Place · Bronze Age trading harbour · Bahrain
Dilmun / Qalʿat al-Bahrain
Also known as Dilmun — Qalʿat al-Bahrain
The Bronze Age harbour and tell on the north coast of Bahrain, the Dilmun of Mesopotamian texts and the transhipment point between the Indus and Sumer. Harappan weights, Indus-style seals and a local hybrid seal type have all been found there.
- Function
- Trade & production
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 26.233, 50.521
Worth knowing
Dilmun adopted the Harappan weight standard for its own trade, which is a stronger sign of integration than any single imported object: a Gulf port ran its accounts on measures set in the Indus valley.
Connections (3)
- Trade routeUr
Harappan carnelian beads, seals and cubical weights reached Ur; Dilmun on Bahrain is where the cargo changed hands. The island's excavated weights follow the Harappan standard in some levels and the Mesopotamian in others, which is what an intermediary looks like archaeologically. Mesopotamian texts call the source Meluhha, which is generally taken to mean the Indus.
- Maritime routeLothal
Persian Gulf seals at Lothal and Harappan weights and seals at Qal'at al-Bahrain are the two halves of one sea route. Dilmun was where cargo changed hands, and its weight standards follow the Harappan system in some levels and the Mesopotamian in others. This is the earliest documented long-distance maritime trade involving the subcontinent, and it predates the monsoon crossing by two thousand years.
- Maritime routeMeluḫḫa
This is the oldest documented long-distance sea trade anywhere, and Dilmun is the middle of it. Sumerian and Akkadian tablets name three partners beyond the Gulf — Dilmun, Magan and Meluḫḫa — and Dilmun, at Bahrain, is where Meluḫḫan goods were transhipped for Mesopotamia. Indus weights, Indus-standard seals and etched carnelian beads all turn up on Bahrain, and the Dilmun seal standard is a compromise between the Mesopotamian and the Harappan. The route is attested in writing at one end and in objects at the other, which is why it can be argued about at all.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Qal'at al-Bahrain”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
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