Although there has been much speculation about Urartian trade and the influence it might have had on countries to the West, I hope to show there is no evidence for such exports. On the contrary, Urartu seems to have been the receiver of some goods made in the South-West (either through trade or through plunder or imposition of tribute) and the producer of other goods which found their way to the North-east. The points of this paper have been made before, but in the face of new contentions to the contrary, it may be useful to restate them. Among small objects from north Syria commonly found in Urartu one might mention faience scaraboids with the emblem of the moon god of Harran.

The hypothesis that Urartian goods were widely traded to Greece and Italy through Syrian ports or overland via Phrygia is mainly based on the appearance, at a number of Greek and Italian sites, of copper or bronze basins with sets of four carrying-rings fixed by means of attachments in the shape of “sirens”, i.e. male or female busts rising out of a circle with bird's wings and tail. The most common obviously non-Greek and non-Italian type of female siren is characterized by a squat neckless head with thick short curls, huge eyes and nose, puckered mouth and receding chin.

Stat. B 5, 21–27, 20 und Zyl. A 15, 6–16, 29 wurden untersucht und festgestellt, daß ein kultisch bedingter, literarischer Topos vorliegt, der in den Riten zur Königskrönung seinen Ursprung hat, aber der nur begrenzten Wert als historische Primärquelle besitzt. Die wichtigsten Beweispunkte und Ergebnisse seien hier zusammengefaßt.

1. Vergleicht man die Liste der Herkunftsländer der Materialien, so ergibt sich eine genaue Übereinstimmung in den beiden Inschriften: 5, 21–6, 20/15, 19–34, 6, 21–44/16, 15–29, 6, 45–50/15, 6–18, 6, 51–7, 20/16, 7–10; 15, 25–16, 6; 16, 11–14. Dies läßt auf eine gemeinsame Quelle oder auf eine gemeinsame Tradition schließen.

2. Die Anzahl der Länder ist 16 bzw. 12, die Anzahl der Materialien 20 bzw. 21 in Stat. B und Zyl. A. Daraus folgt: nicht die Vollständigkeit der Beziehungen mit anderen Ländern, sondern deren Anzahl im jeweiligen Textzusammenhang ist wichtig.

3. Die Richtung Süd wird nicht genannt, vgl. Stat. D 4, 2–14. Die Richtungen der übrigen Länder bilden eine fallende Reihe von Ost über West nach Nord. Dazu ist Zyl. A 14, 7–15, 5, die Aushebung in den Gemarkungen des Ningirsu, der Nansche und der Inanna, zu vergleichen.

Trade in metals, notably the precious metals gold and silver, and the base metals copper and tin, represents one of the major aspects of Bronze Age commerce. It has been argued that the first large-scale growth of a metals trade, during the mid-third millennium B.C., stimulated the development of international commerce and made possible the wealth of the EB II period in the Aegean, Anatolia and the Near East. Trade in metals continued to be one of the most important elements of commerce down to the end of the Bronze Age. Thus a proper understanding of the nature and the scope of this trade is essential to the study of Bronze Age civilization and the nature of foreign relations in the third and second millennia B.C.

Since these metals were available only in certain areas, trade was essential for the development of metallurgy in those parts of the ancient world without native mineral resources, especially the Aegean and Mesopotamia. As virtually no work has been done on sources or uses of silver in the Bronze Age this paper will concentrate upon trade in gold, copper and tin. Technological developments will be discussed only in so far as they made possible the utilization of certain types of ores and hence influenced the growth of trade.

The first post-war season of excavation at Tell Brak took place from March to May, 1976. The expedition, directed by the writer, was sponsored by the Institute of Archaeology, University of London, and was generously supported by grants from the British Academy, the British Museum, the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, the C.H.W. Johns Fund of Cambridge University, the Gordon Childe Fund of the Institute of Archaeology, and an anonymous Trust. I take this opportunity of expressing my gratitude to our supporters, and to the members of the staff who worked extremely hard in conditions that were sometimes difficult, for we were living in rented village houses and tents and relied entirely on local transport. They were Dr. T. A. Holland (Assistant Director), Miss Katharine Fielden (in charge of pottery), Miss Ann Searight (Conservator and Draughtsman), Mr. P. G. Dorrell (Photographer and Geomorphologist), Mr. J. D. Hawkins (Epigraphist and Registrar), Mr. J. E. Curtis and Mr. D. G. Jeffreys (Archaeologists), Mr. S. F. Hall (Architect) and Mr. J. Hanbury Tenison (Archaeological Assistant). We must also extend our warm thanks to the Director-General of Antiquities, Dr. Afif Bahnassi, and the members of his staff, especially Dr. Adnan Bounni and Sayid Kassim Tuweir who bore the burden of our arrangements in Damascus, and the Department's Representative in the field, Sayid Subhi Yunan. Without their unstinted and friendly assistance our work would not have been possible.

The pottery from the 1976 excavations at Tell Brak comprises a fairly homogeneous, probable Late ED—Late Agade group, much of which proves to be similar in character both to that of the ED—Agade periods obtained by Sir Max Mallowan in 1937–8 and to the more recently excavated ED material from Tell Chuera.

The four principal wares and the majority of rim profile types were present in all phases but despite the overall similarity of the pottery it is reasonable to suggest that it falls stratigraphically into three groups:

The earliest, Phase 3, consists of a small amount of material from pre-Temple levels and is probably of the Late ED period.

Phase 2 finds are of Agade date and were obtained from levels associated with the building phases of the Temple.

Phase 1 pottery, the largest group, from levels subsequent to the Temple, is probably of post-Naram-Sin to, at the latest, Ur III date. There may however, have been a break in occupation of the site during this period.

The volume of the 1976 ceramic sample is small and this discussion is mainly limited to that which was obtained from Trenches A, B and the lowest levels of D where the stratigraphy is best understood. The sample is unlikely to be comprehensive and it will therefore be pertinent at this stage to describe and illustrate as much of the material as possible and to comment upon its relation to material from other sites where relevant. Statistics quoted and conclusions reached should be considered as preliminary findings which may be enlarged or altered by the consequences of further excavation at Brak.

In Sir Leonard Woolley's account of the Royal Cemetery at Ur, Dr. Plenderleith mentions in his section on metal techniques a minute ring (diameter 2 mm) composed of six gold granules, which was found in the tomb of Queen Pu-Abi, and states, “The Sumerians were the first people we know to have shown skill in filigree and granulated work”. While there is no difficulty in finding examples of filigree or crude attempts at granulation in the Royal Cemetery, the six-granule ring is (with the strip discussed below) the only evidence that, in the Early Dynastic period, goldsmiths were able to produce the fine granulated work comparable to that known in the 3rd Dynasty of Ur and Early Babylonian periods. But until recently it was impossible to examine this celebrated piece because it could not be found among the collections of Ur jewellery in London, Baghdad or Philadelphia. To-day, however, it is on loan to the Institute of Archaeology in London from the Brotherton Library of the University of Leeds, (the gift of J. R. Ogden), where a search, lasting over ten years, for what must be the smallest piece of archaeological evidence for the earliest use of this intricate and highly skilled technique, unexpectedly ended. (Plate Ia).

A detailed scientific report by Dr. Seeley will be published when work on the entire Leeds collection is completed but to date we can say that while there is a variation of copper and silver in the granules of the six-granule ring one of the granules and a joint between two of the granules are virtually 100% gold (Appendix I). We may therefore conclude that the goldsmith was using extremely small quantities of native gold obtained either from different alluvial sources or from the same river source but varying in composition.

R. Maxwell-Hyslop hat die grosse Bedeutung hervorgehoben, die das Erdgrab 20 in Assur hat, und zwar sowohl für die Geschichte des Schmucks als auch zur Datierung der berühmten Schätze aus Troia. Sie hat auch bedenkenswerte chronologische Folgerungen daraus gezogen; da dies an etwas versteckter Stelle geschah und deshalb bisher nicht beachtet wurde, und da ich glaube, ihre Beobachtungen noch stützen zu können, sei dieser für den altassyrischen Metallhandel so wichtige Komplex hier noch einmal vorgeführt.

Unter den Schmucksachen sind es zwei Formen, die das Erdgrab 20 mit dem ‘Schatz A’ in Troia verbinden: röhrenförmige Perlen mit vierfach spiralig aufgerollten Enden und halbmondförmige Ohrringe, deren Körper dergestalt getrieben ist, dass er von aussen aus drei senkrecht nebeneinander hängenden Halbmondscheiben zu bestehen scheint (Fig. 1). Man kann gegen diese Vergleiche einwenden, dass die Geschichte der Schmuckformen weder in Westkleinasien noch in Mesopotamien hinreichend bekannt sei, um danach genau datieren zu können; und in der Tat sind Doppelspiralen ein nahezu weltweites Motiv. Jedoch ist zum Mindesten der zweite Vergleich besonders schlagend deshalb, weil es sich um eine sehr spezielle, technisch nicht ganz einfache Sonderform innerhalb eines allgemeinen Typs handelt: den der senkrecht gegliederten Halbmond-Ohrringe.

The cylinder seals and some impressions from the excavations at Tell al Rimah were published in Iraq 37 (1965). There remained for publication the seal impressions on the business documents dating to the thirteenth century B.C., all of which appear to belong to one archive. They were published by H. W. F. Saggs, D. J. Wiseman and Nicholas Postgate in Iraq 30 (1968), 154 ff. During a month's visit to Baghdad in 1973 I photographed as many impressions as I could find and Carolyn Postgate drew them. After I left Baghdad, she completed the drawings, finding impressions of the same seal on other tablets, and I have not seen the tablets since. She has however collated her drawings in response to my queries and additional photographs have been taken by Peter Dorrell, Jonathan Tubb and Christopher Watkins, working in very difficult conditions; I am grateful for their help. The impressions are extremely difficult to photograph and even in many cases to see, the tablet being sealed before the text is written, while the clearest impressions on the edges give insufficient space for a complete impression. It is ironic that the Middle Assyrians whose intaglio craftsmen produced such superb works of art should have left the worst record because, unlike the Late Assyrians, they left no space on their documents for the seal impression. In these circumstances Carolyn Postgate's work has been arduous, and I am most grateful to her, for her labours have enabled this addition to the corpus of Middle Assyrian seal design to be published.

The British Archaeological Expedition to Iraq returned to Abu Salabikh for a second season from September to December, 1976, and we must first record our gratitude to all those who made the excavations possible. As last year our thanks go first to Dr. Isa Salman, Director General of Antiquities, Dr. Abdul-Hadi al-Fouadi and all members of the Directorate without whose co-operation our work would have been impossible. To our representatives, Sd. Sabah Abboud, M.A., and Sd. Abdul-Mejid Muhammad, goes the appreciation of the team, both as a whole and individually, for their unfailing courtesy and assistance. Financial support for the excavations was given by a number of institutions to all of which we wish to acknowledge our indebtedness: the British Academy (Albert Reckitt Archaeological Fund), the Trustees of the British Museum, Birmingham City Museums and Art Gallery, the C. H. W. Johns Fund, University of Cambridge, the Manchester Museum, the National Geographic Society, Washington D.C., and the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. As last year we owe a special debt to Professor G. Gullini and members of the Italian Archaeological Institute in Baghdad for the hospitality of their superb dark-room facilities which they generously placed at our disposal. I should also like to record our gratitude to Monberg Thorsen A/S for a gift of cement which enabled us to add a kind of bathroom to our facilities at the site.

Les tablettes “cappadociennes” constituent la documentation la plus riche permettant de connaître l'activité commerciale de l'antiquité assyro-babylonienne et notamment les échanges internationaux. Sans doute, leurs allusions sont-elles souvent concises; nul texte ne précise la portée des mots techniques désignant les institutions. C'est par recoupements et comparaisons que nous parvenons à lever un coin du voile. Néanmoins, un certain nombre de traits généraux ressortent aujourd'hui avec une clarté suffisante pour permettre une vision d'ensemble. A la demande des organisateurs de ces “Rencontres”, je voudrais tout d'abord rappeler brièvement quelques traits fondamentaux du mouvement d'échanges commerciaux, qui s'est développé entre l'Assyrie et l'Asie mineure au XIXe siècle av. J. C. Puis, j'essaierai de préciser le rôle des marchands, en examinant tour à tour ce que l'on sait du tamkārum paléoassyrien et les activités de quelques personnalités marquantes.

The reports given below cover excavation work in Iraq during 1976. As in previous years the collection is not entirely complete, the chief omissions being the Iraqi work at Nimrud and Nineveh, which will be included in our next compilation to enable reports to appear first in Sumer. Unless otherwise specified, the information on each site has been kindly provided by the director of the excavations, and the final version generally checked by him.

Since this is the fifth collection of reports it seemed a convenient moment at which to take stock, and we therefore include among the reports all the sites covered by us in the period 1971–76 together with a bibliography for those seasons. We do not claim that this is complete, but with the help of the excavators we do hope to have given the main bulk of publication, and to be fairly up to date; sometimes we have given an imprecise reference which we could not confirm, rather than omit it altogether. Although the bibliography is only intended to cover work executed in our five-year period, we have occasionally, and unsystematically, listed publications of earlier seasons.

Around the middle of the nineteenth century B.C., according to a calculated guess, as much as 2,000 inhabitants of the City of Assur were in some way involved in OA Trade. Roughly one-third of this number lived in or regularly travelled to and in Anatolia. This involvement of so many people must have had a serious impact on Assyrian society. In this paper an attempt is made to point out some of its social effects. “Social” is taken in a broad sense, including some more economic aspects; social and economic facts of ancient Assyria cannot and should not be treated separately.

The treatment of this subject is hampered by some serious limitations. Diachronic comparisons, correlating social changes with the development of the trade, are almost impossible, because we know hardly anything about OA society before the period under review. We are also largely ignorant about the effects of the disruption of the trade at the end of Kültepe II. Changes and differences revealing themselves in the period Kültepe Ib are not necessarily “natural” developments, but may be due to the influence of the new king Šamši-Adad I, and to inner Anatolian developments.

Beginning with the publication of Garelli's book “Les assyriens en Cappadoce” in 1963, a new wave of research into the Old Assyrian political, economic, and social structures has brought about a quite detailed understanding of many central aspects of the Old Assyrian society. It is my impression that something approaching a consensus has been reached in a number of important fields, and it is readily obvious where most of the pressing new problems are to be found. Many basic commercial procedures have been adequately analysed, the technical vocabulary of the merchants is beginning to be understood, the political system of the Assyrian state and the basis for the existence of the colonies on foreign soil has been described. However, all these studies have also made it very clear that the Old Assyrian colonial system constituted a highly sophisticated commercial milieu, and many features in the socio-economic structures bear witness to the complexity with which we have to deal in our work on the texts. Obviously, there cannot be a general agreement in all areas, and such differences of opinion must be reflected in our translations and interpretations of technical terms which can be seen to refer to central concepts. A case in point is the word tamkārum, “merchant”, which is dealt with in Garelli's contribution in this volume. Garelli tends to see this term as a title which refers to an official, and my own view is that it denotes a contractually regulated capacity and thus that it is not a title. One interpretation leads to the concept of a centralized bureaucracy in Assur, the other does not necessitate such a reconstruction. At the moment we can do little more than note the difference of opinion and attempt to present a coherent theory, but I believe that it is important at the same time to realize that these different views reflect two more or less clearly defined models of the Old Assyrian society. I have the feeling that some scholars think that such conceptual models should somehow be avoided, and that they constitute a danger to a real understanding of the ancients and their world, but such a view rests on a misunderstanding; it is not true that the “real” scholar is only interested in the texts and builds his theories exclusively on them, for any analysis entails some conceptual model. In fact, the success of our efforts often depends on how well we understand the models which we are using.