A multi-national team of maritime archaeologists has uncovered evidence of a previously unknown trade network dubbed the ‘Bitumen and Lapis’ Seaway. By analyzing 4,000-year-old residues found in submerged cargo jars off the coast of Socotra, researchers traced a direct maritime link between the Indus Valley Civilization and ancient trading hubs in the Horn of Africa.
The study reveals that lapis lazuli from the Hindu Kush and bitumen from the Iranian plateau were exchanged for aromatic resins and obsidian. This discovery challenges existing theories about the limits of Bronze Age navigation, suggesting that ancient mariners possessed advanced knowledge of monsoon wind patterns to bridge the vast distances between South Asia and East Africa centuries earlier than previously believed.