A Hunt for Basic Commodities?
Mila Mergi rock relief | © P. Sconzo
Subproject:
B 07 A Hunt for Basic Commodities? The Expansion of the Mesopotamian States into the Mountainous Lands of the North
Project leadership:
Prof. Dr. Andreas Fuchs, Prof. Dr. Peter Pfälzner
Staff:
Dr. Paola Sconzo, Alexander Edmonds
Region:
Middle East
What triggered the development of settlements in the northern periphery of Mesopotamia? Why did the Mesopotamian empires of the 3rd and 1st millenniums B.C. strive for the mountainous area of Zagros?
The subproject ‚A Hunt for Basic Commodities? The Expansion of the Mesopotamian States into the Mountainous Lands of the North’ examines strategies for the acquisition of cultural resources of the Mesopotamian empires in their northern periphery. A first case study examined the Assyrians on the basis of text sources, while a second case study is based on an archaeological survey in Iraqi Kurdistan with the help of which the resource strategies of the Akkadian and New Assyrian empires can be reconstructed. It becomes apparent, that access to basic commodities and their economic use could not have been the main driving force behind the expansion. More likely the connection to and control of road networks was a crucial motif for the political activities of the Mesopotamian states.