Migration, Trade and Peoples: EASAA Proceedings (2005) (original) (raw)
Related papers
2013
This thesis examines the Early Roman ‘India trade’ in the Indian Ocean during the Late Pre-Islamic period through a holistic overview of excavated trading sites with an emphasis on ceramic studies. It attempts to look at the economic relations between the southeast Arabian seaboard and India, and enquires into the development and nature of the trade. This has been executed through the documentation of forms and detailed fabric analysis and quantification of Indian pottery assemblages from three sites in the UAE (Mleiha, Ed-Dur and Kush) and three sites from South Arabia and Oman (Khor Rori, Qana and Suhar). This research seeks to develop a more reliable definition of the types of wares based on an evaluation of morphology and fabric. The results are compared with select parallels of Indian pottery from a number of trading settlements particularly in western and southern India, combining both coastal and hinterland sites. The thesis also includes a technical sourcing investigation into the origin of the Indian wares occurring in the Arabian and Indian contexts using XRF analysis. Finally this thesis attempts a desk-based assessment of published data concerning ceramics from excavated sites from the Red Sea region, African ports and Arabia, particularly the sites with archaeological and historical evidence indicating trade with Peninsular India. The thesis thus constitutes a wider regional case study of Indian ceramic data as a reliable indicator of Indian Ocean trade in the Late Pre-Islamic period.
Vicino Oriente, 2015
Pottery is a key material of the ancient Indian Ocean trade network and its study provides an understanding of transcultural interactions. This study demonstrates that a reassessment from a multidisciplinary point of view offers new and original interpretations of known existing material. Even though we undeniably have a better comprehension of the Western material due to more advanced studies, these research results prove that it is necessary to dismiss the established Rome-centric perspective. In particular, a re-evaluation of the pottery finds in Western Indian Ocean countries strongly supports the idea that South Arabia and India played a primary role in international exchanges between the 3 rd century BC and the 5 th century AD. In the 3 rd century BC an important trade network arose in the Indian Ocean. Traders and sailors were the main characters in this scenario. Although these groups are usually only considered for their professional role, the reciprocal influence of their travels can be seen in the material culture and art of Roman Egypt, India and South Arabia. The trade routes crossing the Indian Ocean were important and active not only in the exchange of material goods, but also in connecting different cultures. Economic and trade relations allowed a country to open up beyond its borders, promoting a real cultural outflow. The history of Indian Ocean trade dates back to at least the second half of the 3 rd millennium BC when Mesopotamian ships called at the Harappan ports at the mouth of the Indus river (in present-day Pakistan). Subsequently this kind of international trade decreased due to political instability and economic recession. Even so, in the long period between the end of proto-historical trade and the Hellenistic period, Indian and Arab merchants learned how to exploit the monsoon. However we cannot know when they first crossed the Indian Ocean. Monsoon exploitation was a definite technical advantage for Arabs and Indians who – before Greek traders came on the scene – were for a period the only ones engaged in sea trade between the East and the West. 1 This sea route gave rise and new life to many harbours and port towns along the Indian Ocean shores, fostering a lively exchange network. The two ends of the Indian Ocean routes were India and Egypt; between them – at least at the beginning – Arabian ports played the role of entrepôts (fig. 1). Even Egypt, for most of the goods imported, was simply a middle passage to the Mediterranean routes. All inquiries into Indian Ocean trade should be multidisciplinary; only a comparison of different sources of information can shed some light on the topic by combining the evidence and interpreting it in context. As is often the case in archaeology, and for this trade route, pottery is a good guide to understanding such a phenomenon. However, it is
Archaeology of Trade in the Western Indian Ocean, 300 BC–AD 700.
In the millennium after 300 BC, the western Indian Ocean emerged as a main hub of Old World exchange. Study of this commerce long depended on separate regional archaeologies and a handful of literary sources with Western/Roman bias. A recent surge in scholarly interest has led to a vast increase in data that has fostered a more balanced understanding of the commercial, human, and material aspects of ancient Indian Ocean trade. This review summarizes recent research on the topic and assesses its significance to wider scholarly debates on scale, organization, connectivity, agency, and social cohesion in ancient trade and exchange. Published online first. Printed version scheduled for November 2014.