Dilmun and the Gulf trade
Bahrain becomes the entrepot between Mesopotamia and the Indus.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 500 years
- Known to
- ± 100 years
- Era
- Bronze Age, Holocene
Dilmun, generally identified with Bahrain and the adjacent Arabian coast, appears in Mesopotamian texts as both a trading partner and a paradise where there is no sickness or death. Archaeologically it is a wealthy entrepot handling copper from Magan in Oman and goods from Meluhha, with distinctive circular stamp seals and one of the largest prehistoric cemeteries in the world — tens of thousands of burial mounds.