The Hurrians played a crucial role in the technological innovation and productivity development in ancient Western Asia. Being close to metal provenances regions, they mastered metallurgy and played an important part in the metal trade. In addition, the Hurrians were early horse users and held a significant position in the horse trade from the Eurasian steppes into Babylonia. They early used the horses and mastered the horse breeding skills of Indo-European groups and developed advanced horses’ training techniques. The Hurrians also transformed the war-carts into chariots for large-scale warfare, which promoted the development and spread of this technology in Western Asia and North Africa. The Hurrians invented glassmaking, transforming it into an independent industry that spread throughout Western Asia and North Africa. In the process of civilization exchange and mutual learning between Mesopotamia and the Armenian Highlands, Anatolia and Iranian plateau, the Hurrians further developed and promoted these technologies to a higher level on the basis of absorbing various technologies created in various regions, making indelible contributions to the progress of productivity in ancient West Asia and even North Africa.

Published on Middle East Studies, No.1, 2024.