This article summarizes current knowledge about the metallurgy of the Late Bronze Age Sapalli Culture (Northem Bactria) and discusses its implications for the 'tin question'. It is suggested that tin was used in southem Central Asia predominantly to influence the visual appearance of copper objects. The 2^rafshan ores, recently highlighted through current research, are not considered a likely source for the tin imported into Mesopotamia during the third and early second millennium BC. The tin question -general issuesFew research problems in Near Eastem archaeology bave. over tbe years, generated so much discussion as the 'tin question'. This has been ably summarised by a number of scholars (Muhly 1973; Muhly 1995; Pigott 1999; contributions in Giumlia-Mair/Lo Schiavo 2003; Weeks 2004). In essence, the debate centres on two main questions: First, what were the sources for the tin used as a routine ingredient in Mesopotamian metallurgy during the later third and second millennium BC and second, by which routes was the tin traded to Mesopotamia from its source region(s)?The focus for all discussions relating to the tin trade has traditionally been the early second millennium BC. because it is in this period that evidence from a wide range of disciplines can be brought to bear (Larsen 1987; Muhly 1995). In addition to archaeological and scientific (i.e. geological, chemical) evidence there are the numerous cuneiform texts from the archives at Kultepe/Kanis level 2 and Mari. dated to the 20'^ and 18"" centuries BC. While it must always be kept in mind that these archives cover only a fraction of the ancient trade -both chronologically and geographically -they give a consistent, if somewhat blurred picture of the Mesopotamian metals trade. 24

Sheep were one of the first livestock species domesticated by humans. After initial domestication in the Middle East they were spread across Eurasia. The modern distribution of endogenous Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus insertions in domestic sheep breeds suggests that over the course of millennia, successive introductions of improved lineages and selection for wool quality occurred in the Mediterranean region and most of Asia. Here we present a novel ancient DNA approach using data of endogenous retroviral insertions in Bronze and Iron Age domestic sheep from the Caucasus and Pamir mountain areas. Our findings support a secondary introduction of wool sheep from the Middle East between the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age into most areas of Eurasia.

The ivory belt-plate, one of two found in a burial at the site of Tilla Bulak, Uzbekistan, shows a battle scene between two groups of mounted warriors. It belongs to a small group of figural belt plates from the region and is dated iconographically to the 1 st century BC / 1 st century AD. The elephant tooth from which it was worked was more than 2000 years old at the time.

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