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From the earliest period of settlement at Mehrgarh in the seventh millennium, far-reaching trade networks had given the village's inhabitants access to the products of other regions, such as seashells from the Makran coast, turquoise from Kyzyl Kum in Central Asia, and lapis lazuli probably from Badakshan in Afghanistan. By the fifth millennium, lapis and turquoise were also reaching Susiana and Mesopotamia at the western end of the Iranian plateau, showing that trading networks operated right across these regions. These became more developed in the fourth millennium, with a number of trading towns growing up in the Iranian plateau, particularly at nodes in the trade routes, some procuring raw materials, some working local or imported materials, and most reaping the benefits of transit trade. Two major routes traversed the Iranian plateau between east and west: One (later a part of the famous Silk Road) ran north of the desert interior and crossed the Zagros Mountains through the Diyala Valley to reach Assyria and Babylonia; the other ran to the south of the desert, passing through Anshan to Elam and from there into southern Mesopotamia. Key materials involved in this trade included chlorite from Kerman, copper from a number of sources including the arsenic-rich deposits at Anarak in western Iran, tin from Afghanistan and the south Caspian, silver from Iran, steatite from southern Iran, turquoise from Central Asia, and gold from western Iran. A major source of minerals, including copper, alabaster, steatite, diorite, and aragonite, lay in the Chagai Hills of western Baluchistan,

Equally accessible to the cultures of the Indo-Iranian borderlands and those of Seistan. Lapis lazuli from Badakshan or perhaps Chagai found its way to centers throughout the trade network, small amounts reaching Baluchistan, Elam, and the Gulf, while considerable quantities were imported into southern Mesopotamia, where it was used to decorate many valuable objects.

Early Trade Networks

Elam, a state comprising Susiana and Anshan in southwest Iran, played a major role in this trade in the early third millennium, establishing trading stations in a number of Iranian towns, including Shahr-i Sokhta in Seistan. By around 2800 BCE, Elam no longer played a dominant role in eastern Iran, and from around 2300 it was incorporated into the empires of southern Mesopotamia, although the trading towns and trade network continued to flourish. The products of these towns enjoyed a wide circulation: For example, chlorite bowls (serie ancienne) manufactured at Tepe Yahya, mainly during the midthird millennium, are known from towns and cities in Mesopotamia and Elam, on the Iranian plateau, and in the Gulf region; one fragment was recovered from the lowest excavated levels at Mohenjo-daro, and others have been found at Nausharo, Dholavira, and near Sutkagen-dor in the Makran.

Towns in the Indo-Iranian borderlands and Early Indus settlements in the river plains were active participants in this trade network. Trade routes through the major valleys of the borderlands linked the Indus Basin to Seistan and Afghanistan and beyond them to the Iranian plateau and Central Asia.

In the later third millennium, however, a major shift in trading patterns occurred. Mesopotamia, a major consumer of raw materials from the Iranian plateau and beyond, shifted most of its interest to new sources and suppliers in the Gulf, and communications between the Indus region and Seistan ceased. This had the major effect of denying the Harappans access to the important and varied mineral resources of the Chagai Hills. Trade within the Iranian plateau continued, reaching as far west as Susa, but it no longer provided the international highway between Mesopotamia and the Indian subcontinent.

Little Harappan material is known from Iranian sites, and the few objects found could have been acquired by trade with third parties such as Magan and Elam. The known finds include etched carnelian beads at Tepe Hissar, Shah Tepe, Jalalabad, Kalleh Nisar, and Tepe Yahya; a sherd bearing a Harappan seal impression was also found at Tepe Yahya. Harappan etched carnelian and long barrel carnelian beads were found at Susa, as well as a cylinder seal with a Harappan bull-and-manger design and some Indus script signs, and a round seal with a bull and six Harappan signs.

The Lapis Trade

Lapis lazuli, an exceptionally beautiful type of blue stone, was one of the principal materials procured through these trade networks. It was one of the most highly prized raw materials in the ancient world, often used in conjunction with gold and other precious materials to create exceptional ornaments and works of art.

For a long time it was thought that the Sar-i Sangh and other mines at Badakshan in Afghanistan were the sole source of the lapis lazuli known in antiquity to the inhabitants of the great swathe of territory from Egypt to India. Recently, however, a deposit of visually similar and chemically related material was discovered in the Chagai Hills, south of Seistan in western Baluchistan. Opinions are divided on whether this should also be called lapis lazuli. Scientific analyses of lapis lazuli from ancient sites are rare, and so the source of the material from which ancient lapis lazuli objects were made is generally unknown. One exception is the material from Shahr-i Sokhta, not far from Chagai. Analyses have shown this to include lapis derived from three sources: Chagai, Badakshan, and a more distant source in the Pamirs, less than a third of the samples that were analyzed coming from Chagai. Shahr-i Sokhta had a major role as a break-of-bulk center for the lapis trade: There raw nodules were worked to remove the cortex (outer rind) and impurities, and the lapis was prepared for export, either as pure clean nodules or as finished items such as beads. It seems strange that Shahr-i Sokhta did not confine its procurement of lapis to that from the nearby Chagai hills rather than exploiting more distant sources. It may be that the Chagai hills source was discovered during the third millennium and that its exploitation was therefore a recent addition to the long-established trade in lapis from Badakshan. Shahr-i Sokhta was on a major route to Afghanistan and Turkmenia, and it had very close cultural ties with the inhabitants of southeast Turkmenia who exploited the Badakshan lapis source and from whom the people of Shahr-i Sokhta obtained large quantities of turquoise.

The people of the Indo-Iranian borderlands and Indus Basin had gained access to lapis by trade, probably along the route that led from the Kachi plain through the Bolan pass to Quetta and Mundigak, where it joined the major trade route to southern Turkmenia and Afghanistan. This route had linked the people of the Indo-Iranian borderlands with the farming communities of Afghanistan, Turkmenia, and the South Caspian since at least the seventh millennium BCE, and it was the route by which turquoise from Kyzyl Kum reached South Asia. Regular communications, probably by camel caravan, are likely to have existed between the cultures of Helmand and southern Turkmenia along this route throughout the third and second millennia.

During the period of the Indus civilization, however, it seems that communications between the Indus and Seistan were severed, and the Bolan route ceased to be used beyond Quetta. Which culture initiated this situation is unknown. The people of the Indus region no longer had access to the resources of the Chagai Hills, and turquoise and lapis lazuli no longer reached them via the route to the Bolan pass.

Instead the Harappans traded with Afghanistan and Central Asia via a more northerly route. This route started in the Punjab; it passed through Late Kot Diji territory along the Gomal River, or followed the Indus north through Swat and then along the Kabul River through the Khyber pass into northern Afghanistan, where there were copper, silver, and lead sources. The importance to the

Harappans of resources from the north is indicated by the fact that, rather than merely sending traders to the region, they established an Indus trading outpost at Shortugai, at the confluence of the Kokcha and Amu Darya Rivers in Afghanistan, to facilitate their procurement of local resources. As well as lapis lazuli, these resources included tin and gold. In addition, turquoise and jadeite could be obtained from the neighboring Namazga culture in the Kopet Dagh area of southern Turkmenia. Trade with the latter is confirmed by the presence of Harappan material, including etched carnelian beads, ivory rods and dice, and two Harappan seals at Altyn-depe, one of the principal Namazga towns. Many Harappan carnelian beads were also found in looted graves in northern Afghanistan, and one etched carnelian bead and a figurine of a bull were found in the BMAC palace at Dashli-3. A few Namazga artifacts were found in Harappan sites, including animal-headed bronze pins. The Namazga culture was connected, via a trade route running south of the Elburz mountains, to Tepe Hissar and Shah Tepe, both of which have yielded a few Indus carnelian beads.

A group of seven Bronze Age (probably Harappan) sites has been located in the region, of which only Shortugai has been excavated. It was a typical Indus settlement despite being 625 miles (1,000 kilometers) distant from the Indus region. Artifacts there include the standard Harappan types such as terra-cotta cakes, cart models and figurines, and typical Harappan pottery, as well as bangles made of chank seashell. A seal with a rhino design was also found here. Houses were of the usual Harappan design, using bricks of standard size. The inhabitants of the settlement practiced farming, using irrigation, and craft activities, including smelting and working copper and making beads. Carnelian and lapis lazuli were the main materials worked.

Shortugai was strategically located to control access to the mineral resources of the region. The metal ores, particularly tin, were probably of particular interest to the Harappans. Lapis, though highly prized by Near Eastern cultures, was less highly regarded by the Harappans, who preferred other materials; relatively little lapis has been found in Harappan sites. It seems, however, that the Harappans valued it for its export potential, and that they monopolized its supply to the cultures of the Gulf and Mesopotamia.