Indo-Mesopotamia relations

{{main|Neolithic Revolution|Neolithic}}

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| image1 = Female Statuette Halaf Culture 6000-5100 BCE.jpg

| caption1 = Fertility figurine of the Halaf culture, Mesopotamia, 6000–5100 BCE. Louvre.{{cite web |title=Site officiel du musée du Louvre |url=http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not&idNotice=9772 |website=cartelfr.louvre.fr}}

| image2 = Statuette Mehrgarh.jpg

| caption2 = Fertility figurine from Mehrgarh, Indus Valley, 7000–3100 BCE.{{cite web |title=Figure féminine – Les Musées Barbier-Mueller |url=http://www.musee-barbier-mueller.org/collections/antiquite/art-neolithique/article/figure-feminine-665?lang=fr |website=www.musee-barbier-mueller.org}}

| footer=Neolithic fertility goddesses in Mehrgarh are similar to those of the Near-East. They are all part of the Neolithic 'Venus figurines' tradition, the abundant breasts and hips of these figurines suggest links to fertility and procreation.

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A first period of indirect contacts seems to have occurred as a consequence of the Neolithic Revolution and the diffusion of agriculture after 9000 BCE.{{efn|According to Ahmad Hasan Dani, professor emeritus at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, the discovery of Mehrgarh "changed the entire concept of the Indus civilisation [...] There we have the whole sequence, right from the beginning of settled village life."{{cite journal|last=Chandler|first=Graham|date=September–October 1999|title=Traders of the Plain|url=http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/199905/traders.of.the.plain.htm|journal=Saudi Aramco World|pages=34–42|access-date=11 February 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070218235318/http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/199905/traders.of.the.plain.htm|archive-date=18 February 2007|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}}} The prehistoric agriculture of the Indian subcontinent is thought to have combined local resources, such as humped cattle, with agricultural resources from the Near East as a first step in the 8th–7th millennium BCE, to which were later added resources from Africa and East Asia from the 3rd millennium BCE.{{cite book |last1=Tauger |first1=Mark B. |title=Agriculture in World History |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-94161-0 |page=8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gPZb78oXek8C&pg=PA8 |language=en}} Mehrgarh is one of the earliest sites with evidence of farming and herding in the subcontinent.UNESCO World Heritage. 2004. [https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1876/"]. Archaeological Site of MehrgarhHirst, K. Kris. 2005. [http://archaeology.about.com/od/mterms/g/mehrgarh.htm "Mehrgarh"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118071157/http://archaeology.about.com/od/mterms/g/mehrgarh.htm |date=2017-01-18 }}. Guide to Archaeology{{efn|Excavations at Bhirrana, Haryana, in India between 2006 and 2009, by archaeologist K.N. Dikshit, provided six artefacts, including "relatively advanced pottery", so-called Hakra ware, which were dated at a time bracket between 7380 and 6201 BCE.{{cite web|url=http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/india/121116/indus-civilization-2000-years-old-archaeologists|title=Archeologists confirm Indian civilization is 2000 years older than previously believed, Jason Overdorf, Globalpost, 28 November 2012}}{{cite web|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/newdelhi/indus-valley-2-000-years-older-than-thought/article1-954601.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150209053815/http://www.hindustantimes.com/newdelhi/indus-valley-2-000-years-older-than-thought/article1-954601.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 9, 2015|title=Indus Valley 2,000 years older than thought|date=2012-11-04}}{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Indus-era-8000-years-old-not-5500-ended-because-of-weaker-monsoon/articleshow/52485332.cms|title=Archeologists confirm Indian civilization is 8000 years old, Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey, Times of India, 29 May 2016|website=The Times of India |date=29 May 2016 }}{{cite web | title=History What their lives reveal| url=http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/ljfXtPZHUSi5eG8Di1n9YO/History--What-their-lives-reveal.html | date=2013-01-04 }} These dates compete with Mehrgarh for being the oldest site for cultural remains in the area.{{cite news | title=Haryana's Bhirrana oldest Harappan site, Rakhigarhi Asia's largest: ASI | url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Haryanas-Bhirrana-oldest-Harappan-site-Rakhigarhi-Asias-largest-ASI/articleshow/46926693.cms |newspaper=The Times of India |date=15 April 2015}}{{pb}}Yet, Dikshit and Mani clarify that this time-bracket concerns only charcoal samples, which were radio-carbon dated at respectively 7570–7180 BCE (sample 2481) and 6689–6201 BCE (sample 2333).{{sfn|Dikshit|2013|pp=132, 131}}{{sfn|Mani|2008|p=237}} Dikshit further writes that the earliest phase concerns 14 shallow dwelling-pits which "could accommodate about 3–4 people".{{sfn|Dikshit|2013|p=129}} According to Dikshit, in the lowest level of these pits wheel-made Hakra Ware was found which was "not well finished",{{sfn|Dikshit|2013|p=129}} together with other wares.{{sfn|Dikshit|2013|p=130}}}} At Mehrgarh, around 7000 BCE, the full set of Near Eastern incipient agricultural products can be found: wheat, barley, as well as goats, sheep and cattle. The rectangular houses of Mehrgarh as well as the female figurines are essentially identical with those of the Near East.

The Near-Eastern origin of South Asian agriculture is generally accepted, and it has been the "virtual archaeological dogma for decades"."It has been virtual archaeological dogma for decades that Braidwood's constellation of potentially domesticable plants... were first domesticated in the Near East... early in the Holocene (c. 8,000 to 10,000 years ago). [...] The usual story is that domestic plants and animals, and the techniques of food production, then somehow 'diffused' to other parts of the Old World, including South Asia." in {{cite book |last1=Possehl |first1=Gregory L. |title=The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective |date=2002 |publisher=Rowman Altamira |isbn=978-0-7591-0172-2 |page=24 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pmAuAsi4ePIC&pg=PA24 |language=en}} Gregory Possehl however argues for a more nuanced model, in which the early domestication of plant and animal species may have occurred in a wide area from the Mediterranean to the Indus, in which new technology and ideas circulated fast and were widely shared.{{cite book |last1=Possehl |first1=Gregory L. |title=The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective |date=2002 |publisher=Rowman Altamira |isbn=978-0-7591-0172-2 |pages=23–28 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pmAuAsi4ePIC&pg=PA23 |language=en}} Today, the main objection to this model lies in the fact that wild wheat has never been found in South Asia, suggesting that either wheat was first domesticated in the Near-East from well-known domestic wild species and then brought to South Asia, or that wild wheat existed in the past in South Asia but somehow became extinct without leaving a trace.

Jean-François Jarrige argues for an independent origin of Mehrgarh. Jarrige notes "the assumption that farming economy was introduced full-fledged from Near-East to South Asia",Jean-Francois Jarrige [http://www.archaeology.up.nic.in/doc/mn_jfj.pdf Mehrgarh Neolithic] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303221610/http://archaeology.up.nic.in/doc/mn_jfj.pdf |date=3 March 2016 }}, Paper presented in the International Seminar on the "First Farmers in Global Perspective", Lucknow, India, 18–20 January 2006{{efn|name="Near East"|According to Gangal et al. (2014), there is strong archeological and geographical evidence that neolithic farming spread from the Near East into north-west India.{{sfn|Gangal|Sarson|Shukurov|2014}}{{sfn|Singh|2016}} Gangal et al. (2014):{{sfn|Gangal|Sarson|Shukurov|2014}} "There are several lines of evidence that support the idea of connection between the Neolithic in the Near East and in the Indian subcontinent. The prehistoric site of Mehrgarh in Baluchistan (modern Pakistan) is the earliest Neolithic site in the north-west Indian subcontinent, dated as early as 8500 BCE.[18]Possehl GL (1999) Indus Age: The Beginnings. Philadelphia: Univ. Pennsylvania Press.{{pb}}Neolithic domesticated crops in Mehrgarh include more than 90% barley and a small amount of wheat. There is good evidence for the local domestication of barley and the zebu cattle at Mehrgarh [19],Jarrige JF (2008) Mehrgarh Neolithic. Pragdhara 18: 136–154 [20],Costantini L (2008) The first farmers in Western Pakistan: the evidence of the Neolithic agropastoral settlement of Mehrgarh. Pragdhara 18: 167–178 but the wheat varieties are suggested to be of Near-Eastern origin, as the modern distribution of wild varieties of wheat is limited to Northern Levant and Southern Turkey [21].Fuller DQ (2006) Agricultural origins and frontiers in South Asia: a working synthesis. J World Prehistory 20: 1–86 A detailed satellite map study of a few archaeological sites in the Baluchistan and Khybar Pakhtunkhwa regions also suggests similarities in early phases of farming with sites in Western Asia [22].{{cite journal | last1 = Petrie | first1 = CA | last2 = Thomas | first2 = KD | year = 2012 | title = The topographic and environmental context of the earliest village sites in western South Asia | journal = Antiquity | volume = 86 | issue = 334| pages = 1055–1067 | doi=10.1017/s0003598x00048249| s2cid = 131732322 }} Pottery prepared by sequential slab construction, circular fire pits filled with burnt pebbles, and large granaries are common to both Mehrgarh and many Mesopotamian sites [23].{{cite journal | last1 = Goring-Morris | first1 = AN | last2 = Belfer-Cohen | first2 = A | year = 2011 | title = Neolithization processes in the Levant: the outer envelope | journal = Curr Anthropol | volume = 52 | pages = S195–S208 | doi=10.1086/658860| s2cid = 142928528 }} The postures of the skeletal remains in graves at Mehrgarh bear strong resemblance to those at Ali Kosh in the Zagros Mountains of southern Iran [19].Jarrige JF (2008) Mehrgarh Neolithic. Pragdhara 18: 136–154 Clay figurines found in Mehrgarh resemble those discovered at Teppe Zagheh on the Qazvin plain south of the Elburz range in Iran (the 7th millennium BCE) and Jeitun in Turkmenistan (the 6th millennium BCE) [24].Jarrige C (2008) The figurines of the first farmers at Mehrgarh and their offshoots. Pragdhara 18: 155–166 Strong arguments have been made for the Near-Eastern origin of some domesticated plants and herd animals at Jeitun in Turkmenistan (pp. 225–227 in [25]).Harris DR (2010) Origins of Agriculture in Western Central Asia: An Environmental-Archaeological Study. Philadelphia: Univ. Pennsylvania Press.{{pb}}The Near East is separated from the Indus Valley by the arid plateaus, ridges and deserts of Iran and Afghanistan, where rainfall agriculture is possible only in the foothills and cul-de-sac valleys [26].Hiebert FT, Dyson RH (2002) Prehistoric Nishapur and frontier between Central Asia and Iran. Iranica Antiqua XXXVII: 113–149 Nevertheless, this area was not an insurmountable obstacle for the dispersal of the Neolithic. The route south of the Caspian sea is a part of the Silk Road, some sections of which were in use from at least 3,000 BCE, connecting Badakhshan (north-eastern Afghanistan and south-eastern Tajikistan) with Western Asia, Egypt and India [27].Kuzmina EE, Mair VH (2008) The Prehistory of the Silk Road. Philadelphia: Univ. Pennsylvania Press Similarly, the section from Badakhshan to the Mesopotamian plains (the Great Khorasan Road) was apparently functioning by 4,000 BCE and numerous prehistoric sites are located along it, whose assemblages are dominated by the Cheshmeh-Ali (Tehran Plain) ceramic technology, forms and designs [26].Hiebert FT, Dyson RH (2002) Prehistoric Nishapur and frontier between Central Asia and Iran. Iranica Antiqua XXXVII: 113–149 Striking similarities in figurines and pottery styles, and mud-brick shapes, between widely separated early Neolithic sites in the Zagros Mountains of north-western Iran (Jarmo and Sarab), the Deh Luran Plain in southwestern Iran (Tappeh Ali Kosh and Chogha Sefid), Susiana (Chogha Bonut and Chogha Mish), the Iranian Central Plateau (Tappeh-Sang-e Chakhmaq), and Turkmenistan (Jeitun) suggest a common incipient culture [28].Alizadeh A (2003) Excavations at the prehistoric mound of Chogha Bonut, Khuzestan, Iran. Technical report, University of Chicago, Illinois. The Neolithic dispersal across South Asia plausibly involved migration of the population ([29]Dolukhanov P (1994) Environment and Ethnicity in the Ancient Middle East. Aldershot: Ashgate. and [25], pp. 231–233).Harris DR (2010) Origins of Agriculture in Western Central Asia: An Environmental-Archaeological Study. Philadelphia: Univ. Pennsylvania Press. This possibility is also supported by Y-chromosome and mtDNA analyses [30],{{cite journal | last1 = Quintana-Murci | first1 = L | last2 = Krausz | first2 = C | last3 = Zerjal | first3 = T | last4 = Sayar | first4 = SH | last5 = Hammer | first5 = MF | display-authors = et al | year = 2001 | title = Y-chromosome lineages trace diffusion of people and languages in Southwestern Asia | journal = Am J Hum Genet | volume = 68 | issue = 2| pages = 537–542 | doi=10.1086/318200 | pmid=11133362 | pmc=1235289}} [31]."{{cite journal | last1 = Quintana-Murci | first1 = L | last2 = Chaix | first2 = R | last3 = Spencer Wells | first3 = R | last4 = Behar | first4 = DM | last5 = Sayar | first5 = H | display-authors = et al | year = 2004 | title = Where West meets East: the complex mtDNA landscape of the Southwest and Central Asian corridor | journal = Am J Hum Genet | volume = 74 | issue = 5| pages = 827–845 | doi=10.1086/383236 | pmid=15077202 | pmc=1181978}}}} and the similarities between Neolithic sites from eastern Mesopotamia and the western Indus valley, which are evidence of a "cultural continuum" between those sites. But given the originality of Mehrgarh, Jarrige concludes that Mehrgarh has an earlier local background, and is not a {{"'}}backwater' of the Neolithic culture of the Near East".

File:Global sea levels and vegetation during the last Ice Age (South Asia).jpg. The coastline was still roughly similar in about 10,000 BCE.]]

File:Indus_Valley_Civilization,_Mature_Phase_(2600-1900_BCE).png.]]

Sea levels have been rising about 100 meters over the last 15,000 years until modern times, with the effect that coast lines have been receding vastly. This is especially the case of the coast lines of the Indus and Mesopotamia, which were originally only separated by a distance of about 1000 kilometers, compared to 2000 kilometers today.{{cite book |last1=Reade |first1=Julian E. |title=The Indus-Mesopotamia relationship reconsidered (Gs Elisabeth During Caspers) |date=2008 |publisher=Archaeopress |isbn=978-1-4073-0312-3 |pages=12–14 |url=https://www.academia.edu/28245304 |language=en}} For the ancestors of the Sumerians, the distance between the coasts of the Mesopotamian area and the Indus area would have been much shorter than it is today. In particular the Persian Gulf, which is only about 30 meters deep today, would have been at least partially dry, and would have formed an extension of the Mesopotamian basin.

File:Disha Kaka Boat with Direction Finding Birds, model of Mohenjo-Daro seal, 3000 BCE.jpg tablet, 2500–1750 BCE.(National Museum, New Delhi).{{cite book |last1=McIntosh |first1=Jane |title=The Ancient Indus Valley: New Perspectives |date=2008 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-907-2 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1AJO2A-CbccC&pg=PA158 158]-[https://books.google.com/books?id=1AJO2A-CbccC&pg=PA159 159]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1AJO2A-CbccC&pg=PA158 |language=en}}{{cite book |last2=Allchin |first2=Bridget |last1=Allchin |first1=Raymond |title=The Rise of Civilization in India and Pakistan |date=29 July 1982 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-28550-6 |pages=188–189, listing of figures [https://books.google.com/books?id=r4s-YsP6vcIC&pg=PR10 p.x]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r4s-YsP6vcIC&pg=PA189 |language=en}}]]

The westernmost Harappan city was located on the Makran coast at Sutkagan Dor, near the tip of the Arabian Peninsula, and is considered as an ancient maritime trading station, probably between modern day Pakistan and the Persian Gulf.{{cite book |last1=McIntosh |first1=Jane |title=The Ancient Indus Valley: New Perspectives |date=2008 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781576079072 |page=181 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1AJO2A-CbccC&pg=PA181 |language=en}}

Sea-going vessels were known in the Indus region, as shown by seals showing ships with land-finding birds (disha-kaka), dating to 2500–1750 BCE. When a boat was lost at sea, with land beyond the horizon, birds released by the mariners would securely fly back to land, and therefore show the boats the way to safety.{{cite book |last1=Mathew |first1=K. S. |title=Shipbuilding, Navigation and the Portuguese in Pre-modern India |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-58833-1 |page=32 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u0IwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT32 |language=en}} Various stamp seals are known from the Indus and the Persian Gulf area, with depictions of large ships pertaining to different shipbuilding traditions.{{cite book |last1=Potts |first1=Daniel T. |title=Mesopotamian Civilization: The Material Foundations |date=1997 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-3339-9 |pages=134–135 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OdZS9gBu4KwC&pg=PA134 |language=en}} Sargon of Akkad (c. 2334–2284 BCE) claimed in one of his inscriptions that "ships from Meluhha, Magan and Dilmun made fast at the docks of Akkad".

Many archaeological finds suggest that maritime trade along the shores of Africa and Asia started several millennia ago. Indus pottery and seals have been found along the sea routes between the Indus and Mesopotamia, as in Ras al-Jinz, at the tip of Arabia.Drawings of Indus seals and inscriptions discovered in Ras al-Jinz, in {{cite journal |last1=Cleuziou |first1=Serge |last2=Gnoli |first2=Gherardo |last3=Robin |first3=Christian Julien |last4=Tosi |first4=Maurizio |title=Cachets inscrits de la fin du IIIe millénaire av. notre ère à Ra's al-Junays, sultanat d'Oman (note d'information) |journal=Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres |date=1994 |volume=138 |issue=2 |pages=453–468 |doi=10.3406/crai.1994.15376 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/crai_0065-0536_1994_num_138_2_15376}}{{cite journal |last1=Frenez |first1=Dennys |title=The Indus Civilization Trade with the Oman Peninsula |journal=In the Shadow of the Ancestors. The Prehistoric Foundations of the Early Arabian Civilization in Oman – Second Expanded Edition (Cleuziou S. & M. Tosi) |date=January 2018 |pages=385–396 |url=https://www.academia.edu/38745013 |language=en}}

File:British Museum Middle East 14022019 Gold and carnelian beads 2600-2300 BC Royal cemetery of Ur (composite).jpg in this necklace from the Royal Cemetery dating to the First Dynasty of Ur (2600–2500 BCE) were probably imported from the Indus Valley.British Museum notice: "Gold and carnelians beads. The two beads etched with patterns in white were probably imported from the Indus Valley. They were made by a technique developed by the Harappan civilization". Photograph of the necklace in question.]]

Clove heads, thought to originate from the Moluccas in Maritime Southeast Asia were found in a 2nd millennium BCE site in Terqa.{{cite book |last1=Reade |first1=Julian E. |title=The Indus-Mesopotamia relationship reconsidered (Gs Elisabeth During Caspers) |date=2008 |publisher=Archaeopress |isbn=978-1-4073-0312-3 |pages=14–17 |url=https://www.academia.edu/28245304 |language=en}} Evidence for imports from the Indus to Ur can be found from around 2350 BCE. Various objects made with shell species that are characteristic of the Indus coast, particularly Trubinella Pyrum and Fasciolaria Trapezium, have been found in the archaeological sites of Mesopotamia dating from around 2500–2000 BCE.{{cite journal |last1=Gensheimer |first1=T. R. |title=The Role of shell in Mesopotamia : evidence for trade exchange with Oman and the Indus Valley |journal=Paléorient |volume=10 |date=1984 |pages=71–72 |doi=10.3406/paleo.1984.4350 }} Carnelian beads from the Indus were found in Ur tombs dating to 2600–2450.{{cite book |last1=McIntosh |first1=Jane |title=The Ancient Indus Valley: New Perspectives |date=2008 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781576079072 |pages=182–190 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1AJO2A-CbccC&pg=PA189 |language=en}} In particular, carnelian beads with an etched design in white were probably imported from the Indus Valley, and made according to a technique of acid-etching developed by the Harappans.For the etching technique, see {{cite journal |last1=MacKay |first1=Ernest |title=Sumerian Connexions with Ancient India |journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |issue=4 |date=1925 |pages=699 |jstor=25220818 }}{{cite book |last1=Guimet |first1=Musée |title=Les Cités oubliées de l'Indus: Archéologie du Pakistan |date=2016 |publisher=FeniXX réédition numérique |isbn=9782402052467 |page=355 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-HpYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA355 |language=fr}} Lapis Lazuli was imported in great quantity by Egypt, and already used in many tombs of the Naqada II period (circa 3200 BCE). Lapis Lazuli probably originated in northern Afghanistan, as no other sources are known from that time, and had to be transported across the Iranian plateau to Mesopotamia, and then Egypt.

Several Indus seals with Harappan script have also been found in Mesopotamia, particularly in Ur, Babylon and Kish.For a full list of discoveries of Indus seals in Mesopotamia, see {{cite book |last1=Reade |first1=Julian |title=Indian Ocean In Antiquity |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781136155314 |pages=148–152 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PtzWAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA148 |language=en}}For another list of Mesopotamian finds of Indus seals: {{cite book |last1=Possehl |first1=Gregory L. |title=The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective |date=2002 |publisher=Rowman Altamira |isbn=9780759101722 |page=221 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pmAuAsi4ePIC&pg=PA221 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Indus stamp-seal found in Ur BM 122187 |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=805148&partId=1&images=true |website=British Museum}}
{{cite web |title=Indus stamp-seal discovered in Ur BM 123208 |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=804667&partId=1&museumno=1932.1008.178&page=2 |website=British Museum}}
{{cite web |title=Indus stamp-seal discovered in Ur BM 120228 |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=805338&partId=1&images=true |website=British Museum}}{{cite book |last1=Gadd |first1=G. J. |title=Seals of Ancient Indian style found at Ur |date=1958 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.33779/page/n11}}{{cite book|title=Brotherhood of Kings: How International Relations Shaped the Ancient Near East|page=49|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JTvRCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA49|first=Amanda H.|last=Podany|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0-19-971829-0}}{{cite book|title=Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8l9X_3rHFdEC&pg=PA246|quote=Square-shaped Indus seals of fired steatite have been found at a few sites in Mesopotamia.|author1=Joan Aruz|author2=Ronald Wallenfels|page=246|isbn=978-1-58839-043-1|year=2003| publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art }} The water buffalos that appear on Akkadian cylinder seals from the time of Naram-Sin (circa 2250 BCE) may have been imported to Mesopotamia from the Indus as a result of trade.

Akkadian Empire records mention timber, carnelian and ivory as being imported from Meluhha by Meluhhan ships, Meluhha being generally considered as the Mesopotamian name for the Indus Valley.

{{blockquote|'The ships from Meluhha, the ships from Magan, the ships from Dilmun, he made tie-up alongside the quay of Akkad'|Inscription by Sargon of Akkad (ca.2270–2215 BCE){{cite book |last1=Ray |first1=Himanshu Prabha |title=The Archaeology of Seafaring in Ancient South Asia |date=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521011099 |page=85 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iHHzP4uVpn4C&pg=PA85 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=The Indus Civilization and Dilmun, the Sumerian Paradise Land |url=https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-indus-civilization-and-dilmun-the-sumerian-paradise-land/ |website=www.penn.museum}}}}

After the collapse of the Akkadian Empire, Gudea, the ruler of Lagash, is recorded as having imported "translucent carnelian" from Meluhha. Various inscriptions also mention the presence of Meluhha traders and interpreters in Mesopotamia. About twenty seals have been found from the Akkadian and Ur III sites, that have connections with Harappa and often use Harappan symbols or writing.

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File:Susa seal with Indus signs.jpg|A modern impression of an Indus cylinder seal discovered in Susa, in strata dated to 2600–1700 BCE. Elongated buffalo with line of standard Indus script signs. Tell of the Susa acropolis. Louvre Museum, reference Sb 2425.{{cite web|title=Site officiel du musée du Louvre|url=http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=13544|website=cartelfr.louvre.fr}}{{cite book|last1=Marshall|first1=John|title=Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus Civilization: Being an Official Account of Archaeological Excavations at Mohenjo-Daro Carried Out by the Government of India Between the Years 1922 and 1927|date=1996|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=9788120611795|page=425|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ds_hazstxY4C&pg=PA425|language=en}} Indus script numbering convention per Asko Parpola.{{cite web|title=Corpus by Asko Parpola|url=http://www.mohenjodaroonline.net/index.php/indus-script/corpus-by-asko-parpola|website=Mohenjodaro|language=en-gb}}Also, for another numbering scheme: {{cite book|last1=Mahadevan|first1=Iravatham|title=The Indus Script. Text, Concordance And Tables Iravathan Mahadevan|date=1987|publisher=Archaeological Survey of India|pages=32–36|url=https://archive.org/stream/TheIndusScript.TextConcordanceAndTablesIravathanMahadevan/The%20Indus%20Script.%20Text%2C%20Concordance%20and%20Tables%20-Iravathan%20Mahadevan#page/n41/mode/2up|language=en}}

File:Indus Valley unicorn seal and etched carnelian beads found in Kish, Mesopotamia.jpg|Indus Valley "Unicorn" seal and etched carnelian beads excavated in Kish by Ernest J. H. Mackay, Mesopotamia, early Sumerian period stratification, circa 3000 BCE.{{cite journal|last1=MacKay|first1=Ernest|title=Sumerian Connexions with Ancient India|journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland|issue=4|date=1925|pages=698–699|jstor=25220818 }}{{cite book|last1=Marshall|first1=John|title=Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus Civilization: Being an Official Account of Archaeological Excavations at Mohenjo-Daro Carried Out by the Government of India Between the Years 1922 and 1927|date=1996|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=9788120611795|page=426|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ds_hazstxY4C&pg=PA426|language=en}}{{cite book|last1=Ameri|first1=Marta|last2=Costello|first2=Sarah Kielt|last3=Jamison|first3=Gregg|last4=Scott|first4=Sarah Jarmer|title=Seals and Sealing in the Ancient World: Case Studies from the Near East, Egypt, the Aegean, and South Asia|date=2018|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781108173513|page=128|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SklVDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA128|language=en}}"Still the largest number of Indus or Indus-type finds is from Mesopotamia. Among the seals there are four indisputably Indus specimens: two from Kish (MacKay, 1925; Langdon, 1931) and one each from Lagash (Genouillac, 1930, p. 27) and Nippur (Gibson, 1977). The Nippur seal found in a 14th century ac Kassite context is in all probability a relic of an earlier period." in {{cite book|last1=Allchin|first1=Frank Raymond|last2=Chakrabarti|first2=Dilip K.|title=A Source-book of Indian Archaeology: Settlements, technology and trade|date=1997|publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal|page=560|isbn=9788121504652|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7SNOAQAAIAAJ|language=en}}

File:Indus seal found in Telloh.jpg|Indus seal discovered in Telloh, Mesopotamia.{{cite book|last1=Marshall|first1=John|title=Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus Civilization: Being an Official Account of Archaeological Excavations at Mohenjo-Daro Carried Out by the Government of India Between the Years 1922 and 1927|date=1996|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=9788120611795|pages=425–426|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ds_hazstxY4C&pg=PA425|language=en}}{{cite journal|last1=Thureau-Dangint|first1=F.|title=Sceaux de Tello et Sceaux de Harappa |journal=Revue d'Assyriologie et d'Archéologie Orientale|volume=22|issue=3|date=1925|pages=99–101|jstor=23283916 }}

File:Indus seal found in Kish by Langdon 1931.jpg|Indus seal found in Kish by S. Langdon. Pre-Sargonid (pre-2250 BCE) stratification.{{cite journal|last1=Langdon|first1=S.|title=A New Factor in the Problem of Sumerian Origins|journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland|issue=3|date=1931|volume=63|pages=593–596|doi=10.1017/S0035869X00110615|jstor=25194308 |s2cid=163870671 }}

File:Indus round seal with impression Elongated buffalo with Harappan scrpit imported to Susa in 2600-1700 BCE LOUVRE Sb5614.jpg|Indus round seal with impression. Elongated buffalo with Harappan script imported to Susa in 2600–1700 BCE. Found in the tell of the Susa acropolis. Louvre Museum, reference Sb 5614{{cite web|title=Site officiel du musée du Louvre|url=http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=13556|website=cartelfr.louvre.fr}}

File:Indus carnelian beads with white design imported to Susa in 2600-1700 BCE LOUVRE Sb 13099.jpg|Indian carnelian beads with white design, etched in white with an alkali through a heat process, imported to Susa in 2600–1700 BCE. Found in the tell of the Susa acropolis. Louvre Museum, reference Sb 17751.{{cite web|title=Site officiel du musée du Louvre|url=http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=13589|website=cartelfr.louvre.fr}}{{cite book|last1=Guimet|first1=Musée|title=Les Cités oubliées de l'Indus: Archéologie du Pakistan|date=2016|publisher=FeniXX réédition numérique|isbn=9782402052467|pages=354–355|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-HpYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA354|language=fr}}{{cite book|title=Art of the first cities : the third millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus.|page=395|url=https://archive.org/details/ArtOfTheFirstCitiesTheThirdMillenniumB.C.FromTheMediterraneanToTheIndusEditedByJ/page/n419|language=en}} These beads are identical with beads found in the Indus Civilization site of Dholavira.{{cite book|last1=Nandagopal|first1=Prabhakar|title=Decorated Carnelian Beads from the Indus Civilization Site of Dholavira (Great Rann of Kachchha, Gujarat)|publisher=Archaeopress Publishing Ltd|isbn=978-1-78491-917-7|url=https://www.academia.edu/37860117|language=en|date=2018-08-13 }}

File:Indus bracelet made of Fasciolaria Trapezium or Xandus Pyrum imported front and back with inscribed chevron to Susa in 2600-1700 BCE LOUVRE Sb14473.jpg|Indus bracelet, front and back, made of Fasciolaria Trapezium or Xandus Pyrum imported to Susa in 2600–1700 BCE. Found in the tell of the Susa acropolis. Louvre Museum, reference Sb 14473.{{cite web|title=Louvre Museum Official Website|url=http://cartelen.louvre.fr/cartelen/visite?srv=car_not&idNotice=13532|website=cartelen.louvre.fr}} This type of bracelet was manufactured in Mohenjo-daro, Lothal and Balakot. The back is engraved with an oblong chevron design which is typical of shell bangles of the Indus Civilization.{{cite book|title=Art of the first cities : the third millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus.|page=398|url=https://archive.org/details/ArtOfTheFirstCitiesTheThirdMillenniumB.C.FromTheMediterraneanToTheIndusEditedByJ/page/n422|language=en}}

File:Indus Civilisation Carnelian bead with white design, ca. 2900–2350 BC Found in Nippur, Mesopotamian (detail).jpg|Indus Civilisation Carnelian bead with white design, ca. 2900–2350 BCE. Found in Nippur, Mesopotamian.{{cite web|title=Indus carnelian bead found in Nippur Mesopotamia|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/324872|website=www.metmuseum.org}}

File:Etched carnelian beads at Ur.jpg|Etched carnelian beads excavated in the Royal Cemetery of Ur, tomb PG 1133, 2600–2500 BCE.{{cite book |last1=Hall |first1= Harry Reginald |last2=Woolley |first2=Leonard |last3=Legrain |first3=Leon |title=Ur excavations |date=1934 |publisher=Trustees of the Two Museums by the aid of a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York |page=133 |url=https://archive.org/details/urexcavations191319join/page/n278/mode/2up}}

File:Indus Valley Civilization weight excavated in Susa. Louvre Museum Sb 17774.jpg|Indus Valley Civilization weight in veined jasper, excavated in Susa in a 12th-century BCE princely tomb. Louvre Museum Sb 17774.{{cite book|title=Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus|date=2003|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|isbn=9781588390431|pages=401–402|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8l9X_3rHFdEC&pg=PA401|language=en}}

Harappan weights Delhi Museum.jpg|Similar Harappan weights found in the Indus Valley. New Delhi Museum.

File:Indus carnelian bead UC30334 Egypt Middle Kingdom London, Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology.jpg|A rare etched carnelian bead found in Egypt, thought to have been imported from the Indus Valley civilization through Mesopotamia. Late Middle Kingdom. London, Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, ref. UC30334.{{cite journal|last1=Grajetzki|first1=Wolfram|title=Tomb 197 at Abydos, further evidence for long distance trade in the Middle Kingdom |journal=Ägypten und Levante / Egypt and the Levant|volume=24|date=2014|pages=159–170|jstor=43553796|doi=10.1553/s159 }}{{cite book|last1=Stevenson|first1=Alice|title=Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology: Characters and Collections|date=2015|publisher=UCL Press|isbn=9781910634042|page=54|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DEZLDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT54|language=en}}

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| caption1 = Uruk period Mesopotamian king as Master of Animals on the Gebel el-Arak Knife, dated circa 3300–3200 BCE. Louvre Museum, reference E 11517.{{cite web |title=Site officiel du musée du Louvre |url=http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=668 |website=cartelfr.louvre.fr}}{{cite book |last1=Cooper |first1=Jerrol S. |title=The Study of the Ancient Near East in the Twenty-first Century: The William Foxwell Albright Centennial Conference |date=1996 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |isbn=9780931464966 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3hc1Yp0VcjoC&pg=PA10 |pages=10–14|language=en}}

| image2 = Indus valley civilization "Gilgamesh" seal (2500-1500 BC).jpg

| caption2 = Indus valley civilization seal, with man fighting two tigers (2500–1500 BC).{{cite book |last1=Possehl |first1=Gregory L. |title=The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective |date=2002 |publisher=Rowman Altamira |isbn=9780759116429 |page=146 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XVgeAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA146 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Kosambi |first1=Damodar Dharmanand |title=An Introduction to the Study of Indian History |date=1975 |publisher=Popular Prakashan |isbn=9788171540389 |page=64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fTvQiXVFB0gC&pg=PR64 |language=en}}

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| caption1 = Enkidu fighting a lion, Akkadian Empire seal, Mesopotamia, circa 2200 BCE.

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| caption2 = Fighting scene between a beast and a man with horns, hooves and a tail, who has been compared to the Mesopotamian bull-man Enkidu.{{cite book |last1=Littleton |first1=C. Scott |title=Gods, Goddesses, and Mythology |date=2005 |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |isbn=9780761475651 |page=732 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u27FpnXoyJQC&pg=PA732 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Marshall |first1=John |title=Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus Civilization: Being an Official Account of Archaeological Excavations at Mohenjo-Daro Carried Out by the Government of India Between the Years 1922 and 1927 |date=1996 |publisher=Asian Educational Services |isbn=9788120611795 |page=389 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ds_hazstxY4C&pg=PA389 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Singh |title=The Pearson Indian History Manual for the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination |publisher=Pearson Education India |isbn=9788131717530 |page=35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wsiXwh_tIGkC&pg=PA35 |language=en}} Indus Valley civilization seal.

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Various authors have described possible iconographical influences from Mesopotamia to the Indus Valley."Possible influences from other cultures", citing Mesopotamian themes in Indus iconography {{cite book |last1=Littleton |first1=C. Scott |title=Gods, Goddesses, and Mythology: Inca-Mercury |date=2005 |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |isbn=978-0-7614-7565-1 |page=732 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u27FpnXoyJQC&pg=PA732 |language=en}} Gregory Possehl notes "Mesopotamian themes in Indus iconography", particularly designs related to the Gilgamesh epic, suggesting that "some aspects of Mesopotamian religion and ideology would have been accepted at face value is a reasonable notion".{{cite book |last1=Possehl |first1=Gregory L. |title=The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective |date=2002 |publisher=Rowman Altamira |isbn=978-0-7591-1642-9 |page=146 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XVgeAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA146 |language=en}} Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi also describes the presence of Gilgamesh on Indus seals.{{cite book |last1=Kosambi |first1=Damodar Dharmanand |title=An Introduction to the Study of Indian History |date=1975 |publisher=Popular Prakashan |isbn=978-81-7154-038-9 |page=64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fTvQiXVFB0gC&pg=PR64 |language=en}} In the archaeological sites of the Indus valley civilization, twenty-four stone haematite weights of the Mesopotamian barrel-shaped type were found at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa.

There are also many instances of influence the other way round, in which Indus Valley seals and designs have been found in Mesopotamia.

Some Indus seals seem to show possible Mesopotamian influence, as in the "Gilgamesh" motif of a man fighting two lions (2500–1500 BCE).{{cite book |last1=Josh |first1=Jagat Pati |title=Memoirs Of The Archeological Survey Of India No.86; Vol.1 |date=1987 |page=76 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.532743/page/n111}}

Several Indus Valley seals show a fighting scene between a tiger-like beast and a man with horns, hooves and a tail, who has been compared to the Mesopotamian bull-man Enkidu, also a partner of Gilgamesh, and suggests a transmission of Mesopotamian mythology.{{cite book |last1=Littleton |first1=C. Scott |title=Gods, Goddesses, and Mythology |date=2005 |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |isbn=9780761475651 |page=732 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u27FpnXoyJQC&pg=PA732 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Marshall |first1=John |title=Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus Civilization: Being an Official Account of Archaeological Excavations at Mohenjo-Daro Carried Out by the Government of India Between the Years 1922 and 1927 |date=1996 |publisher=Asian Educational Services |isbn=9788120611795 |page=389 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ds_hazstxY4C&pg=PA389 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Singh |title=The Pearson Indian History Manual for the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination |publisher=Pearson Education India |isbn=9788131717530 |page=35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wsiXwh_tIGkC&pg=PA35 |language=en}}

A few rare cylinder seals have been found in Indus valley sites, which suggest Mesopotamian influence: they were probably made locally, but they use Mesopotamian motifs.{{cite book |last1=Elisseeff |first1=Vadime |title=The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce |date=2000 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=9781571812223 |page=83 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zRPbecWnkoIC&pg=PA82 |language=en}} One such cylinder seal, the Kalibangan seal, shows a battle between men in the presence of centaurs.{{cite book |last1=Ameri |first1=Marta |last2=Costello |first2=Sarah Kielt |last3=Jamison |first3=Gregg |last4=Scott |first4=Sarah Jarmer |title=Seals and Sealing in the Ancient World: Case Studies from the Near East, Egypt, the Aegean, and South Asia |date=2018 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108168694 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mu9UDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT255 |language=en}} Other seals show processions of animals.{{cite book |title=Art of the first cities : the third millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus. |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |pages=239–246|url=https://archive.org/details/ArtOfTheFirstCitiesTheThirdMillenniumB.C.FromTheMediterraneanToTheIndusEditedByJ/page/n263 |language=en}}

Others have suggested that the cylinder seals show the Indus valley's influence on Mesopotamia. These may have been due to overland trade between the two cultures.{{cite book|title=The external trade of Indus civilization|author=Dilip K. Chakrabarti|publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers|quote=The cylinder seals showing Indus influence in Mesopotamia (and also in Kalibangan) seem on the other hand to suggest that they were in response to the Indus-Mesopotamia overland trade.|year=1990}}

File:Mesopotamian cylinder seal with antilopes, excavated in Kish, Mesopotamia.jpg|Sumerian cylinder seal with two long-horned antelopes with a tree or bush in front, excavated in Kish, Mesopotamia.{{cite book|last1=Mackay|first1=Ernest John Henry|last2=Langdon|first2=Stephen|last3=Laufer|first3=Berthold|title=Report on the excavation of the "A" cemetery at Kish, Mesopotamia|date=1925|publisher=Chicago : Field Museum of Natural History|url=https://archive.org/details/reportonexcavati11mack/page/75}}{{cite book|last1=Mackay|first1=Ernest John Henry|last2=Langdon|first2=Stephen|last3=Laufer|first3=Berthold|title=Report on the excavation of the "A" cemetery at Kish, Mesopotamia|date=1925|publisher=Chicago : Field Museum of Natural History|page=61 Nb.3|url=https://archive.org/details/reportonexcavati11mack/page/60}}

File:Indus Valley civilization cylinder seal.jpg|A rare Indus Valley civilization cylinder seal composed of two animals with a tree or bush in front. Such cylinder seals are indicative of contacts with Mesopotamia.{{cite book|last1=Podany|first1=Amanda H.|title=Brotherhood of Kings: How International Relations Shaped the Ancient Near East|date=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199798759|page=50|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ez3ih5JgzUC&pg=PA50|language=en}}

File:Horned deities on an Indus Valley seal with detail.jpg|Horned deity with one-horned attendants on an Indus Valley seal. Horned deities are a standard Mesopotamian theme. 2000–1900 BCE. Islamabad Museum."An anthropomorphic figure has knelt in front of a fig tree, with hands raised in respectful salutation, prayer or worship. This reverence suggests the divinity of its object, another anthropomorphic figure standing inside the fig tree. In the ancient Near East, the gods and goddesses, as well as their earthly representatives, the divine kings and queens functioning as high priests and priestesses, were distinguished by a horned crown. A similar crown is worn by the two anthropomorphic figures in the fig deity seal. Among various tribal people of India, horned head-dresses are worn by priests on sacrificial occasions." in {{cite book|last1=Conference|first1=Association of South Asian Archaeologists in Western Europe International|title=South Asian Archaeology, 1989: Papers from the Tenth International Conference of South Asian Archaeologists in Western Europe, Musée National Des Arts Asiatiques-Guimet, Paris, France, 3–7 July 1989|date=1992|publisher=Prehistory Press|isbn=9781881094036|page=227|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ye2s6ZZ09S0C|language=en}}{{cite web|title=Image of the seal with horned deity|url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routesdata/bce_500back/indusvalley/sacrifice/sacrifice.html|website=www.columbia.edu}}{{cite book|title=Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus|date=2003|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|isbn=9781588390431|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8l9X_3rHFdEC&pg=PA403|language=en}}{{cite book|title=The Indus Script. Text, Concordance And Tables Iravathan Mahadevan|page=139|url=https://archive.org/stream/TheIndusScript.TextConcordanceAndTablesIravathanMahadevan/Corpus%20of%20Indus%20Seals%20and%20Inscriptions.%20Collections%20in%20Pakistan#page/n173/mode/2up|language=en}}

It has long been suggested that the Sumerians, who ruled in Lower Mesopotamia from circa 4500 to 1900 BCE and who spoke a non-Indo-European and non-Semitic language, may have initially come from India.{{cite book |last1=Hall |first1=Harry Reginald |title=The ancient history of the Near East, from the earliest times to the battle of Salamis |date=1913 |place=London |publisher=Methuen & Co. |pages=173–174 |url=https://archive.org/details/ancienthistoryof00hall/page/n229}}{{cite book |last1=Daniélou |first1=Alain |title=A Brief History of India |date=2003 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=9781594777943 |page=22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xlwoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT22 |language=en}} This appeared to historian Henry Hall as the most probable conclusion, particularly based on the portrayal of Sumerians in their own art and "how very Indian the Sumerians were in type". Recent genetic analysis of ancient Mesopotamian skeletal DNA tends to confirm a significant association. The Sumerians progressively lost control to Semitic states from the northwest, starting with the Akkadian Empire, from circa 2300 BCE.

File:Population sizes circa 2500 BCE.jpg

A genetic analysis of the ancient DNA of Mesopotamian skeletons was made on the excavated remains of four individuals from ancient tombs in Tell Ashara (ancient Terqa) and Tell Masaikh (near Terqa, also known as ancient Kar-Assurnasirpal), both in the middle Euphrates valley in the east of modern Syria. The two oldest skeletons were dated to 2,650–2,450 BCE and 2,200–1,900 BCE respectively, while the two younger skeletons were dated to circa 500 AD. All the studied individuals carried mtDNA haplotypes corresponding to the M4b1, M49 and/or M61 haplogroups, which are believed to have arisen in the area of the Indian subcontinent during the Upper Paleolithic, and are absent in people living today in Syria. These haplogroups are still present in people inhabiting today's Tibet, Himalayas (Ladakh), India and Pakistan, and are restricted today to the South, East and Southeast Asia regions. The data suggests a genetic link of the region with the Indian subcontinent in the past that has not left traces in the modern population of Mesopotamia.

Other studies have also shown connections between the populations of Mesopotamia and population groups now located in Southern India, such as the Tamils.{{cite book |last1=Bradnock |first1=Robert W. |title=The Routledge Atlas of South Asian Affairs |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317405115 |page=84 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zzjbCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA84 |language=en}}{{cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Ya-Ping |last2=Chaudhuri |first2=Tapas Kumar |title=Tamil Merchant in Ancient Mesopotamia |journal=PLOS ONE |date=9 October 2014 |volume=9 |issue=10 |pages=e109331 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0109331 |language=en |issn=1932-6203|pmc=4192148 |pmid=25299580 |bibcode=2014PLoSO...9j9331P|doi-access=free }}

File:Head of Gudea.jpg, c. 2150 BC]]

The genetic analysis suggests that a continuity existed between Trans-Himalaya and Mesopotamia regions in ancient time, and that the studied individuals represent genetic associations with the Indian subcontinent. It is likely that this genetic connection was broken as a result of population movements during more recent times.

The fact that the studied individuals comprised both males and a female, each living in a different period and representing different haplotypes, suggests that the nature of their presence in Mesopotamia was long-lasting rather than incidental. The close ancestors of the specimens could fall within the population founding Terqa, a historical site that was probably constructed during the early Bronze Age, at a time only slightly preceding the dating of the skeletons.

The studied individuals could also have been the descendants of much earlier migration waves who brought these genes from the Indian subcontinent. It cannot be excluded that among them were people involved in the founding of the Mesopotamian civilizations. For instance, it is commonly accepted that the founders of Sumerian civilization may have come from outside the region, but their exact origin is still a matter of debate. The migrants could have entered Mesopotamia earlier than 4,500 years ago, during the lifetime of the oldest studied individual. Alternatively, the studied individuals may have belonged to groups of itinerant merchants moving along a trade route passing near or through the region.50px Material was adapted from this source, which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License]: {{cite journal |last1=Płoszaj |first1=Tomasz |last2=Chaubey |first2=Gyaneshwer |last3=Jędrychowska-Dańska |first3=Krystyna |last4=Tomczyk |first4=Jacek |last5=Witas |first5=Henryk W. |title=mtDNA from the Early Bronze Age to the Roman Period Suggests a Genetic Link between the Indian Subcontinent and Mesopotamian Cradle of Civilization |journal=PLOS ONE |date=11 September 2013 |volume=8 |issue=9 |pages=e73682 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0073682 |language=en |issn=1932-6203|pmc=3770703 |pmid=24040024 |bibcode=2013PLoSO...873682W|doi-access=free }}

File:Enthroned King of Ur.jpg|Enthroned Sumerian king of Ur, with attendants. Standard of Ur, c. 2600 BCE.

File:Prisoners on the victory stele of an Akkadian king circa 2300 BCE Louvre Museum Sb 3.jpg|Sumerian prisoners on a victory stele of Akkadian king Sargon, circa 2300 BCE.{{cite book|last1=Potts|first1=D. T.|title=The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State|date=1999|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521564960|page=104|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mc4cfzkRVj4C&pg=PA104|language=en}}{{cite journal|last1=Nigro|first1=Lorenzo|title=The Two Steles of Sargon: Iconology and Visual Propaganda at the Beginning of Royal Akkadian Relief|journal=Iraq|volume=60|date=1998|pages=85–102 |publisher=British Institute for the Study of Iraq|doi=10.2307/4200454|jstor=4200454 |hdl=11573/109737 |s2cid=193050892 }} Louvre Museum.

Image:Ur-Ningirsu ruler of Lagash portrait circa 2110 BCE.jpg|Portrait of Sumerian ruler Ur-Ningirsu, son of Gudea, c.2100 BCE. Louvre Museum.

File:Sumerian_princess_of_the_time_of_Gudea_circa_2150_BCE.jpg|Sumerian princess of the time of Gudea circa 2150 BCE.

{{multiple image|perrow=2|total_width=400|caption_align=center

| align = right

| direction =horizontal

| header=Mesopotamian "Meluhha" seal

| image1 = Akkadian cylinder seal with inscription Shu-ilishu, interpreter of the Meluhhan language, Louvre Museum AO 22310.jpg

| caption1= The seal

| image2 = Meluhha-ki on a cylinder seal.jpg

| caption2="Meluhha"

| footer=Akkadian Empire cylinder seal with inscription: "Shu-ilishu, interpreter of the language of Meluhha": "Meluhha" appears with the standard cuneiform as {{cuneiform|𒈨𒈛𒄩𒆠}} (Me-luh-ha^KI, "KI" standing for "country").{{cite book |last1=Parpola |first1=Asko |title=The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and the Indus Civilization |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780190226930 |page=353 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DagXCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT353 |language=en}} Louvre Museum, reference AO 22310.{{cite web |title=Meluhha interpreter seal. Site officiel du musée du Louvre |url=http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not&idNotice=12071 |website=cartelfr.louvre.fr}}

}}

{{See also|Harappan language|Elamo-Dravidian languages}}

Similarities between Proto-Elamite (circa 3000 BCE) and especially Linear Elamite (2300–2000 BCE) scripts with the Indus script have been noted, although it has not been possible to decipher any of them."The so-called Proto-Elamite script from sites such as Susa in the lowlands of eastern Mesopotamia, dating from around 3000 BCE, is undeciphered and technically similar to the Harappan script." {{cite book |last1=Ness |first1=Immanuel |title=The Global Prehistory of Human Migration |date=2014 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9781118970584 |page=240 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TyJlBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA240 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Possehl |first1=Gregory L. |title=The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective |date=2002 |publisher=Rowman Altamira |isbn=9780759101722 |page=131 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pmAuAsi4ePIC&pg=PA131 |language=en}} Elamite only starts to be readable from around 2300 BCE, when Elamite adopted the cuneiform system. These Elamite scripts are said to be "technically similar" to the Indus script. On comparing the Linear Elamite to the Indus script, a number of similar symbols have also been found.

The Meluhhan language was not readily understandable at the Akkadian court, since interpretators of the Meluhhan language are known to have resided in Mesopotamia, particularly through an Akkadian seal with the inscription "Shu-ilishu, interpreter of the Meluhhan language".{{cite book |last1=Parpola |first1=Asko |author-link1= Asko Parpola|title=The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and the Indus Civilization |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780190226930 |page=353 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DagXCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT353 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=McIntosh |first1=Jane |title=Ancient Mesopotamia: New Perspectives |date=2005 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781576079652 |page=279 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9veK7E2JwkUC&pg=PA279 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Robinson |first1=Andrew |title=The Indus: Lost Civilizations |date=2015 |publisher=Reaktion Books |isbn=9781780235417 |page=101 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SzS6CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA101 |language=en}}

{{clear}}

File:Bilingual Linear Elamite Akkadian inscription of king Kutik-Inshushinak Table of the Lion Louvre Museum Sb 17 (Linear Elamite detail).jpg|Linear Elamite inscription the "Table of the Lion", time of king Kutik-Inshushinak, Louvre Museum Sb 17.

File:Table au Lion transcription.jpg|Transcription of the "Table of the Lion" Linear Elamite text.

File:Elephant. Mold of Seal, Indus valley civilization.JPG|A seal with an inscription in the Indus script.

File:Indus head statuette in red limestone imported to Susa in 2600-1700 BCE disovered in the Tel of the Acropolis at Susa LOUVRE Sb80.jpg

{{multiple image

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| direction =horizontal

| header=Etched carnelian beads

| total_width=230

| caption_align = center

| image1 = Etched carnelian bead, Mohenjo-daro, Indus Valley Civilization.jpg

| caption1 = Indus valley civilization etched carnelian bead, excavated in Mohenjo-daro.{{cite book |last1=Mackay |first1=Ernest |title=Indus civilization |date=1935 |pages=Plate K, Item Nb 5 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.22579/page/n231}}

| image2 = Indus carnelian beads with white design imported to Susa in 2600-1700 BCE LOUVRE Sb 13099 (detail).jpg

| caption2 = Etched carnelian bead excavated in Susa, dated 2600–1700 BCE.

}}

Sargon of Akkad (circa 2300 or 2250 BCE), was the first Mesopotamian ruler to make an explicit reference to the region of Meluhha, which is generally understood as being the Baluchistan or the Indus area. Sargon mentions the presence of Meluhha, Magan, and Dilmun ships at Akkad.

These dates correspond roughly to the Mature Harappan phase, dated from around 2600 to 2000 BCE. The dates for the main occupation of Mohenjo-Daro are from about 2350 to 2000/1900 BCE.

It has been suggested that the early Mesopotamian Empire preceded the emergence of the Harappan civilization, and that trade and cultural exchanges may have facilitated the emergence of Harappan culture. Alternatively, it is possible that the Harappan culture had already emerged by the time trade with Mesopotamia started. Uncertainties in dating make it impossible to establish a clear order at this stage.

Exchanges seem to have been most significant during the Akkadian Empire and Ur III periods, and to have waned afterwards together with the disappearance of the Indus valley civilization.{{cite book |last1=Reade |first1=Julian E. |title=The Indus-Mesopotamia relationship reconsidered (Gs Elisabeth During Caspers) |date=2008 |publisher=Archaeopress |isbn=978-1-4073-0312-3 |pages=16–17 |url=https://www.academia.edu/28245304 |language=en}}

The Indus Valley Civilization only flourished in its most developed form between 2500 and 1800 BCE until it became extinct, but at the time of these exchanges, it was a much larger entity than the Mesopotamian civilization, covering an area of 1.2 million square kilometres with thousands of settlements, compared to an area of only about 65,000 square kilometres for the occupied area of Mesopotamia, while the largest cities were comparable in size at about 30,000–40,000 inhabitants.{{cite book |last1=Cotterell |first1=Arthur |title=Asia: A Concise History |date=2011 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9780470829592 |page=42 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9_vVTWXK5kQC&pg=PT42 |language=en}}

There were altogether about 1,500 Indus valley cities, amounting to a population of perhaps 5 million at the maximum time of their florescence. In contrast, the total urban population of Mesopotamia in 2,500 BCE was around 290,000."However, the total urban population of Mesopotamia at 2500 B.C. had reached 290,000" {{cite book |last1=Chew |first1=Sing C. |title=The Recurring Dark Ages: Ecological Stress, Climate Changes, and System Transformation |date=2007 |publisher=Rowman Altamira |isbn=9780759104525 |page=67 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YmtN6zr_hroC&pg=PA67 |language=en}}

Large-scale exchanges recovered with the Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley, circa 500 BCE.

Many scholars have pointed towards exaggerated notions of cultural diffusions from Western Asia to the Indian subcontinent, such as when overlinking Vedic astronomy and mathematics to Sumerian origins.{{Cite journal|last=Levitt|first=Stephen Hillyer|title=Vedicancient Mesopotamian Interconnections and the Dating of the Indian Tradition|date=2012|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/26491233|journal=Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute|volume=93|pages=139|jstor=26491233|issn=0378-1143}} Likewise scholars have questioned the supposed borrowings of Western Asian motifs without the evidence of any actual artifact and trade contacts.{{Cite book|last=Kenoyer|first=Mark|title=The Master of Animals in Old World Iconography: Master of Animals and Animal Masters in the Iconography of the Indus Tradition|year=2010|isbn=978-963-9911-14-7|location=Budapest|pages=53}} Recent archaeogenetic research based on DNA samples collected from the Harappan site of Rakhigarhi suggests that Western Asian migration to northern India occurred as early as 12,000 years ago, but that the rise of agriculture in India was a later phenomenon, probably due to cultural exchanges around 2,000 years later, rather than direct migration.{{Cite web |last=Price |first=Michael |date=2019-09-05|title=Genome of nearly 5000-year-old woman links modern Indians to ancient civilization|url=https://www.science.org/content/article/genome-nearly-5000-year-old-woman-links-modern-indians-ancient-civilization|access-date=2020-08-02|website=Science |publisher=AAAS|language=en}} According to Richard H. Meadow, evidence gathered from Mehrgarh points towards domestication of sheep, cattle and goats as a separate local phenomenon in the subcontinent around 7,000 BCE.{{Cite book|last=Franke|first=Ute|chapter=Prehistoric Balochistan: Cultural Developments in an Arid Region|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/37463158|title=Palaeoenvironment and the Development of Early Settlements |date=January 2016 |editor1=Markus Reindel |editor2= Karin Bartl |editor3=Friedrich Lüth |editor4=Norbert Benecke |isbn=978-3-86757-395-5|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Meadow|first=Richard H.|title=Harappa Excavations 1986–1990 A Multidisciplinary Approach to Third Millennium Urbanism|publisher=Prehistory Press |year=1991|location=Madison Wisconsin|pages=94 Moving east to the Greater Indus Valley, decreases in the size of cattle, goat, and sheep also appear to have taken place starting in the 6th or even 7th Millennium BCE (Meadow 1984b, 1992). Details of that phenomenon, which I have argued elsewhere was a local process at least for sheep and cattle (Meadow 1984b, 1992)}}

{{Columnslist|colwidth=30em|

• Ancient Greece–Ancient India relations
• Buddhism and the Roman world
• Economic history of India
• Historic GDP of India (1–1947 CE)
• Indo-Roman trade relations
• Indian maritime history
• Jiroft culture
• Meluhha trade with Sumer
• Tamil loanwords in Biblical Hebrew

}}

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

{{Commons category|Indus-Mesopotamia relations}}

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• {{cite book |last1=Gadd |first1=G. J. |title=Seals of Ancient Indian style found at Ur |date=1958 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.33779/page/n7}}
• {{Citation | last =Mani | first =B.R. | year =2008 | title =Kashmir Neolithic and Early Harappan : A Linkage | journal =Pragdhara 18, 229–247 (2008) | url =http://archaeology.up.nic.in/doc/kneh_brm.pdf | access-date =17 January 2017 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20170118050909/http://archaeology.up.nic.in/doc/kneh_brm.pdf | archive-date =18 January 2017 | url-status =dead }}
• {{cite book |title=Art of the first cities : the third millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus. |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |url=https://archive.org/details/ArtOfTheFirstCitiesTheThirdMillenniumB.C.FromTheMediterraneanToTheIndusEditedByJ/page/n269 |language=en}}

{{Refbegin}}

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{{Refend}}

{{Ancient international relations}}

{{Indus Valley Civilization}}

{{Ancient Mesopotamia}}

{{Rulers of the Ancient Near East}}

{{Ancient seafaring}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Indus-Mesopotamia relations}}

Category:Akkadian Empire

Category:Ancient international relations

Category:Indus Valley Civilisation

Category:Foreign relations of ancient India

Category:Indian Ocean trade

Category:Cultural exchange