Mesopotamia and the Indus: the evidence of the seals

Asko Parpola has drawn attention to the striking parallels between the iconography of Proto-Elamite seals in the earlier part of the third millennium Be and the motifs which later appear on the seals and pottery of the Harappan culture (Parpola 1981). The distribution ofsites whereProto-Elamite artifacts and tablets have been found is evidence for an overland trade route but does not preclude the use of a maritime route as well.