Indian Ocean In Antiquity

500 Pages·1996·10.688 MB·English

by  Julian Reade

THE INDIAN OCEAN
IN ANTIQUITY
THE INDIAN OCEAN
IN ANTIQUITY
EDITED BY
JULIAN READE
~ ~~o~1~;n~~~up
LONDON AND NEWYORK
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
THE BRITISH MUSEUM
London
Firstpublishedin 1996by
KeganPaulInternational
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Foreword
While much has been written about the Indian Ocean during the medieval and modem
periods, studiesofitsearlierhistoryhavebeenmorefragmented. Inconveningthe 1988
conferenceattheBritishMuseum,Iaimedtobringtogetherscholarswho,whileworking
ondifferentperiodsoftimein widelyseparatedpartsoftheworld, wouldinreality have
many interests in common. Speakers were asked to give syntheses ofthe current state
ofresearch in theirareas, with discussion oftheirown mostrecent workas appropriate.
This volume contains papers by those scholars who provided written versions of
whatthey saidattheconferenceitself. Therearetwoadditionalpapersofrelevance, and
myownintroductorychapter.Asthesepapersarrivedgradually,between1988and1993,
their dates ofcompletion vary, and it has not been possible to upgrade all references.
Iamindebtedtothosemanyscholarswhobytheiradviceandencouragementhelped
createthis conference, to The British Academy and the Universities' ChinaCommittee
inLondonwhoby theirgenerosity madeitpossibleto invitespeakersfromChina,India
andIndonesia,tothemembersofstaffoftheDepartmentofWesternAsiaticAntiquities
at The British Museum who helped at the conference itself, and to Mrs Mollie Hunter
who retyped much ofthe text on to disk.
Julian Reade
London, June 1994
5
Contents
Conference programme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Introduction
Julian Reade
Evolution in Indian Ocean studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
The Environment and Natural Resources
Claudio Vita-Finzi
Sea-levels and other factors affecting coastal settlement 23
B.A. McClure
Quaternary climate and landscape ofeastern Arabia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Caroline Grigson
Early cattle around the Indian Ocean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Jouke S. Wigboldus
Early presence ofAfrican millets near the Indian Ocean 75
The Early Civilizations
Juris Zarins
Obsidian in the largercontext ofPredynastic/Archaic Egyptian
Red Sea trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Burkhard Vogt
Bronze Age maritime trade in the Indian Ocean: Harappan traits
on the Oman peninsula. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Gregory L. Possehl
Meluhha . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Dominique Collon
Mesopotamia and the Indus: the evidence ofthe seals 209
Asko Parpola
A Sumerian motifin late Indus seals? 227
Jean-Jacques Glassner
Dilmun, Magan and Meluhha: some observations on language,
toponymy, anthroponymy and theonymy 235
7
The Classical Period
Jean-Franrois Salles
Achaemenid and Hellenistic trade in the Indian Ocean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
D.T. Potts
The Parthian presence in the Arabian Gulf 269
0 0 •• 0 0 •• 0 • 0 • 0 0 0 • •
Steven E. Sidebotham
Roman interests in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean 287
0 • 0 • 0 0 • 0 •• 0 ••••• 0 •••••••
PoJ. Turner andJoE. Cribb
Numismatic evidence for the Roman trade with ancient India 309
Alessandro de Maigret
New evidence from the Yemenite "turret graves" for the problem
of the emergence ofthe South Arabian states .. 321
0 •••••• 0 •••••••••••••••••
David Whitehouse
Sasanian maritime activity 339
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Himanshu Prabha Ray
Early coastal trade in the Bay ofBengal 351
0 • 0 ••••••••• o ••••••••
Ian Co Glover
The archaeological evidence for early trade between South and
Southeast Asia . 365
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Between Africa and China
S.C.H. Munro-Hay
Aksumite overseas interests 403
0 • 0 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
RogerBlench
The ethnographic evidence for long-distance contacts between
Oceania and East Africa 417
0 ••••••••••••••• 0 •••••••
M.C. Horton
Early maritime trade and settlement along the coasts ofeastern Africa 439
Claude Allibertand Pierre Verin
The early pre-Islamic history ofthe Comores Islands: links with
Madagascar and Africa. . 461
0 •••••• 0 ••••• 0 0 • 0 ••••••••• 0 •••••••••
RobertE. Dewar
The archaeology ofthe early settlement ofMadagascar 471
o ••••••••••••••••••
KoA. Adelaar
Malagasy culture-history: some linguistic evidence 487
0 •••••••• 0 •••••••
John Carswell
The excavation ofMantai 501
0 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Yang Qinzhang and Zhang Ruibi
Recent discoveries ofChristian and Hindu remains in Quanzhou . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
8
The Indian Ocean in Antiquity:
Programme of the Conference held at
The British Museum, 4-8 July 1988
Monday, 4 July 1988: The Environment-Natural Resources
Chainnen: C.C. Lamberg-Karlovsky (Harvard), S. Bokonyi (Budapest)
K.N. Chaudhuri (London): The Indian Ocean in antiquity: problems and prospects
M. Tosi (Rome): Natural resources ofthe Indian Ocean littoral: trade as a subsistence
strategy
C. Vita-Finzi (London): Sea-levels and other factors affecting coastal settlement
H.A. McClure (Dhahran): Quaternary climate and landscape of eastern Arabia: a
perspective
C. Grigson (London): The dispersal ofdomestic animals
D. Harris (London): The dispersal offood plants
Tuesday, 5 July 1988: The Early Civilizations
Chainnen: M.T. Larsen (Copenhagen), T.C. Young (Toronto)
S. Cleuziou andS. Mery (Paris): The archaeological evidence for early Gulftrade
J.-J. Glassner (Paris): The cuneiform evidence for early Gulftrade
D. Collon (London): Mesopotamia and the Indus: the evidence ofthe seals
A. Parpola (Helsinki): A Sumerian motifin late Indus seals
B. Vogt (Ras al-Khaimah): The impact of Bronze Age maritime trade in the Oman
mountains
G.L. Possehl (Philadelphia): Harappan and post-Harappan maritime interests
J. Zarins (Springfield): Prehistoric trade inthe southernRedSea: the obsidianevidence
D.M. Dixon (London): Egyptian activity in and beyond the Red Sea to 332 BC
Wednesday, 6 July 1988: The Classical Period
Chainnen: S.M. al-Radhi (San'a), A.M. Gibson (Chicago)
A. de Maigret (Rome): The emergence ofthe South Arabian states
J.-F. Salles (Lyon): Achaemenid and Seleucid trade in the Indian Ocean
D.T. Potts (Copenhagen): The Parthian presence in the Gulf
M.E. Prickett (Kotte): Archaeological evidence for Sri Lanka's foreign trade
A. Skj¢lsvold (Oslo): Recent research in the Maldive Islands
J.E. Cribb andP. Turner (London): Roman trade with India: the numismatic evidence
S.E. Sidebotham (Newark): Roman interests in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean
9
Thursday, 7 July 1988: The Sasanian World-The Far East
Chairmen: P.O. Harper (New York), K. McPherson (Perth)
D.B. Whitehouse (Coming): Sasanian maritime trade
H.P. Ray (New Delhi): Early trade in the Bay ofBengal
W.J.K. Christensen (Perth): Therelationship betweenSouth-EastAsiaandAustraliain
pre'history
I. Glover (London): The archaeological evidence for early trade between South and
South-East Asia
P.-Y. Manguin (Jakarta): South-East Asian shipping and trading in the Indian Ocean
during the first millennium AD
YangQinzhang(Quanzhou):NewevidencefortransmissionofHinduismintoQuanzhou
Friday, 8 July 1988: Africa and the Orient
Chairmen: H.T. Wright (Ann Arbor), K.N. Chaudhuri (London)
M. Horton (Oxford): Pre-Islamic evidence from the eastern coast ofAfrica
C. Allibert (Lyon) andP. Verin (Paris): The early pre-Islamic culture ofthe Comores
Islands-links with Madagascar and the east coast ofAfrica
R.E. Dewar (Storrs): The earliest colonization ofMadagascar
R. Blench(Cambridge): Theethnographicevidenceforlong-distancecontacts between
Oceania and East Mrica
K.A. Adelaar (Leiden): The linguistic and culture-historical implications of Malay
influence on Malagasy
R.McC. Adams (Washington): Concluding remarks
10
Introduction