Indus Script & Meluhha tin trade caravans, Tin Route from Assur to Kanesh kārum, \'harbour, commercial district\'

Indus Script & Meluhha tin trade caravans, Tin Route from Assur to Kanesh kārum, 'harbour, commercial district' "The land between the Euphrates and Tigris is sedimentary and therefore devoid of metals...Some semi-precious stones came from an even greater distance, cornelian from the Indian subcontinent, and lapis lazuli from Central Asia...The regions furthest to the East about which the ancient Mesopotamians had some knowledge appear to be the Indus valley (Meluhha) and Turkmenistan (Shimashki). The legendary country Aratta figures in several Sumerian epics as the distant adversary of Uruk. One can find references to the alleged trade between Uruk and Aratta in the secondary literature...Of great importance are the remains of the cargo discovered in two Late Bronze Age shipwrecks off the South coast of Turkey. The wreck near Cape Gelidonya (late 13th c. BCE) is thought to have come from Phoenicia. Its cargo consisted mainly of copper, tin, and bronze: copper in the shape of 34 oxhides (averaging 25 kg each)) and a number of bun ingots (averaging 3 kg each), tin ingots, and scrap bronze tools. Beter preserved is the shipwreck of Uluburun (late 14th c.) with a cargo of an estimated 20 tons of weight, including 354 copper oxhide ingots (1bout 10 tons), 121 copper bun ingots (about 1 ton), 110 tin ingot fragmens (about 1 ton), and 175 glass ingots (about 300 kg.)...The copper used in Syria and Mesopotamia came from different sources according to the textual evidence. One route led via the southern city of Ur, which possessed a harbour giving access to the Persian Gulf and beyond. The copper obtained from Tilmun from ca. 21st-18th c. BCE came from Oman, where impressive remains of ancient copper workings have been identified dating to this period...Tin is alloyed with copper to obtain bronze. It is first attested in a pin from Tepe Gawra Level VIII (ca. 3000 BCE), with a content of 5.6% tin. At the time of the royal tombs of Ur (Early Dynastic IIIa. ca. 2700 BCE), bronze appears to be the most commonly used...Weeks contrasted the very limited presence of tin-bronzes in third millennium context in sites of the Iranian Plateau to the significant use of tinbronze in Baluchistan, the Indus Valley, the Persian Gulf and south-western Iran during the same period. Since the use of tin will have been greatest along the trade route by which it was transported, he convincingly argues that this tin came via the Indian peninsula from one or more Central Asian sources. This is the famous trade with distant Meluhha, which started in the third millennium with the growing importance of the Indus civilisation, and lasted until its decline in about 1900 BCE. The supply of tin by sea route is suggested in a passage in one of the texts of Gudea (Cyl. B xiv 13): 'Along with copper, tin, slabs of lapis lazuli, shining metal (and) spotless Meluhha cornelian' (RIME 3/1,96). After the collapse of Meluhha, tin apparently was traded by an overland route cross Iran. It probably was via this overland route that the tin reached Susa in western Iran from where it was distributed westwards as is documented for the Old Babylonian period. One important route in Mesopotamia ran East of he Tigris to Assur in the North, from where Assyrian traders transported large quantities of tin to Anatolia (documented for the 19th18th c.). The fact that they exported tin to Anatolia corroborates the view that workable deposits did not exist there...The latest reference to this city (Assur) as a source of tin is contained in an Old Babylonian letter found at the Middle Euphrates site of Haradum, which dates to the reign of Ammi-shaduqa (1683-1626 BCE). The passage reads: 'I entrusted 1 talent 20 minas of tin (= 40kg) to Hushunu, the Ahlami soldier, a guard of the kārum of Haradu, (in) Assur and I had him carry it to Haradum'...King Zimrilim's merchants were allowed to purchase tin and lapis lazuli in Susa. Zimrilim used the tin as diplomatic gifts to rulers in Ugarit, Hazor and other places in the 1

Levant. The gifts made by Zimrilim and earlier by his predecessor Yasmah-Addu (to the king of Apishal) seem to be the only attested cases of tin moving to West Syria by way of Mari...The Uluburn shipwreck discovered off the Turkish coast had a cargo of almost 1,000 kg of tin and (Cypriot) copper, and apparently was heading for a western destination when it sank...tin figures among the tribute, which Neo-Assyrian kings received in North Syria and in the region around Diyarbakir. For example, king Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BCE) received tribute from Patina (near modern Antakya), which included 600 kg of silver, 30 kg of gold, 3000 kg of iron, and 3000 kg of tin (RI-MA 2, 217 f.)...end of the Neo-Assyrian period (reign of Sin-shar-ishkun, ending 612 BCE), where tin (bdl) is mentioned as payment for a horse or a gift to the god hadad of Gozan. Less than a century later, Transeuphratene was the area where Babylonian merchants from Neo-Babylonian Uruk obtained tin for the Eanna temple according to several texts...Old Assyrian trade (20th-18th c. BCE)...linked the city of Assur with Central Anatolia...(trade) profited from the development of an institutional and legal framework to acommodate trade from about 2000 BCE onwards, in which groups of merchants from a particular town forged long-term relationships with other towns and their rulers through the kārum-system (kārum 'quay, harbour, commercial district). Non-Assyrian caravans brought tons of tin, cornelian and iron to Assur, where local merchants purchased these goods. By means of donkey caravans the goods were shipped to Anatolia and sold there for silver and gold. Kanesh was the main hub of a network of some twenty Assyrian commercial settlements in or close to economically important cities or regions in Anatolia. To facilitate this trade, Assur concluded treaties with local rulers that permitted it to establish trade colonies in existing cities of economic or logistical importance. A string of settlements also existed on the main caravan route from Assur to Anatolia in northern Iraq and Syria...The amount of tin and textiles sent by individual merchants to Anatolia differed considerably. A simple donkey load consisted of some 65 kg of tin, plus some textiles. One particular letter (Kt ck 443) announces the coming to Anatolia of a large convoy consisting of 21 donkeys, carrying 300 kg of tin and 400 assorted textiles. This represented significant load. The shipwreck of Uluburn, however, had a cargo of an estimated 10 tons of copper and 1 ton of tin. The ton of tin equals some 15 donkey-loads. Small as such an amount may seem, it is almost the total estimated yield of one of the mines discovered in Tajikistan. The shipment of textiles and tin to Anatolia was an Assyrian monopoly. There were no traders from Babylon active in Kanesh, but we know that merchants from North Syria (Ebla, Hashshum) were also involved in trade with Anatolia...Obviously, not only Mesopotamian merchants went abroad. Foreign merchants also travelled to Mesopotamia to sell goods. A royal inscription of the Old Akkadian King Sargon (2300) contains a unique hint at the extent of longdistance trade, when he claims that he 'moored the ships of Meluhha, Magan, and Tilmun at the quay of Agade' (RIME 2, 28). The tin and textiles that Assyrian merchants exported to Anatolia reached Assur by means of caravans from Babylonia, and, presumably, Susa...The coastal kingdom of Ugarit was a centre from where copper, tin, alum or lapis lazuli could be sent on to Carchemish and Hatti...Two letters addressed to the king of Ugarit by Tagubli, his representative with the court of Carchemish, deal with the sending of genuine lapis lazuli as a gift to the Hittite king. Urtenu appears as a manager of the palace storage facilities and stables, able to issue horses and donkeys, as well as copper, tin, alum, blue-purple wool, and textiles." (Jan Gerrit Dercksen, Mineral resources and demand in the Ancient Near East, in: La Natura Nel Vicino Oriente Antico, Atti del Convegno internationale, Milano, 2009, Edizioni Ares, pp. 43-75)

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This note is a fifth sequel to the work: Philosophy of symbolic forms in Meluhha cipher. See the first to fourth sequels at:  1.http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2014/04/meluhha-metallurgy-hieroglyphsof.html Meluhha metallurgy: hieroglyphs of pomegranate, mangrove date-palm cone (raphia farinifera), an elephant's head terracotta Nausharo, Sarasvati civilization  2.http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2014/04/ant-twisted-rope-and-othermeluhha.html Twisted rope, ant and other Meluhha hieroglyphs on Ancient Near East and Indian seals.  3.http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2014/04/perforated-plaques-of-tellolagash.html Perforated plaques of Tello, Lagash, Sumerian artifacts, and Meluhha hieroglyphs 4. http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2014/04/zimrilims-palace-mural-paintingand.html Zimrilim's palace mural painting and Meluhha hieroglyphs (Compliments to Jack M. Sasson) Bronze ladle with sieve. Cat. 311

"So far, the excavations at Kultepe have brought to light ca. 23,500 tablets, of which 23,000 tablets are from level II and only 500 from level Ib. A very large portion of these finds were from the excavations in the kārum area...The written documents inform us that the kārum was a fortified city protected by city walls. The kārum II city is composed of quarters, separated by squares and streets...Metal was of primary importance in this international trade center; the metal workshops lay in various parts of the settlement...Copper, bronze, silver, gold, electrum, and lead vessels, weapons, belt-buckles and spools, cymbals, pins, zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figurines, and rings with various functions constitute an important collection...The vessels were formed by using forging and casting techniques, while riveting and soldering were used for joining the handles and the other details. "(Kulakoglu, Fikri, Kultepe Kanesh-Karum: the earliest international trade center in Anatolia, pp. 46-47 in: Kulakoglu, Fikri & Selmin Kangal, eds., Anatolia's prologue, Kultepe Kanesh, Assyrians in Istanbul, Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality Cultural Publication No. 78, Istanbul ISBN 978-975-8046-79-9.)

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A segment of the Tin Road: Aśśur - Kaneś. After the Map of Anatolia c 1880 BCE included in Anatolia's Prologue...(Catalogue) "Direct textual evidence goes back to the 1930s BCE, but the network of trading colonies in the region may well have been established generations earlier. The texts we have come from the archives of an Assyrian merchant colony settled at the site of Kultepe (ancient Kanesh) near Kayseri in Central Turkey. They reflect a widely developed system of financial institutions and judicial establishments with a trde based on specialised agents, complex partnerships and an extensive physical infrastructure geared to accommdate it...Assur was located on a rocky spur at a river ford where a caravan route from north to south crossed a track leading from east to west...To be an Assyrian was to be a merchant...Some forty Assyrian colonies (karum) and stations (wabartum) existed during the heyday of the trade, more than thirty of them in what is 5

today Turkey...The constituent element of the Assyrian trade was the import of tin and woollen textiles from Assur to Anatolia. The merchandise was mostly bought on the market in and taken to Anatolia to be sold mainly in one of three major market cities -- Kanesh, Durhumit or Purushaddum." (Barjamovic, Gojko, A journey through Anatolia in 1865 BCE, p.160 in: Kulakoglu, Fikri & Selmin Kangal, eds., Anatolia's prologue, Kultepe Kanesh, Assyrians in Istanbul, Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality Cultural Publication No. 78, Istanbul ISBN 978-975-8046-79-9.)). "The essence of the trade was to ship tin, woolen textiles and lapis lazuli to Anatolia to sell it there in order to acquire, directly or indirectly, silver and gold, which was shipped back to Assur. Tin, essential for the Anatoian production of bronze (an alloy of ca. 90 percent copper and 1percent tin) was imported in Assur from Susa, perhaps by Elamite caravans, and ultimately originated from Central Asia. It was bought in Assur for silver and had the form of slabs that weighed 10 pounds. Its price was fairly standardized, usually ranging between 16 and 14 shekels of tin for 1 shekel of silver, with occasional fluctuations presumably due to changes in the supply...every year several tons of this metal were shipped to Anatolia. The amounts of lapis lazuli, which came from the same area as the tin, were modest (usually one or two pounds) and were obtained in Assur's 'city hall'. Nearly all textiles traded were woolen products, textiles made of linen were rare...The textile product frequently exported and in the biggest numbers was called kutānum. It was the name for a sheet of woolen cloth...The average price of kutānu bought in Assur ranged between 3.5 and 6 shekels of silver...'caravan accounts'...The following specimen is a short one and deals with one single donkey-load (CCT 3,5a): 'Thus Assur-idi, say to Assur-nada: 'you sent me 10 pounds of silver. Thereof 130 pounds of tin under seals, at a rate of 16 1/2 shekels (of tin) per (shekels of silver), its silver 7 pounds 52 2/3 shekels. 4 dark textiles and 5 kutānu-textiles cost 1/2 pound of silver. 7 shekels were lost in the refining (of the silver). 17 shekels the price of 1 donkey, 5 shekels its harness, 20 shekels the price of 2 dark textile that Asssu-taklaku left for you...I took it from this silver. 12 pounds 5 shekels of 'hand-tin', its price at 15:1 is 48 1/3 shekels of silver. All this Assur-taklaku is leading to you. It (the silver sent) has been spent for you.' "(Veenhof, Klaas R., The structure of old Assyrian overland trade, pp.5758 in: Kulakoglu, Fikri & Selmin Kangal, eds., Anatolia's prologue, Kultepe Kanesh, Assyrians in Istanbul, Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality Cultural Publication No. 78, Istanbul ISBN 978975-8046-79-9.)

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After Fig. 241. Mould for lead figurine. 1830-1700 BCE. Steatite. Ankara museum of Anatolian civilisations. Kt. k/k, 063, inv. no. 1938 1/a. Meluhha hieroglyphs: donkey, caravan trader, eye (of woman). sang 'priest' (Sumerian) Rebus: sangi ‘pilgrim, association’ (Gujarati) S. saṅgu m. ʻ body of pilgrims ʼsã̄go m. ʻcaravanʼ. kola 'woman' Rebus: kol 'working in iron' kaṇ 'eye’ Rebus:kaṇṇahāra ʻhelmsman, sailor’ (Prākṛt) khara1 m. ʻ donkey ʼ KātyŚr., °rī -- f. Pāṇ.NiDoc. Pk. khara -- m., Gy. pal. ḳăr m., kắri f., arm. xari, eur. gr. kher, kfer, rum. xerú, Kt. kur, Pr. korūˊ, Dm. khar m., °ri f., Tir. kh*lr, Paš. lauṛ. khar m., khär f., Kal. urt. khār, Phal.khār m., khári f., K. khar m., khürü f., pog. kash. ḍoḍ. khar, S. kharu m., P. G. M. khar m., OM. khari f.; -- ext. Ash. kərəṭék, Shum. xareṭá; L. kharkā m., °kī f. -- Kho. khairánu ʻ donkey's foal ʼ (+?). Bshk. Kt. kur ʻ donkey ʼ (for loss of aspiration Morgenstierne ID 334)(CDIAL 3818). Rebus: khār 'blacksmith' (Kashmiri) Rebus: khũṭ ‘community, guild’ (Santali)

After Fig. 485. Seal. 1830-1700 BCE. Green-gray stone. Ankara museum of Anatolian civilizations. Kt 98/k 067, inv. no. 1-66-98. Meluhha hieroglyphs: dula 'pair' eruvai 'eagle' Rebus: dul 'cast metal' eruvai 'copper'.

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After Fig.477. Seal 1950-1835 BCE. Serpentine. Ankara museum of Anatolian civilisations. Kt. 99/k. 085, inv. no. 1-23-99. Meluhha hieroglyphs: nāga 'serpent' Rebus: nāga 'lead' ḍangar ‘bull’ Rebus: ḍhangar‘blacksmith’.

After Fig. 469. Seal. 1950-1835 BCE. Hematite. Ankara museum of Anatolian civilisations. Kt. 02/k. 079, inv. no. 1-93-02. Meluhha hieroglyphs: gṛālu ’calf’; ḍālu, dālu calf. khāḍū m. ʻhill goatʼ; Kur. kaṛā young male buffalo; Rebus: kaṭ̃ hāḷ ‘maritime’ (Gujarati) கடலர் kaṭalar, n. < id. Fishermen inhabitants of maritime tracts; நெய் தனில மாக்கள் . (திவா.) கடலலாடி kaṭal-ōṭi, n. < id. +. Mariner, seaman; சமுத்திரப்பிரயாணி. (சிலப் . 2, 2, அரும் .) karaṇḍa ‘duck’ (Sanskrit) karaṛa ‘a very large aquatic bird’ (Sindhi) Rebus: करडा [karaḍā] Hard from alloy--iron, silver &c. (Marathi) kārṇī m. ʻsuper cargo of a ship ʼ(Marathi) meḍha ‘polar star’ (Marathi). Rebus: meḍ (Ho.); mẽṛhet ‘iron’ (Munda.Ho.)

After Fig. 450 Bulla. 1950-1835 BCE. Clay. Ankara museum of Anatolian civilisations. Kt. 91/k. 113, inv. no. 1-422-91. Meluhha hieroglyphs: star, calf (See Rebus readings cited earlier: iron, maritime) 8

After Fig. 447 A seal impression on an envelope with a tablet: a document of the woman merchant Madawada. 1950-1835 BCE. Clay. Ankara Museum of Anatolian civilisations. Kt. 93/k, 211, inv. no. 1-176-93 Meluhha hieroglyuphs: arya 'lion' Rebus: arā ‘brass’ kondh ‘heifer’. kũdār ‘turner, brass-worker’.

After Figs. 439-440. Tablet with envelope: Marriage contract of an Assyrian merchant with an Anatolian woman. 1950-1835 BCE. Clay. Ankara Museum of Anatolian civilisations. Meluhha hieroglyphs (Bottom register): bull, ram, scorpion, serpent. ḍhangra ‘bull’. 9

Rebus: ḍhangar ‘blacksmith’. meḍh ‘ram’. Rebus:meḍ ‘iron’. bicha ‘scorpion’ Rebus: bica ‘stone ore’. nāga ‘serpent Rebus: nāga ‘lead’. The merchant is perhaps trades: lead, stone ore, iron.

After Fig. 410. Tablet: A notary document. 1830-1700 BCE. Clay. Ankara Museum of Anatolian civilisations. Kt. n/k.032, inv. no. 165-32-64. Top register seal impression.Hieroglyphs: lion, goat looking back, two tigers. kol 'tiger' Rebus: kol 'working in iron'. dula 'pair' Rebus: dul 'cast metal'. arye 'lion' Rebus: arā ‘brass’ mlekh 'goat' Rebus: milakkhu 'copper'. krammara 'look back' Rebus: kamar 'smith, artisan'. Thus, milakkhu kamar 'copper smith'.

After Fig. 389. Weight. 1830-1700 BCE. Hematite. Ankara Museum of Anatolian civilisations, Kt. 00/k, 041, inv. no. 1-51-2000 Meluhha hieroglyph: mūxā ‘frog’. Rebus: mũh ‘(copper) ingot’ (Santali) Allograph: mũhe ‘face’ (Santali)

"The development of metallurgy in Anatolia is argued to be the result of complex long-term engagements and interactions among diversified highland and lowland communities.Patterns in the various ways people acquired, produced, traded and consumed metals are givenfocus in this review of recent advancements in the study of Anatolian metalwork. In this paper,we draw attention to research conducted primarily in the Taurus Mountains and Central Anatoliaduring the last decade to examine the changing relationship between society and technologyduring the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. Specifically, we examine institutions of metalproduction and trade using archaeological evidence to highlight the existence of a complex sociopolitical environment 10

rich in regional technological traditions before major political andeconomic interaction with Syro-Mesopotamia. We stress two conclusions: first, the developmentof indigenous metal production institutions correlates to localized social arrangements inAnatolia. Second, the development of a hierarchy of production sites occurred to mitigate uncertainty in access to necessary metal resources...When past scholars assumed that the development of social complexity and the demand for metal raw materials was a lowland Mesootamian causation, they did not take into account the potential for autonomous social institutions and cultural development in the periphery of powerful states and empires. In addition, the discovery of debris in the Balkans dating to before 5000 ca. BE suggests that the development of metallurgy is likely unrelated to the emergence of complex political economy in Syro-Mesopotamia. The emergence of early complex technologies must take into account the potential for indigenous developments and the structure of the interregional interaction."(Yener, Aslihan K., Joseph W. Lehner, 2014, Organization and specialization of early mining and metal technologies in Anatolia, in: Roberts, BW & CP Thornton, eds., Reader in early metallurgy: old and new world perspectives, New York: Springer, pp.529-557; p.530.) In the context of the finds of Nahal Mishmar hoard (with many artifacts made of cire perdue technique), Thornton et al argue that there is as yet no actual evidence that native copper was melted and cast prior to the invention of furnace smelting. (Thornton CP, JM Golden, DJ Killick, VC Piggott, TH Rehren, & BW Roberts, 2010, A chalcolithic error: rebuttal to Amzallag 2009 in: American Journal of Archaeology 114 (2010) 305-15.) A resolution for this debate about indigenous metallurgical developments and transmission of technologies from a particular location is possible. This can start with a review of the possibility that many hieroglyphs deployed on thousands of artifacts (on cylinder seals, in particular) can be explained as related to Meluhha-speaking technologists who were itinerant artisans/traders moving from Meluhha (ancient India) and prospecting for metal sources in the ancient Near East and the in the Fertile Crescent. As yet unresolved is the source of tin; I suggest, agreeing with Muhly, that the source of tin was Meluhha, prospecting for cassiterite and sediment-held leadzinc-copper carbonates in a process comparable to the panning for gold nuggets in ancient India along the river-bed of hiraṇyavartanī Sarasvatī Tin road trade transactions and meanings of Meluhha hieroglyphs in kārum, 'quay, merchant quarter' kārum, lit. “quay, merchant quarter” is explained in context as a trading colony. Semantics of Indian sprachbund can explain the gloss as a 'place for business' as in Punjabi kārā m. ʻbusiness'. कारस्थान [ kārasthāna ] n (कार्य & स्थान) Economy, frugality, thrift. 2 A plot or counsel; a deeply concerted scheme. 3 Economy, arrangement, order (as of a kingdom or family).(Marathi) WPah.kṭg. kammuɔ ʻ busy ʼ;Kho. kórum (obl.pl. kormān BKhoT 69) ʻ work ʼkárman1 n. ʻ act, work ʼ RV.Shum. lā̄̆m, Gaw. lam, Woṭ. kam, Kal. krum, Kho. korum (obl. kormo), Bshk. lām, Mai.Tor. kām, Sv. kəram, Phal. kram, Sh. gil. kro̯m m. (→ Ḍ. krom m.), koh. kom, pales. kōm, K. kam m., kömü f., S. kamu m., L. P. kamm m., G. kām n. ʻ 11

work ʼ, kāmũ n. ʻ an office, administration ʼ; M. kām n., Ko. kāma n., Si. kama.(CDIAL 2892). kāra1 ʻ making, doing ʼ Prāt., m. (in cmpds.) ʻ action ʼ. [√kr̥1] Pa. Pk. kāra -- m. ʻ doing, way of doing ʼ; P. kārā m. ʻ action, business, evildoing ʼ; Or. kār ʻ work, act; G. kār m. ʻ action, trouble ʼ. -- X kr̥tríma -- : Pk. kārima ʻ artificial ʼ, G. kārmũ ʻ wonderful, strange ʼ.(CDIAL 3053).

Crucible. Yarikkaya, north-central Anatolia (After Schoop, U.D., 2005, Dasanatolische Chalkolithikum, Eine chronologische Untersuchung zur vorbronzezeitlichen Kultursequenz im nordlichen Zentralanatolien und den angrenzenden Gebieten, Remshalden:Verlag BA Greiner,, Plate 30.1)

History is a narrative about men and women as the actors. History is a novel. So, I ended up writing an illustrated novel: Sagan finds Sarasvati. The sequel in a trilogy has to be: Sagan finds Assur to complete the series with the third novel, Meluhha. Atici, Levent, Fikri Kulakoglu, Gojko Barjamovic & Andrew Fairbairn, eds.,Recent research at Kultipe-Kanesh, 2014, American schools of oriental research, Lockwood Press. During the reign of Naram-Sin, Agade received goods from Sumer, Amorites of the Syrian 12

desert, Meluhha, elam and Subir. https://www.academia.edu/6611883/Current_research_at_Kultepe-Kanesh 120 double hours is the reach from the source of the Euphrates to the border of the land of Meluhha and Magan, which Sargon, king of the universe, measured and whose width he calculated when he conquered all lands covered by the sun. (Grayson, A. K., 1974-77, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles. Texts from Cuneiform Sources 5.: 60 II.30-2, Locust Valley: Augustin.) Taram-Kubi's letters to Innaja "One of the Assyrians who resided in Kanesh was a man named Innaja. He lived in Anatolia in order to take care of his family's business, which like that of all other Old Assyrian merchants focuse on the trade of tin, textiles, gold and silver. The business was already in existence during the lifetime of his father, Elali, when Innaja had resided in Assur. There he had married TaramKubi, with whom he had several children. When Elali died, the eldest son Shu-Kubum took over control of the business in Assur, while he sent his brother Innaja to Kanesh. Several other siblings were active in less important colonies throughout Anatolia: Bur-Assur in the south-west and Enna-Sin in the West...famiy firm Assur-reshi was located somewhere on the route between Assur and Kanesh, Assur-taklaku was in Zalpa, possibly on the same route, Shu-Sin worked in the north, while Ikkupaja travelled to various regions. Moreover, a son of Shu-Kubum, Elali, supervised the caravans on their last stages from Assur to Kanesh...Innaja worked very closely with his wife, Taram-Kubi, who had remained behind in Assur, where she gathered goods to be sent to Kanesh, and represented her husband to the authorities and other merchants. Eight letters from her to Innaja are known, as well as one from him to Taram-Kubi and other associates...surprisingly the letters they wrote to one another were mostly almost exclusively devoted to business matters: requests for silver, for textiles, complaints about lack of funds, and so on, dominated the exchanges. Very rarely a personal matter arose and even then it always had commercial aspects to it. A typical example is this letter from Taram-Kubi, who is upset that her husband does not provide her with the resources she needs to acquire goods needed for export: 'Speak to Innaja; thus says Taram-Kubi. You have written me as follows: 'Keep the bracelets and rings that are here, so that they can provide you with food.' Indeed you have sent me half a pound of gold through Ili-bani, but where are the bracelets that you sent me? When you departed, you did not leave me a ingle shekel of silver. Yu cleaned out the house and have taken everything. Since you left a terrible famine has hit Assur, and you did not leave me any grain, not even a liter. I have to buy grain constantly to eat. Concerning the collection by the temple, I have given a standard in [], and I have paid my share. To city-hall I have paid the [] measures of grain which belong to Atata. What is then this extravagance about which you keep on writing to me? We don't even have anything to eat. Do you think we can do foolish things? I have gathered everything I have and have sent it to you. These day I live in an empty house! The (business) season has arrived. Send me the equivalent of my textiles in silver, whatever is my share, so that I can buy ten measures of grain. Regarding the tablet with th list of witnesses, which Assurimitti, son of Kura, has taken, he has caused much trouble to our house. He has hired servants. Your representatives have taken care of things. Finally, I have had to pay up until you come, yet he is not removing his claim. When you come you can discuss it. Why do you keep on listening to lies, and do you keep on sending me angry letters?'. In another letter she seems to urge her husband to come to Assur: 'I beg of you when you see this tablet, come. Look at Assur, your god 13

and the god of your household. May I see you while I still live!' But this outcry is contained in a long list of business requests, and seems to be more a cry for help than an expression of loneliness...As one scholar succinctly states it: Using the expertise of a scribe for writing a letter was worth the effort only if financial interests were at stake. In letters the only attested topics within the sphere of private life are complaints about insufficient allowanes, outstanding marriage payments, and so on. No one wrote a love letter, illness was a rare subject. (Stol 1995: 499)...Of those remaining in Assur, a number were manual laborers engaged as producers of textiles or other goods needed for the trade. Yet, a large group was involved in the organization and management of the trade, some 1,500 individuals. The entire population of Assur at this time has been estimated to have been at most 15,000, so 10 percent of the residents of Assur were seemingly involved in this trad! This closely knit group seems to have had an enormous influence in all urban affairs."(Mieroop, Marc Van De, 2005, Cuneiform texts and the writing of history,Routledge, pp. 92-94). In the citadel of Kanesh in the palace of king Warsama a spearhead was found with an Akkadian inscription: ‘the palace of A-ni-ta the king’. The holes in the spearhead are for mounting. "The city of Kanesh was probably surrounded by satellite communities. Nine places are named in theKültepe tablets from the 19thcentury BC (level II) as under the control of the city-state of Kanesh.They were not all villages or hamlets. They denote a leased or sold property or a town belonging toan alahhinnum official. Communities whose grain yields were probably controlled by Kanesh weresituated in a 15 km circle around Kanesh. Also, from the Karum Level II period text ATHE 62, it isknown that the king of Kanesh had political control over the neighbouring city-states of Salahsuwa,Hurama and Luhusattia to the east of Kanesh...Bi- and multilingualism in central Anatolia.Texts, seals and inscriptions in many languages from the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1600 BC) arefound in central Anatolia, namely, Nesili, Luwian, Palaic, Hurrian, Hattic, Akkadian (both OldBabylonian and Old Assyrian). Quite a few variants, dialects and linguistic changes and mutualinfluences among the languages have been detected and analyzed. In many kingdoms severallanguages are found in the same time period, so that in many regions people with differentlanguages and different cultural backgrounds lived together. Considering that they were mainly agricultural communities, not densely populated and often isolated by mountains and rivers, it maybe assumed, in my view, that many dialects of the aforementioned languages were spokenconcurrently in a given kingdom and evolved further on their own. It is unclear whether the dialectsof any given language remained mutually intelligible. Multilingualism in many regions is evident,because, on special occasions, such as selling or exchanging goods and food, and in their dealingswith temples and royal servants, there had to be communication among diverse languages anddialects. Religious feasts and fighting as allies in a king’s armies would have been further stimuli tointeraction among the various language groups and dialects in such a kingdom...Petra Goedegebuure also points out that the Assyrian merchants and officials always called all the Anatolian language communities “nuwa’um”. Together with Onofrio Carruba, she is convinced that this name is based on the compound Nuwa-Luwa-, meaning “Land of Luwiya”. The origin of the use of nuwa’um is probably that the Assyrians first met Luwians when theyentered Central Anatolia in the third millennium, perhaps also through the communication andmediation of the Hurrians, who were living in the territory between central Anatolia and Assur. JanGerrit Dercksen of the University of Leiden says in his book ‘The Old Assyrian Copper Trade inAnatolia’(1996 PIHANS LXXV- 163),“Around 2000 B.C., the areas to the east and north of the Tigris andEuphrates valley were inhabited by Hurrian-speaking 14

peoples, who may have dominated the tin route across the mountains to Assur”. At that period merchants from Assur always travelled toKanesh through Hurrian territory. So their introduction to the Anatolian cities, communities andcommercial demands could very well have been via the Hurrians. Luwian communities were thenprobably present everywhere in the cities where the Assyrians chose to set up trade stations after awhile. The most plausible scenario for the encounter between the Assyrians and the Hattians, whowere mingled with Luwian speaking people, is within the bend of the Kızılırmak river. The Assyrianswould probably have noticed the differences in the languages, but multilingual cities were present everywhere in the Near East, so they continued to use the one term nuwa’um for the peoples of Anatolia. Also the fact that, so far as we know, the king of Purušhanda, the heart land of the Luwians,was the only monarch in Anatolia with the title Great King may well have reinforced the Assyrians’perception that central Anatolia was inhabited by nuwa’um...From the Assyrian tablets of the Colonial period we know that some Anatolian principalities were labelled by the Assyrians as mātum, ‘land’. The most important countries are Burushatum(Purušhanda), Wahsusana, Kanesh and Hattum." (Blasweller, Joost, 2012, A scenario: fugitives from Kanesh and the origins of the old Hittite kingdom) https://www.academia.edu/1325326/A_scenario_Fugitives_from_Kanesh_and_the_or igins_of_the_Old_Hittite_Kingdom

See enlarged view embedded. More than 23,000 cuneiform tablets of ca. 4,500 years Before Present and many examples of Meluhha hieroglyphs on envelopes have been found at Kanesh, evidence of a trading colony called karum dealing in textiles, tin, gold and silver. A large majority date to the period ca. 1910-1830 BCE. Many tablets attest to trade between Assur and Kanesh. The distance between Assur and Kanesh is about 1200 kms. The Tin road traversed by donkey-caravans also extended beyond Assur on Tigris-Euphrates doab to Meluhha (Sarasvati civilization); the road also covered transactions of seafaring traders transacting in Meluhha-Magan-Dilmun-Elam network. As Amanda H. Podany notes: "Kanesh had access to silver; Assur had access to tin and fine textiles. From around 1950 to 1740 BCE, Assyrian merchants traveled regularly to Kanesh, bringing goods to sell. Some of the assyrians settled there in order to manage their businesses. They brought with them the cuneiform script, in which they recorded their transactions and they also brought their expertise in creating treaties and contracts to consolidate and confirm their activities. Theirs were the 15

houses in which the tens of thousands of cuneiform tablets were found...a copy of a treaty drawn uip between the king of Kanesh and the Assyrian merchants...one can see that the treaty begins with a listing of gods: 'O Adad...gods of the land of Kanesh...Sin, Shamash.' " (Podany, Amanda H., 2013, The Ancient Near East: A very short introduction, OUP, p.64).

Cuneiform Tablet and Envelope: Old Assyrian Letter 2000.197.A-C (Object Number) Kultepe (Cappadocia), Asia c. 1927-1836 BCE tablet: 4.93 x 4.72 x 1.62 cm (1 15/16 x 1 7/8 x 5/8 in.) envelope: 5.5 x 5.52 x 3.07 cm (2 3/16 x 2 3/16 x 1 3/16 in.) Record identifier: HUAM146548 Square-shaped clay tablet and envelope inscribed with text written in the Old Assyrian dialect of the Akkadian language. The tablet is whole and inscribed on both surfaces. The envelope is partially destroyed, but preserves multiple impressions of the same seal. The tablet and envelope probably come from the trading colony (karum) by the mound of Kültepe (ancient Kanesh) near Kaiseri in Cappadocia (central Anatolia), from the period karum-Kanesh level II (c. 1927-1836 B.C.E). The text is a letter (25 lines) between two copper traders, in which a certain Aššurlamassi, from an unknown place in central Anatolia, informs a Šu-Belum in Kanesh that he is sending him silver as proceeds of his copper (7 talents, 30 minas), carried by an Iddi(n)-Su'en. Later on, silver for an additional 20 minas of copper will be added. The price for copper is 1 shekel of silver for 62 ½ shekels of copper. All the traders mentioned in this text are also noted in the archive of the well known copper trader Adad-S,ululi, son of Kuskusum/Šu-Anum, excavated in 1948 in the karum area of Kultepe (cf. J.G. Dercksen, The Old Assyrian Copper Trade in Anatolia. PIHANS 75. Leiden 1996, pp. 93-107). On the envelope, which is partially destroyed, the seal of the sender, Aššur-lamassi, is impressed eight times. Information provided by Thomas Sturm, August 2007. Credit Line: Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Leslie Cheek, Jr. and Purchase through the generosity of Sol Rabin and the Marian H. Phinney Fund http://via.lib.harvard.edu/via/deliver/deepcontent?recordId=HUAM146548

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http://ids.lib.harvard.edu/ids/view/17388666?width=2235&height=2400&html=y

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Excavations in Karum hamlet near Kultepe tumulus Kultepe is a modern village near the ancient city of Kanesh, located in Kayseri. - See more at: http://www.ablogabouthistory.com/2010/09/21/4000-year-old-cuneiform-tablets-found-inturkey/#sthash.g8GCbkqb.dpuf http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancientcultures/ancient-near-eastern-world/kultepe-excavations-reveal-remains-predating-karumkanesh/ (September 21, 2010; June 11, 2013). “Around 4,500 tablets have been smuggled abroad since 1948,” Gunbatti said. Gunbatti said Assyrian tradesmen who settled in the region 4,000 years ago sold the tin and fabrics they brought from Mesopotamia... "Assyrian Kingdom in Mesopotamia made written trade agreements with Kanesh Kingdom and Hahhum Kingdom near Adiyaman,” he said. Noah Wiener • 11/06/2013: [quote] Turkish archaeologist Fikri Kulakoğlu recently reported the discovery of a massive 4,500-year-old building complex at Kültepe in central Turkey. Located in the district of Kayseri, Kültepe is the source of a large trove of Old Assyrian tablets dating to the early second millennium B.C.E. The so-called Cappadocian tablets, which constitute the earliest historical archive uncovered in Anatolia, have brought archaeological attention to the site since the 19th century, and excavations were conducted at Kültepe through much of the 20th century. The current project is entering its 66th year; Kulakoğlu once commented that the 5,000-year-old site may take 5,000 years to excavate. The tablets uncovered at Kültepe describe the presence of an Old Assyrian trade colony known as Karum Kanesh adjacent to the site. In the 20th and 19th centuries B.C.E. Assur, the capital of the Old Assyrian Kingdom, established the largest trade network the world had ever seen. Donkeys transported tin from Iran, textiles from Babylonia and silver and gold from Karum Kanesh in Anatolia, which was located some 600 miles from Assur. Independent Assyrian merchant families would travel to Kültepe, where the Assyrian population at Karum Kanesh would collect goods to be distributed within Anatolia. Because the voyage was so long and the connections between Assur and Karum Kanesh were so strong, the trade network is remarkably 18

well documented in highly personal letters describing the quality of trade goods, family relations, prices, foodstuffs, marriage proposals and other daily affairs. The recent excavations have uncovered materialremains from the tell that predate the Assyrian trade colony at Karum Kanesh. While the exact nature of the structure is unclear, Kulakoğlu suggested that this is an administrative or palatial structure from which the site could be governed. Kültepe is best known for hosting the adjacent colony at Karum Kanesh, but the tell was occupied long before and after the Assyrian trade colony; even during the time when the colony was operational, the city on the tell exhibited predominantly Anatolian characteristics. After the Assyrian occupation, Hittites controlled Kültepe. However, the early history of the site is not well established; the newly uncovered building complex is sure to shed light on the early history of Kültepe.

This cuneiform letter, copied on two pieces of clay, and its envelope are from Kültepe. They record a complaint between two brothers about the family’s lack of food or clothes in Assur while the other brother was trading textiles and tin for silver and gold at Karum Kanesh. Photo: British Museum.[unquote]

The envelope and tablet in British Museum shows the sender's seal with figures approaching a seated king with a bull-man at the end of the scene. I suggest that the bullman with overflowing water from his shoulders is a Meluhha blacksmith. ḍangar ‘bull’ Rebus: ḍhangar ‘blacksmith’. lo ‘pot to overflow’A person with a vase with overflowing water; sun sign. C. 18th cent. BCE. E. Porada,1971, Remarks on seals found in the Gulf states, Artibus Asiae, 33, 31-7.] kāṇḍa ‘water’. Rebus: लोखंड lokhaṇḍ Iron tools, vessels, or articles in general. 19

A comparable hieroglyph of overflowing water from the shoulders of a person appears on another tablet case (bottom register seal impression):

Met Museum Accession Number: 66.245.18b Cuneiform tablet case impressed with three cylinder seals, for cuneiform tablet 66.246.18a: quittance for a loan in copper Period: Middle Bronze Age–Old Assyrian Trading Colony Date: ca. 20th–19th century B.C. Geography: Anatolia, probably from Kültepe (Karum Kanesh) Culture: Old Assyrian Trading Colony Medium: Clay

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http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsMiddEast/AnatoliaHattiKanesh.htm S. Kalyanaraman Sarasvati Research Center June 19, 2016

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