Import-Export Business Operation in Early Mesopotamia

Even before the dawn of civilization, trade was important to the inhabitants of Mesopotamia. In the southern part, where the first cities were built, the only natural resource of importance was dirt. With proper care and irrigation, the dirt could produce what was, for its time, an impressive crop yield. The results of this were twofold. First, people had time to devote to pursuits other than that of obtaining food. Second, the agricultural surplus gave the people something to trade to neighbors. Archeological evidence indicates that even in neolithic times (5000 B.C. and earlier) many objects obtainable only in other areas were in everyday use in Mesopotamia [5, p. 12]. Flint from the Arabian plateau and obsidian from Armenia were used for cutting and scraping tools. %hese tools were sometimes secured to handles with bitumen from Hit. %he bitumen was also used for calking boats. Lapis lazuli for decoration was procured from Afganistan. Timber was brought from as far away as Lebanon. The first large city to develop was Sumer and from its beginnings, it was tied by trade to most of the then known world [2, p. 44]. Several technological and intellectual advances facilitated the expansion of trade. As people in Asia Minor discovered sources of metal and developed the ability to refine, alloy, and work metals, the volume of trade expanded. No one place had all metals naturally occurring and with the exception of the extreme northern part, Mesopotamia had none of them. Metals could therefore only be acquired by trade. By 3500 B.C., metals commonly brought to the area included copper and tin (and their alloy, bronze) as well as silver and gold. Later, iron was also imported. By the middle of the second millennium B.C., silver was commonly used as money, even though coinage was not to exist for another thousand years. It was accounted for by a system of weights, the smallest unit of which was the se. Three hundred and sixty se were equal to one shekel, 60 shekels were equal to one mina (a mina is equal to approximately 1.1 pound), and 60 minas were equal to one talent. 1 As one may gather from the weight relationships, the numbering