Trade of Indus Valley Semi-precious stones with the Iranian Plateau and Mesopotamia (from the 3rd millennium BC to the 1st millennium BC)

Recognition and use of semi-precious stones has a history of seven thousand years. These stones have been used by many city-states in the Near East in different historical periods. Among the peoples of the Near East, the use of semi-precious stones represented the power, wealth, and identity of kings and priests of temples, and they were used in palaces, temples, and even the tombs of kings. Priests of temples and kings in Mesopotamia, due to lack of mineral resources, began their trade to the Iranian Plateau and the Indus Valley, and thus, trade led to the prosperity of the areas on these roads. Semi-precious stones were exported via trade routes from the Indus Valley to the Iranian Plateau, Mesopotamia, Anatolia and Egypt. Therefore, the present article attempts to answer the question that what role did semi-precious stones play in the trade of the Near East (Indus Valley with the Iranian Plateau and Mesopotamia) in the period from the 3rd millennium BC to the 1st millennium BC? The findings show that semi-precious stones, because they have been part of the honorable goods and have been used as ornamental and ritual objects in religious or social ceremonies, have led to prospering the trade routes and the creation of many areas. Also, the dispersal of ancient city-states in the Near East is based on the trade routes of the trade caravans that passed through it, which led to the emergence of a large number of ancient areas along the main roads that were considered as the arteries of trade.