Early trade in highland Iran: A view from a source area.

Trade between resource‐poor Mesopotamia and the resource‐rich Iranian highlands played an important role in the rise and maintenance of the earliest civilizations in the Tigris‐Euphrates valley. This paper examines the development of that trade from the perspective of the Iranian resource areas. A methodology for the study of trade development is discussed, emphasizing the importance of knowing source areas. Iranian sources for alabaster, marble, obsidian, steatite (chlorite), carnelian, lapis lazuli, turquoise and copper are noted. Evidence for the development of trade between 4500 and 3000 B.C. at the site of Tepe Yahya is examined in detail. A developmental typology of trade is presented, and some possible causal factors ‐ such as the by‐pass phenomenon ‐ are suggested for this development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]