Sasanian trade networks and the Silk Road – a case study on Gird-i Qilirkh in the Sharezur valley

Tamm A, Haddad L (2019)


Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Book chapter / Article in edited volumes

Publication year: 2019

Publisher: Salahaddin University Erbil

Edited Volumes: Proceedings of the 3rd International Scientific conference Archaeology and Heritage of Kurdistan, April 29th & 30th, 2019 Erbil

City/Town: Erbil

Pages Range: 756-796

Abstract

This paper focuses on evidence of trade networks during the Sasanian period in northeastern Mesopotamia. In recent years various excavations conducted in the Kurdistan Regional Government of Northern Iraq yielded layers of the Sasanian period. The Sharizor valley seems to have had an important role as transitional area between the Iranian highlands and the northern Mesopotamian plains. In Bakr Awa some seals of Sasanian origin were found, indicating connections to the administrative centers in central Iraq and the highlands. With a big spring nearby, Kazhaw probably was a favored waypoint on the routes linking both regions. The remains of a church and some stamped sherds give us direct hints to the participation of christian communities into trade networks in the Late Sasanian era. Additionally a small fortress in Kazhaw shows the ambitions of the Sasanian state, not only to secure profitable trade routes, but most probably also to take profits through taxes and the like. Especially the excavation at Qalrakh with remains of a loom attest that the local community was not only integrated into trade, but also was producing trade goods themselves. Some sealings from the same context show a unique mixture of Roman style combined with Sasanian motives, indicating supra-regional connections as far as the Roman dominated sphere of the Near East. The finds in these settlements thus point to the integration into regional networks, which also includes other sites in the direct vicinity of the Sharizor valley – e.g. Bazyan, Sitak, Rostam and Merquly – but also to far reaching trade connections along the silk roads, linking large parts of the known Late Antique world.

 

 

 

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How to cite

APA:

Tamm, A., & Haddad, L. (2019). Sasanian trade networks and the Silk Road – a case study on Gird-i Qilirkh in the Sharezur valley. In Bradosty Z, Zibare A, Abdulrahmen H A, Aziz M O (Eds.), Proceedings of the 3rd International Scientific conference Archaeology and Heritage of Kurdistan, April 29th & 30th, 2019 Erbil. (pp. 756-796). Erbil: Salahaddin University Erbil.

MLA:

Tamm, Alexander, and Lanah Haddad. "Sasanian trade networks and the Silk Road – a case study on Gird-i Qilirkh in the Sharezur valley." Proceedings of the 3rd International Scientific conference Archaeology and Heritage of Kurdistan, April 29th & 30th, 2019 Erbil. Ed. Bradosty Z, Zibare A, Abdulrahmen H A, Aziz M O, Erbil: Salahaddin University Erbil, 2019. 756-796.

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