3.1. Persian Gulf: Background of Maritime Contacts

[Full title: Oman Peninsula / Persian Gulf Region; 1. Background of Maritime Contacts]

The Persian Gulf civilizations can be broadly demarcated into the northern 'States' constituting the powerful Mesopotamian and Elamite polities and the southern societies manifested in the less urban but sophisticated 'oasis' cultures of northern Oman and Bahrain and eastern Saudi Arabia. The earliest record of contact between the Persian Gulf region and India goes back to the mid-3 rd millennium BC, indicated by findings of Harappan pottery, etched carnelian beads, seals, ivory comb and Indus 'inspired' material (pottery, seals and weights) around the Persian Gulf rim and on the island of Bahrain (for comprehensive review of artefactual finds see Ratnagar 1981; for recent update on finds in Oman and east Arabia see Cleuziou and Tosi 1985:15-47; Newsletter of the Joint Hadd Project 1986-87; Tosi 1989:134-161; Cleuziou 1992:93- 103, Shahani 1996). A few artefacts of Gulf provenance have come to light in Harappan sites. In this context we may mention a Persian Gulf seal discovered at Lothal (Rao 1985, a steatite serie recente bowl of the lower Gulf at Mohenjodaro (Cleuziou and Tosi 1985:41), some Mesopotamian weights at Mohenjodaro (Ratnagar

148 1981:186) and some Mesopotamian inspired' cylinder seals at Mohenjodaro, Harappa and Kalibangan (Ratnagar 1981: 193-194; Lahiri 1990 436-437) Export of western Indian cereals and other foods may be one of the chief causes of deep Harappan diffusion into Oman (Cleuziou 1992:100) In Early Historic times, the Periplus (32) mentions Roman shippers ferrying western Indian wheat, rice, oil and milk-products into Arabia. The trend seems to continue in present times, with dhows regularly sailing out of Gujarat to the Emirates with consignments of flour and onions and returning with dates (Shahani 1996). In the upper Gulf, the area of Dilmun (Bahrain) mediated seaborne transportation of Gujarati semi-precious stones and timber to Mesopotamia (Ratnagar 1981). For the period of our study, the Periplus (36) mentions the export of similar items from the port of Barygaza Bharuch to the lower Gulf (port of Omana) and the upper Gulf (port of Apologus) Archaeologically, the Bronze Age-Early Historic parallels for western IndiaPersian Gulf interaction are also indicated by the remains of Early Historic ports: appearing near or overlying important Bronze Age harbours in both regions. For example the proto-historic entrepot of Umm An-Nar lies close to Early Historic harbour of Umm Al-Qaiwayn/Ed-Dur, the latter identified as the market-town of Omana of the Periplus (Potts 1990:306-310) Both sites have been discussed as critical mediators for the Gulf's maritime trade with India in their respective periods (Ratnagar 1981; Salles 1993:501-502). The Early Historic (Seleucid-Parthian) horizons at Bahrain and Failaka show the islands to be playing the same traditional role of interconnecting the upper and lower Gulf and facilitating the sea trade with India as Dilmun had earlier done (for detailed discussion on the issue see Salles 1996:291-309). In Gujarat, after the decline of Harappan harbours, ports of trade emerge once again more than a millennium later near the old ones (Dwarka near Nageshwar, Nagara near Lothal, Kamrej near Malvan) or overlying them as at Prabhas Patan and Padri In the period of Achaemenid rule in West Asia (early-mid 1 st millennium B.C.) the maritime connections between the Gulf and India are indicated by a reference to Darius forcing Indians to give passage to his ships (Herodotus quoted by Salles 1996:299-300). In this context, we may also recall the mention of Indian ivory and timber in Darius' placa at Susa (Ratnagar 1981:104). In the In the subsequent period of Seleucid rule (4 th-2 nd century BC) the island of Failaka came to be garrisoned, a situation which continued to Parthian-Characenean times. Taken together the stratigraphic profile of Bahrain-Failaka shows Iron Age occupation from 6 th-1 st century A.D.(Potts 1990). The excavated material at these sites holds good promise of defining sharper connections with India (Fig. 24; discussion below).