A.S. Bhalla, “Art in Ancient India and the Aegean”: Fortuitous Parallels or Cultural Contacts?
By Ingvar Ahman,
Former Senior staff member, UNDP, UNESCO and WHO
(Oxford: Archaeopress, 2024) (ISBN: 978-1-80327-XXX-X). The book is
available directly from Archaeopress (£32) or e-publication (£16) or from the website:
www.archaeopress.com.
The illustrated study (containing 22 images) by Dr Bhalla (Former Fellow, Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge) shows how contacts between two great antique civilizations, continents apart, were shaped through the exchange of precious articles, jewellery, gems, and different forms of art, and how this contributed to the emergence of trade. The Aegean (Minoan, Mycenaean, and Cycladic) and Indus civilizations are examined from prehistoric times until the Hellenistic period and Alexander’s conquests in the East, particularly in north India. Cultural contacts with Sumer and the role of Mesopotamia as a
transfer point are reviewed.
In non-monetized ancient societies, social relations were promoted through the exchange of gifts. Revelation by the French sociologist, Marcel Mauss (1872-1950) of the nature of gift exchange in prehistoric societies lacking a monetary economy was one of the fundamental advances of anthropological theory. 1 The precious articles and art objects were not a form of payment; rather, they were a gesture of a bond imposing obligations on both parties, in particular, the recipient in the form of repayment if accepted. The exchange of gifts is only one part of a relationship with other obligations such as friendship or strengthening of family
ties.
Dr Bhalla extends the analysis from the occasional exchange of gifts (an informal relationship) to the emergence of more formal networks of exchange and trade between the civilizations at different time periods and with different directions and frequency of contacts.
There is archaeological evidence of some early ties to the Sumer civilization during the Chalcolithic (Protometallic) phase in the Baluch hills and the Indus Valley. The first signs of these ties were related to the archaeological site of Kili Gul Mohammad, Baluchistan, Pre-Ceramic era (L 180A) 3500 B.C. plus and minus 500 years. Trade from Sumer to the East took place later via an entrepot in the Persian Gulf, most notably through Dilmun (or Telmun) an island in Bahrain. Exchanges expanded around 2500 B.C. The relationship between Ur (Mesopotamia) and Dilmun was extensive. From here, trade took place with large sailing
ships to the East.
The Greek civilization was linked in the same way through contacts in Mesopotamia and caravan routes to the Mediterranean coast. The study verifies the connection of the exchange of art and art objects between the Indus Valley and the Minoan, Mycenaean, and other Greek cultural areas.
- Marcel Mauss, Essai sur le don. Forme et raison de l’échange dans les sociétés
archaiques, 1925, recent edition, PUF, Paris, (2007); The Gift. Forms and Functions
of Exchange in Archaic Societies. London: Routledge, 1925.
Read also Art of Ancient India and the Aegean, INDIKA 2024
