalled

Since it is our aim to test the validity of archaeological

In connection with our efforts to establish evidence for the

Secondly, three red-slipped, glossy pedestalled goblets have

Thirdly, three more pedestalled goblets have recently been found

Fourthly, fragments of very fine reddish slipped stemmed goblets

In the fifth instance, we are presented with the possible

The next find to be considered, representing a sixth example, is

millennium B.C. Furthermore, the close parallels with the pedestalled

Having reviewed finds of pottery goblets, I now wish to discuss

On the other hand, large collections of copper/bronze -- and, to

The copper/bronze goblet from Hamala North has no thickened

The emergence of evidence of α local copper production on Bahrain

another copper/bronze goblet, said by C.S. Phillips to look identical

It would be beyond the scope of this short paper to consider

Although we are confronted with clear evidence of Bactrian

Although the published data from both Pakistani Baluchistan, viz.

But it still remains to be seen whether Pakistani Baluchistan or

limited scope of this paper has made me decide, however, not to

The funerary deposits II and III at Mehi, on which Sir Aurel

A copper/bronze mirror with an anthropomorpnic handle from Mehi

At this point we have to turn our attention to the Bampur Valley,

To the same series of truncated conical cups or bowls belong

When we recurn once more to the cemetery at Mehi in southern

Finally from burial deposit II(.7) at Mehi emerged a rim fragment

Bactrian graves in the northwest Afghan province of Balkh and at

NOTES & REFERENCES

1 ) For the major publications of the Murghabo-Bac triari materials see

3) Pottier 1984: 7; see also her reference to Sarianidi, V.l. 1976

6) Masimov 1981: 194-220.

7) Kohl, Ph.L., Pottier, M.-H. (in press) 'Central Asian1 Materials

8) Kohl, Ph.L. (ed.) 1981 'Introduction- The Namazga Civilization:

11) Hakemi, A. 1972 Catalogue de l'exposition Lut-Xabis ( Shahdad ) .

12) Sarianidi, V.l. 1976, 1977.

15) Santoni 1984: 54-59.

16) Jarrige, J.-F., Hassan, M. Usman 1989 'Funerary Complexes in

17) Jarrige & Hassan 1989: 153-164.

21) Santoni 1984: 54, Fig. 8.3.1 on p. 55.

25) Zarins, J. 1989 'Eastern Saudi Arabia and External Relations:

28) Stein, Sir M.A. 1937 Archaeological Reconnaissances in North-

31) During Caspers 1972-1974: 142 and footnotes 33-35.

33) During Caspers 1987 fA copper-bronze animal in Harappan style