An overview of his thesis "Studies in the Material and Spiritual Culture of the Desert Population During the 6th to 3rd Millennia BCE," is presented in the following excerpts including some breath-taking and exquisite photographs/images:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/199526267/Uzi-Avner
I was privileged to read through the 224 pages of the brilliant report covering an expansive area spanning over 3 millennia prior to 3rd millennium BCE.
I am struck by the parallel images presented by Dholavira (which is a marshy rann, a desert extension of the Great Indian Thar desert or Marusthali) pointing to the remarkable journeys the prospectors of metals and minerals would make from Haifa to Dholavira in the Rann of Kutch.
Uzi Avner makes a comparison between the artifacts of Tepe Hissar and Nahal Mishmar; I have compared the 'scepters' with the 'stadard device' which recurs on Indus writing.
Meluhha hieroglyphs point to casting (metal) using copper and zinc
ḍhol ‘a drum beaten on one end by a stick and on the other by the hand’ (Santali); ḍhol ‘drum’ (Nahali); dhol (Kurku); ḍhol (Hi.) dhol a drum (G.)(CDIAL 5608) డోలు [ḍōlu ] [Tel.] n. A drum. dula‘pair’ Rebus 1: dul‘to cast in a mould’; dul mẽṛhẽt, dul meṛeḍ, dul; koṭe meṛeḍ ‘forged iron’ (Santali) WPah.kṭg. (kc.) Rebus 2: ḍhōˋḷ m. ʻstoneʼ, kṭg. ḍhòḷṭɔ m. ʻbig stone or boulderʼ, ḍhòḷṭu ʻsmall id.ʼ Him.I 87.(CDIAL 5536). <madOLO>(P) {N} ``a kind of ^musical_instrument, sounding like a ^drum''. Syn. <aRa>, <baido>, <boDokaTo>, <caG>, <DhOlO>, <Dholki>, <mou~Ni>, <nagra>. *Kh.<mandRi>(D), ~<manDri>(B), ~<mandar>(D) `drum', Mu.<mandara>, Ho<madal>, H.<ma~dArA>, ~<ma~dAlA>, Sk.<mArdAlA> `kind of drum', O.<madOLO>, Sa.<mAndAriA> `a drummer'. %21301. #21131. By 3600 BCE, people at thesite of Tepe Hissar were using a crucible that required a highdegree of pyrotechnic knowledge to produce (Thornton, C. P., and T. Rehren. 2009. A truly Refractory Crucible from Fourth Millennium Tepe Hissar, Northeast Iran. Journal of Archaeological Science 36:2700–2712). At Hissar were found arsenic-bronze, lead-bronze, lead, silver and gold. (Tepe Hissar III, 3rd millennium BCE.: a seal shows a four-spoke wheel). Multi-looped spiral-headed pins from Tepe Hissar (period IIB), which are identical to those from Parkhai II.Pierre Amiet summarises Hakemi’s report with a brilliant exposition: “The discovery, long after that of the great Mesopotamian civilization, just after World War I, of an urban civilization which emulated that of Sumer in the Indus Valley, followed even more recently by the equally impressive civilization of Turkmenia, immediately raised the question of what presumably happened in the immense territory between th two, represented by the Iranian plateau…(Aurel Stein) had crossed Baluchistan and Kerman, ultimately reaching, on the westward side, the only historical entity of Iran predating the Persians – the ancient country of Elam – to all intents and purposes part of Mesopotamia, although essentially a country of mountaineers. In its geographic duality in which the mountain valleys of Fars were associated with the lowlying plains of Susiana, Elam, which was also an ethnic duality, was presumably linked with a hinterland that had remained in the wings of history and comprised the Kerman mountains dominating the salt pans of the Lut Desert. The province which was traditionally rich in stones and metals, and scantly explored by the pioneers, must have been a home to the major witnesses of what Gordon Childe as early as 1934 called the ‘mechanism of the spread’ of the conquests of civilization…in eastern Bactria, bounded the wide loop of Amu Darya, the site of Shortughai corresponds to a settlement of ‘colonists’ from Harappan India, with their characteristic pottery, who saw to the transit of copper and doubtless also of lapis lazuli. These observations seem to be indicative of what probably happened in western Bactria where fortresses housing stores, as at Dashly Tepe, may have been built by a merchant-colonist elite to guarantee trade with the workshops set up either at Shah-I Sokhta or at Shahda and Tepe Yahya and, through them, with Elam, as well as by sea, with Mesopotamia. Unlike Anatolia, where the intense metalworking activity does not seem to have produced any art specific to a given civilization or else highly customized before the 2nd millennium, Iran thus appears to hav been a huge community enlivened by a network of very long routes spreading out from the towns and villages of craftsmen who were creating a different art and using a wide range of techniques, perhaps simulated by Elam. These craftsmen worked copper and soft, colored stones, such as chlorite and alabaster, found locally, together with imported hard stones such as carnelian and lapis lazuli. They must have come into close contact with the transporters, presumably nomadic, according to the tradition of the bearers of the intercultural style. Shahdad lay at the crossroads of these routes, the one running north-south from Gorgan and Tepe Hissar and passing through Tepe Yahya on its way to the Persian Gulf, and those crossing the Lut desert or skirting it through Bampur, towards the north and south of the Hindu Kush and from there into India.” (Introduction, pp.8 - 10)
The pin at Tepe Hissar 1 (ca. 3900-2900 BC) had 1.74% Sn. Bronze was being made by 'cementing' copper with tin oxide in the Late Bronze Age. At Tepe Hissar (ca. 2100-1800 BC), only alloys containing 0.78% to 2.24%Sn were found.
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Mohenjo-daro tablet: drummer, chain, persons vaulting over. Obverse: rim of jar.
Allographs: ḍollu. [Tel.] v. n. To fall, to roll over.పడు, పొరలు. డొలుచు[ ḍolucu ] or ḍoluṭsu. [Tel.] v. n. To tumble head over heels as dancing girls do (Telugu) Mth. Bhoj. Aw. lakh. Marw. G. M. ḍhol m. *ḍhōlayati ʻmakes fallʼ(CDIAL 5608).
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Harappa tablet in bas-relief.h182
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Mohenjo-daro tablet: drummer, chain, persons vaulting over. Obverse: rim of jar.Rebus: dul ‘to cast in a mould’; dul mẽṛhẽt, dul meṛeḍ, dul; koṭe meṛeḍ‘forged iron’ (Santali) WPah.kṭg. (kc.) ḍhōˋḷ m. ʻstoneʼ, kṭg. ḍhòḷṭɔ m. ʻbig stone or boulderʼ, ḍhòḷṭu ʻsmall id.ʼ Him.I 87.(CDIAL 5536).
kol ‘tiger’; rebus: kol ‘iron’. : kola ‘tiger’. dula ‘pair’. Rebus: dula kol ‘casting working in iron’. Rebus: kol , n. < கொல்-. Working in iron; கொற்றொழில். 4. Blacksmith; கொல்லன். கொல்லன் kollaṉ , n. < கொல்². [M. kollan.] Blacksmith; கருமான். மென்றோன்மிதியுலைக்கொல்லன் (பெரும்பாண். 207). கொற்றுறை koṟṟuṟai , n. < கொல்² + துறை. Blacksmith's workshop, smithy; கொல்லன்பட்டடை. கொற்றுறைக்குற்றில (புறநா. 95). கொற்று¹ koṟṟu , n. prob. கொல்-. 1. Masonry, brickwork; கொற்றுவேலை. கொற்றுளவிவரில் (திருவாலவா. 30, 23). 2. Mason, bricklayer; கொத்தன். Colloq. 3. The measure of work turned out by a mason; ஒருகொத்தன்செய்யும்வேலையளவு. இந்தச்சுவர்கட்டஎத்தனைகொற்றுச்செல்லும்?
Drummer and people vaulting over? An adorant?
Glyph: kaḍī a chain; a hook; a link (G.); kaḍum a bracelet, a ring (G.) Rebus: kaḍiyo [Hem. Des. kaḍaio = Skt. sthapati a mason] a bricklayer; a mason; kaḍiyaṇa, kaḍiyeṇa a woman of the bricklayer caste; a wife of a bricklayer (G.)
kaṇḍa kanka ‘‘furnace, stone (ore) metal account (scribe)’. kaṇḍ kanka‘rim of jar’; Rebus: karṇaka ‘scribe’; kaṇḍ ‘furnace, fire-altar’. Glyph is decoded: kaṇḍ karṇaka‘furnace scribe
Harappa tablet in bas-relief.h182
h182a Pict-107: Drummer and a tiger.
h182b Five svastika signs alternating right- and left-handed.
har609 terracotta tablet, bas-relief [The drummer is also shown on h182B tablet with a comparable epigraph and five svastika glyphs alternating right- and left-handed arms. [Lexeme : mõṛẽ= five (Santali. lex.)]
Svastika: sathiyā (H.), sāthiyo (G.); satthia, sotthia (Pkt.) Rebus: svastika pewter (Kannada)
G.karã̄ n. pl. ‘wristlets, bangles’; S. karāī f. ’wrist’ (CDIAL 2779). Rebus: khār खार्‘blacksmith’ (Kashmiri)
1996 Hartuv, an Aspect ofthe Early Bronze I Culture in Southern Israel. Bulletin ofthe American School ofOriental Research 302: 1-40.
Assur finds provide the function served by masseboth as memory markers of ancestors. More than 130 stones were found within the city walls at Assur commemorating kings and important officials (Graesser 1972: 40,41), though direct evidence of the veneration of the dead is lacking.
Artifact: Stone monument
Provenience: Assur
Period: Middle Assyrian (ca. 1400-1000 BC)
Current location: Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin Does this Tukulti Ninurta I altar show a stake together with a masseboth represented by the rectangular background?
The renowned archaeological example of commemorating individuals comes from Assur. Two rows of shaped masseboth, 130 in total, were discovered in a large open space between the inner and outer city walls. Each stone bears a short cuneiform inscription, opening with the word “Image of,” followed by the name and title of a king or high official. The names cover the period from Adadnirari I to Esarhadon, ca. 1300-650 B.C. (Andrae 1913). Obviously, these masseboth preserved the names of distinguished dead (Andrae 1938:108; Graesser 1970:41; Canby 1970:126)."(Uzi Avner, p.85)
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2014/01/meluhha-standard-compares-with-nahal.html Meluhha standard compares with Nahal Mishmar standard. Meluhha (Asur) guild processions.
It is possible to compare the ring-stones and stone-pillars, rock-cut reservoirs and other stonework which appear in Dholavira with the masseboth and menhir referred to in Uzi Avner's report. I have speculated that the Dholavira presents intimations of the culture of veneration of ancestors -- a tradition which continues in the cremation ceremonies all over India planting stones venerating the departed aatman..
These point to the imperative of multi-disciplinary studies of early trade between SE Asia and the Fertile Crescent in the trasition from the chalcolithic to the Bronze Age.
Kalyanaraman
Sarasvati Research Center
January 14, 2014