Professional Conference
Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG)
15-17 December 2022
Edinburgh, Scotland
The fourth and third millennia BCE were host to the rapid expansion of Afro-Eurasian trade and exchange networks. Early studies primarily focused on maritime connections among those who lived in relation to bodies of water that are considered distinct today: the Aegean Sea, the Red Sea, and Persian Gulf, and the broader Indian Ocean, for instance. Concurrently, trade relations in these regions are well accepted: between the Aegean, Egypt, and the Near East; Mesopotamia, the Near East, and Egypt; Mesopotamia, the Indus River Valley, and the regions between. Nevertheless, each of these areas is connected to the next and to those farther removed by water, whether in the form of rivers, seas, or oceans. More recent analytical studies of human remains (via strontium-isotope analysis or the study of dental calculus, among others) show that individuals not only moved between but settled in these distinct regions. This study seeks to revisit and reconsider evidence for extra-regional connections – those currently considered only indirect or down-the-line – to explore possible indications of closer and more direct relationships between these seemingly distinct cultures.
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