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Shu-ilishu cylinder seal is bilingual; the name (Shu-ilishu) and title (EME.BAL 'interpreter') are signified in cuneiform Akkadian text.
The pictograph of traders from Meluhha include hieroglyphs they carry: goat and liquid measure. [Te. mr̤ēka (so correct) is of unknown meaning. Br. mēḻẖ is without etymology; see MBE 1980a.] Ka. mēke she-goat; mē the bleating of sheep or goats. Te. mē̃ka, mēka goat. Kol. me·ke id. Nk. mēke id. Pa.mēva, (S.) mēya she-goat. Ga. (Oll.) mēge, (S.) mēge goat. Go. (M) mekā, (Ko.) mēka id. ? Kur. mēxnā (mīxyas) to call, call after loudly, hail. Malt. méqe to bleat. Cf. Skt. (lex.) meka- goat.(DEDR 5087) Rebus: milakkhu 'copper', mleccha 'copper'. ranku 'liquid measure' rebus: Ku. rāṅ ʻ tin, solder ʼ, gng. rã̄k; raṅga3 n. ʻ tin ʼ lex. [Cf. nāga -- 2 , vaṅga -- 1 ] Pk. raṁga -- n. ʻ tin ʼ; P. rã̄g f., rã̄gā m. ʻ pewter, tin ʼ (← H.); 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).
Shu-ilishu's Cylinder seal. Courtesy Department des Antiquities Orientales, Musee du Louvre, Paris. The cuneiform text reads:
Cuneiform text: Shu-Ilishu EME.BAL.ME.LUH.HA.KI (interpreter of Meluhha language) The large storage jars indicate that an Akkadian merchant (with Shu-ilishu seated on the merchant's lap) negotiates trade deal with two Meluhha-speakers.
The Shu-ilishu cylinder seal is a clear evidence of the Meluhhan merchants trading in copper and tin, signified by the field symbols vividly portrayed on the cylinder seal. The Meluhha merchant carries melh, mr̤eka 'goat or antelope' rebus: milakkhu 'copper' and the lady accompanying the Meluhhan carries a ranku 'liquid measure' rebus: ranku 'tin'; On the field is shown a crucbile: kuṭhāru 'crucible' rebus: kuṭhāru 'armourer'.
Provenance studies have shown that most of the tin-bronze artifacts of Mesopotamia contained copper Khetri mines. cf. F. Begemann und S. Schmitt-Strecker, Uber Das Fruhe Kupfer Mesopotamien, in: Iranica Antiqua
Volume: 44 Date: 2009, Pages: 1-45. I posit that tin traded by Meluhha merchants in Mesopotamia came from the Ancient Far East (which has the world's largest tin belt) with Meluhha traders acting as middlemen. Provenance studies are ongoing to determine the sources of tin which created the Tin-Bronze Revolution in Eurasia.
Jhunjhunu and Sikar are towns close to Khetri mines.Cuneiform texts record long distance copper trade
"Cuneiform texts from the Late Uruk/Jemdet Nasr Period to the Old Babylonian Period (c. 3100-1750 B.C.) record the importation by sea of copper from Meluhha (probably northwest India), Magan (likely southeastern Arabia), and Dilmun (probably modern Bahrain) by Mesopotamian merchants, probably working either as agents for the city temple or rulers.(1) Some trade by private individuals took place as well, though on a smaller scale. (2) The archives of one merchant from Old Babylonian period Ur were excavated by Woolley; these record the importation of copper from Tilmun (probably in Iran) via the Persian Gulf, as well as various disputes with customers over the quality of his copper and the speed of his deliveries. (3) Production of finished copper and bronze products seems to have followed a similar pattern as Pylos, Alalakh, and Ugarit in Third Dynasty Ur (c. 2100 B.C.E.); at all of these sites, clay tablets record the allotment of copper to smiths for the production of weapons and other tems.(4)" (Michael Rice Jones, 2007, Oxhide ingots, coper production, and the mediterranean trade in copper and other metals in the Bronze Age, Thsesis submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University, 418 pages: p.62).
"Metal ores, particularly the ores of copper and tin that became so important in the Bronze Age, take an enormous amount of labor and technological expertise to extract from the natural environment and process into useful finished products. Metal ores also occur in geographically localized areas, which would have limited access of prehistoric communities to metals and encouraged long distance trade between them. By the second millennium B.C.,Mediterranean societies had developed complex trade networks to transport and exchange metals and other bulk goods over long distances. Copper, particularly as the main component of bronze, became one the most important materials for tools, weapons, and statusenhancing luxury goods during the Bronze Age." (5)(ibid., p.1)![]()
Cuneiform texts record long distance trade in tin![Image result for tin belt bharatkalyan97]()
The largest tin belt of the globe is in Ancient Far EastPages: 1-45 is appended only for purposes of ready reference to buttress the arguments of this note related to 'Early copper of Mesopotamia' which seems to have arrived from Khetri Mines of India through Dholavira/Lothal ports and the Persian Gulf. Unfortunately, the archaeometallurgical provenance study could not advance on the source of tin in the Tin-Bronzes of Mesopotamia.
Cuneiform texts record long distance trade in tin
The largest tin belt of the globe is in Ancient Far EastPages: 1-45 is appended only for purposes of ready reference to buttress the arguments of this note related to 'Early copper of Mesopotamia' which seems to have arrived from Khetri Mines of India through Dholavira/Lothal ports and the Persian Gulf. Unfortunately, the archaeometallurgical provenance study could not advance on the source of tin in the Tin-Bronzes of Mesopotamia.
