https://tinyurl.com/y6eqdehv

See: Archaeological evidence for presence of Meluhha speakers (Indian sprachbund, 'language union') in Ancient Near East 

https://tinyurl.com/y26gb4td

More than  880 tablets with cuneiform texts of Ur of the Larsa period were presented in a brilliant concordance by Dr.H.H.Figulla in a volume called UET V. 

The volume is reviewed by AL Oppenheim in 1954. Oppenheim notes that Ur was the ‘port of entry’ for copper into Mesopotamia during the time of the Dynasty of Larsa. Oppenheim marshals cuneiform text evidence: “In our period – thatof the fifth to seventh king of the Dynasty of Larsa – the island exported not only copper in ingots but also copper objects, beads of precious stones, and – most important of all – ivory.” (ibid., p.7)

Proenance studies have shown that most of the copper came from Meluhha. 

https://tinyurl.com/y26gb4td

This monograph documents Archaeometallurgical research which has proved the provenance of Meluhha copper in ANE.

Positing an Ancient Maritime Tin Route from Ancient Far East to Ancient Near East, based on Archaeometallurgical provenance study of tin-bronze artifacts of Mesopotamia https://tinyurl.com/yyeyfkxu

Abstract from Iranica Antiqua, 2009:

Copper from Gujarat used in Mesopotmia, 3rd millennium BCE, evidenced by lead isotope analyses of tin-bronze objects; report by Begemann F. et al.   

1.   Title: Über das frühe Kupfer Mesopotamiens

2.   Author(s): BEGEMANN, F. , SCHMITT-STRECKER, S. 
Journal: Iranica Antiqua
Volume: 44    Date: 2009   
Pages: 1-45
DOI: 10.2143/IA.44.0.2034374 

A lead isotope study »On the Early copper of Mesopotamia« reports on copper-base artefacts ranging in age from the 4th millennium BC (Uruk period) to the Akkadian at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. Arguments are presented that, in the (tin)bronzes, the lead associated with the tin used for alloying did not contribute to the total in any detectable way. Hence, the lead isotopy traces the copper and cannot address the problem of the provenance of tin. The data suggest as possible source region of the copper a variety of ore occurrences in Anatolia, Iran, Oman, Palestine and, rather unexpectedly (by us), from India. During the earliest period the isotopic signature of ores from Central and North Anatolia is dominant; during the next millennium this region loses its importance and is hardly present any more at all. Instead, southeast Anatolia, central Iran, Oman, Feinan-Timna in the rift valley between Dead Sea and Red Sea, and sources in the Caucasus are now potential suppliers of the copper. Generally, an unambiguous assignment of an artefact to any of the ores is not possible because the isotopic fingerprints of ore occurrences are not unique. In our suite of samples bronze objects become important during ED III (middle of the 3rd millennium BC) but they never make up more than 50 % of the total. They are distinguished in their lead isotopy by very high 206Pb-normalized abundance ratios. As source of such copper we suggest Gujarat/Southern Rajasthan which, on general grounds, has been proposed before to have been the most important supplier of copper in Ancient India. We propose this Indian copper to have been arsenic-poor and to be the urudu-luh-ha variety which is one of the two sorts of purified copper mentioned in contemporaneous written texts from Mesopotamia to have been in circulation there concurrently.

This archaeometallurgical provenance study links Khetri copper mines --through Dholavira/Lothal and Persian Gulf -- with Mesopotamia. It is possible that tin from Ancient Far East (the tin-belt of the globe) was also routed through Meluhha merchants. Evidence?

 
Three pure tin ingots with Indus Script inscriptions found in Haifa, Israel.

My decipherment appeared in Journal of Indo-Judaic Studies.

My monograph on this conclusion has been published in Journal of Indo-Judaic Studies, Vol. 1, Number 11 (2010), pp.47-74 — The Bronze Age Writing System of Sarasvati Hieroglyphics as Evidenced by Two “Rosetta Stones” By S. Kalyanaraman (Editor of JIJS: Prof. Nathan Katz)

http://www.indojudaic.com/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=1&Itemid=8 

The author Michal Artzy (opcit., p. 55) who showed these four signs on the four tin ingots to E. Masson who is the author of Cypro-Minoan Syllabary. Masson’s views are recorded in Foot Note 3: “E. Masson, who was shown all four ingots for the first time by the author, has suggested privately that the sign ‘d’ looks Cypro-Minoan, but not the otherthree signs.”

If all the signs are NOT Cypro-Minoan Syllabary, what did these four signs, together, incised on the tin ingots signify?

All these hieroglyphs on the three tin ingots of Haifa are read rebus in Meluhha:

Hieroglyph: ranku  = liquid measure (Santali)

Hieroglyph: raṅku m. ʻa species of deerʼ Vās.,  rankuka  id., Śrīkaṇṭh. (Samskrtam)(CDIAL 10559). raṅku m. ʻ a species of deer ʼ Vās., °uka -- m. Śrīkaṇṭh.Ku. N. rã̄go ʻ buffalo bull ʼ? -- more prob. < raṅká-<-> s.v. *rakka -- .*raṅkha -- ʻ defective ʼ see *rakka -- .RAṄG ʻ move to and fro ʼ: ráṅgati. -- Cf. √riṅg, √rikh2, √*righ.(CDIAL 10559)

Rebus: ranku ‘tin’ (Santali) raṅga3 n. ʻ tin ʼ lex. Pk. raṁga -- n. ʻ tin ʼ; P. rã̄g f., rã̄gā m.ʻpewter, tinʼ (← H.); Ku. rāṅ ʻ tin, solder ʼ, gng. rã̄k; N. rāṅ, rāṅo ʻ tin, solder ʼ, A. B. rāṅ; Or. rāṅga ʻ tin ʼ, rāṅgā ʻ solder, spelter ʼ, Bi. Mth. rã̄gā, OAw. rāṁga; H. rã̄g f., rã̄gā m. ʻ tin, pewter ʼ; Si. ran̆ga ʻ tin ʼ. (CDIAL 10562) 

Hieroglyph: dāṭu = cross (Telugu)

Rebus: dhatu = mineral ore (Santali) Rebus: dhāṭnā ‘to send out, pour out, cast (metal)’ (Hindi)(CDIAL 6771).

Hieroglyph: mũh 'a face' Rebus: mũh, 'ingot' or muhã 'quantity of metal produced at one time from the furnace’ (Santali)

Indus Script hypertexts thus read: Hieroglyphs: ranku 'liquid measure' or raṅku ʻa species of deerʼ PLUS dāṭu = cross  rebus: plain text: ranku 'tin' PLUS dhatu 'cast mineral' Thus, together, the plain text reads: tin mineral casting. The fourth ingot with the hieroglyph of a moulded head reads: mũh 'a face' Rebus: mũh, 'ingot' or muhã 'quantity of metal produced at one time from the furnace’ (Santali).

Thus, together, the message on the tin ingots discovered in the Haifa shipwreck is: ranku dhatu mũh 'tin mineral ingot'. 

A note on mleccha,meluhha

I can only speculate that correct pronunciation was considered important in the recitation of sacred mantra-s. Mahābhārata is full of adoration of mleccha (a mispronunciation of meluhha). Meluhha, mleccha are our Pitr̥-s who have given us our heritage. We have to discharge our r̥ṇam, 'debt' to these mahātmā. See the three examples of what they wrote on three pure tin ingots discovered in Haifa shipwreck.

 I have posited in 16 books related to Sarasvati Civilization studies that the River Sarasvati was a navigable waterway during the mature phase of the civilization, i.e. 3rd m. BCE. This explains the presence of a cylinder seal in Rakhigarhi with an Indus Script inscription of a crocodile holding fish in its jaws. I have also posited that 

Rakhigarhi is the capital city of the civilization because of its location linking this navigable waterway with the Ganga-Yamuna doab and also Brahmaputra riverine waterways. There was a Maritime Tin Route linking and transporting the tin ore resources from the Himalayan river basins of Mekong, Irrawaddy, Salween rivers to Eurasia, using these waterways and also the Indian Ocean Rim Maritime route for maritime trade. This Tin Route predates the Silk Road by 2 millennia. 

See Korotoa river which links Brahmaputra and Ganga; this was the Sadānīrā river where R̥gveda r̥ṣi Gautama Rāhugaṇa settled from Kurukshetra, moving eastwards. So, Sarasvati civilization was NOT restricted to Sarasvati River Basin but extended far into the eastern Himalayan river basins. 

The seafaring trade into Ur was in the hands of a group of seafaring merchants – called alik Telmun—‘who worked hand in handwith enterprising capitalists in Ur to take garmentsto the island in order to buy large quantities of copper there. Sincethe island hardly yielded any  ore – not to speak of the fuel needed for smelting – we are faced herewith a situation which is typical for international tradeona primitive level: Telmun served as ‘market place’, a neutral territory, in which theparties coming from various regions of the coastal area of the gulf exchange or sell the products of their countries…Telmun…formed the ‘doorway’ to the East, to the more or less fabulous regions of Mkkan and Meluhha through which certain raw-materials…specific plants (‘Kulturpflansen’) and breeds of animals came to Babylonia.” (Oppenheim, 1954, opcit., p. 7).

Cuneiform texts were detailed contracts with details of merchant-investor partnerships, sharing of profits, compensation for commercial losses incurred by the debtor, imposition of some kind of customs or dues imposed on the merchants by the city administration. (ibid., p.8)

Indus Script hypertexts were picturesque descriptions of the metalwork products from smelters, smithy/forge, and lapidary work artifacts from the lathes, including encasing of gems/jewels in gold and other metals.

We have demonstrated that the ‘animals’ imported symbolic in Indus Script Cipher, wealth of metalwork products, smelted, smithied, forged and made into armour and also lapidary artifacts of gems and jewels. 

Reference to 'fish-eyes' in cuneiform texts is also symbolic. In Indus Script cipher, hieroglyph aya, 'fish' is rebus: ayas'alloy metal' PLUS khambhaṛā 'fish-fin' rebus: kammaṭa 'mint, coiner, coinage'. Thus alloy metal mintwork products.

See:

Meluhha settlers of Musri (Kurdistan) offer tributes, document the wealth in Indus Script on ShalamaneserIII black obelisk 

https://tinyurl.com/y6yhql2g

Rosetta Stone for Indus Script has been found. It is Shalamaneser III Black Obelisk of Nimrud 825 BCE https://tinyurl.com/yxarbsve

The readings in Meluhha expressions, of the hypertexts and plan texts are:

karibha 'camels' rebus: karba, 'iron'
ranga 'buffalo' rebus: ranga 'pewter'
sakea is a composite animal hypertext in Indus Script: khara 'onager' PLUS khoṇḍa 'young bull' PLUS mer̥ha 'crumpled (horn)' rebus: kār kunda 'blackmith, turner, goldsmith' کارکنده kār-kunda 'manager, director, adroit, clever, experienced' (Pashto) medhā 'yajna, dhanam' med 'iron' med 'copper' (Slavic)
susu is antelope: ranku 'antelope' rebus: ranku 'tin'
karibha, ibha, 'elephant' rebus: karba, ib 'iron'
bazitu/uqupu is monkey/ape: kuṭhāru कुठारु monkey; rebus: kuṭhāru, कुठारु an armourer.

See: Indus Script signifies रत्नी ratnī 'female monkey dressed as woman' rebus ratnin 'possessing gifts' (R̥gveda) https://tinyurl.com/y4cjtwfa

-- kuṭhāru कुठारु 'monkey'रत्नी  ratnī 'female monkey dressed as woman' Indus Script hieroglyphs rebuskuṭhāru कुठारु 'armourer' carry ratna 'gifts'; hence, shown as tributes to Shalamaneser by Meluhha artisans and merchants रत्निन् mfn. possessing or receiving gifts RV. (Monier-Williams)

Decipherment of Shalamaneser Black Obelisk list of exotic wares (imports from Musri) brought into Akkad by Meluhhans 

https://tinyurl.com/y4xfhasf

Wolfgang Heimpel explains why animals are depicted as tribute on Shalamaneser Black Obelisk 

https://tinyurl.com/y5nrbgof

Nimrud (Kalhu), black obelisk with Indus Script hieroglyphs, materialities of Assyrian knowledge production 

https://tinyurl.com/y4mhg8br

On the Rosetta stone of Indus Script, identifying hypertexts ratnī medhā , ‘dhanam of gems/jewels’, कुठारु 'monkey, armourer' 

https://tinyurl.com/yx989vhf

Shalamaneser black obelisk monkey Indus Script hypertexts signify wealth of कुठारु armourer, lapidaries, ratnī gem-jewel connoiseurs 

https://tinyurl.com/y6x8awlc

Rosetta Stone for Indus Script has been found. It is Shalamaneser III Black Obelisk of Nimrud 825 BCE 

https://tinyurl.com/yxarbsve

Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III in the British Museum, the White Obelisk of Ashurnasirpal I just behind
Material	black limestone
Size	c. 1.98 metres high, 45 cm wide
Writing	Assyrian
Created	858–824 BC
Discovered	Nimrud, Iraq
Present location	British Museum, London
Registration	ME 118885

The Seafaring Merchants of Ur