Dynamics of Trade in the Ancient Mesopotamian “World System”

Abstract

Maritime trade in the Arabian Gulf connected Mesopotamia with societies in the Gulf and with the Indus during the Bronze Age. This article explores the Gulf trade in light of shifting consumption patterns and of various political forces at work within and between regions, in order to define the socioeconomic place of the trade in center‐periphery relations. Through time the consumption of certain commodities, notably copper and grain, became deeply embedded in the changing political economies of Mesopotamian and Gulf societies, and the trade formed a basic economic dimension of center‐periphery relations in western Asia. At the same time, other forces—political, military, and cultural—configured center—periphery relations in western Asia as deeply as the economic ones, and provided the context within which the trade occurred. Using the Gulf trade as an example, the article offers a framework for considering the political and cultural, as well as economic, character of ancient center‐periphery systems.

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