Archaeology

This article is basically a short and, in many aspects, general report of the results of the excavations at Tall-e Geser in the Ram Hormoz region of southwestern Iran, as well as those of the three seasons of archaeological survey in the region. The purpose is not only to make accessible
the archaeological data before the large manuscript is finally
available, but to put both Geser and the Ram Hormoz plain in a wider geographic and historical context to understand cultural and demographic developments in the region. We will argue how the archaeological evidence
loosely corroborates the historical events known from Sumerian and Akkadian sources. We also show how the archaeological evidence suggests the demographic flux in
the small plains of Ra¯m Hormoz, Behbahan and Nura¯ba¯d
and how they played the important role of buffer zones between 3rd millennium Mesopotamian forces and those
of Ans˘an, in highland Fars.

After a decade-long hiatus in the years of World War II, archaeological fieldwork was resumed in Iran in 1948. In that year, the Oriental Institute returned to its long tradition of archaeological research by sending Donald McCown to the lowlands of southwestern Iran to conduct a series of surface surveys to find a multi-period site for excavation. For his survey, McCown chose the Ram Hormuz region, southeast of lowland Susiana and the region south and east of the provincial town of Ahvaz down to the Persian Gulf. McCown recorded 118 sites in the Ram Hormuz and Ahvaz areas and eventually chose for excavation the large prehistoric mound complex Tall-e Geser. Three months of excavation in 1948 and 1949 yielded materials that were kept in Chicago for many years. Apart from short articles, the site was never fully published.

In Part 1 of this two-part volume, Abbas Alizadeh and colleagues have undertaken a final publication of the site. This task was undertaken because of a number of important considerations. First, the excavations at Geser have been cited as justifying the division of the Uruk period in southwestern Iran into Early, Middle, and Late phases. Second, Geser remains the only systematically excavated site in the Ram Hormuz region — a strategic location between the Susiana and Mesopotamian alluvium and the Zagros highlands of southwestern Iran. Third, Geser has produced a very extensive body of archaeological materials dating to the comparatively less understood proto-Elamite period, roughly the first few centuries of the third millennium bc. And finally, with the exception of a 700-800-year gap following the proto-Elamite phase, Geser remains one of the only sites in the Near East to have a very long and generally uninterrupted depositional sequence, in this case spanning from the fifth millennium BC to the Safavid period. The site’s crucial location, its importance in the archaeological literature, and its long stratigraphic sequence made it imperative that the original excavation results from Geser be published in anticipation of a time when the site can be re-excavated.

Part 2 of this volume presents the results of regional surveys conducted in the Ram Hormuz plain from 2005 to 2008, which were undertaken by Alizadeh and colleagues with the goal of understanding the semi-nomadic, mobile component of lowland Susiana and its hinterlands through time.

Contents

Part 1. Excavations at Tall-e Geser
Chapter 1. Geology, Geography, and Climate of the Ram Hormuz Region
Chapter 2. Overview of the Excavations at the Tall-e Geser Complex
Chapter 3. Stratigraphy
Chapter 4. Pottery
Chapter 5. Administrative Technology
Chapter 6. Small Objects
Part 2. Archaeological Survey in the Ram Hormuz Plain, 2005-2008
Chapter 7. Archaeological Survey in the Ram Hormuz Plain
Chapter 8. Settlement History and Organization
Chapter 9. Summary, Discussion, and Conclusions
Appendix A. INAA Analysis of Ceramics from Tall-e Geser and Abu Fanduweh: Compositional Signatures and Evidence for Ceramic Exchange
Appendix B. Bituminous Mixtures of Tall-e Geser: A Diversified Origin of Bitumen
Appendix C. Gazetteer of the Ram Hormuz Surveyed Sites and Settlement Size Tables
Index of Acquisition Numbers
Figures for Appendix A
Plates

As the cultural and economic center of Azerbaijan and northwestern Iran, Tabriz plays a key role in the handicrafts market. The cultural, social and economic flourishing that occurs in Tabriz as the capital or the crown prince seat moves to this city during the Ilkhanid, Timur’s successors, Safavid and Qajar periods has  also resulted in development of Tabriz art schools. Leaving aside architecture, this upswing is clearly reflected in the traditional arts of the city so that most arts and handicrafts are thriving in Tabriz, among them fine 3D silk pictorial rugs (or rug tableaus), silver carving, Varni weaving, Āğ  Toprāk pottery, the Persian blue glaze style of Tabriz, Kalağeye print, etc. The persent paper is an attempt to introduce e the needlework art of Mamagan, Tabriz, placed on the Iranian intangible heritage list as “Āy Čakma”.

This article aims to show preliminary search results of ecological, archaeological and ethnological surveys in Qara Dagh region, Azerbaijan, Iran. The mountainous region of Qara Dagh is very poor agriculturally and sparsely populated as well as Shahsavan Ubas are among the few elements of its landscape. The situation has not been different historically, so that the region is poor in archaeological evidence older than Iron Age. Consideration of the reasons for continuity of pastoralism in the region to these days and its historical and ecological connections is the problem of the article. The paper shows that current traditions of Central Qara Daq have been continued on the basis of nomadism over more than three thousand years due to its dominant ecological and environmental attributes. Again, archaeological and ethnographic considerations of the region demonstrate the fundamental role of ecosystem in endurance in of different modes of substances. It is clear that ecosystems such as Central Qara Daq have been a major obstacle to the emergence and growth of complex settlement patterns and higher forms of socio-cultural systems

The term “handicraft” is a modern concept belonging to the present time. What we call handicrafts today were actually ordinary products of their own times. Apart from their original functions and applications
in the past, today handicrafts act as a cultural media carrying folkloric, identity-related and ethnological messages. Iranian Azerbaijan and particularly the historical city of Tabriz is a major tourist resort thanks to its ageold traditional arts, a fact fully epitomized in the nomination of Tabriz as the halal-friendly destination of Muslim nations in 2018. The Azerbaijani handicrafts fall in quite a few general categories, which may be restricted to a certain city or area or sprinkled across the province. In this respect, Tabriz as the cultural, artistic and literary
center of Azerbaijan enjoys a remarkable distinction. The cultural and social prosperity of the city, which under the Ilkhanid, Safavid and Qajar dynasties served as either the capital city or crown prince’s seat, is to such extent that we witness a discrete Tabriz School in the history of Oriental art. This is quite clearly evident in the traditional
arts, as most categories of artistic objects and traditional handicrafts have been thriving in Tabriz. The present work is an attempt to briefly present the living and authentic handicrafts of Tabriz, most of which are in the Iranian
Intangible Heritage Register and have received Iran National Seal of Authenticity and/or the UNESCO’s Seal of Excellence for Handicrafts.

This study is an attempt to investigate the death landscape of the Iron Age in the Central Qaradagh Region of Eastern Azerbaijan. The mountainous zone of the Central Qaradagh has a semi-arid climate. It has been one of the main access passages of Eastern Urmia Lake to the Southern Caucasus in the prehistoric era. According to the evidence obtained from archaeological investigations, during the Iron Age, in this area, we are mostly faced with living systems that are not dependent on stable settlements. There are rarely much evidences left except graves and some evidence of temporary residence. The ecological features and the lack of soils suitable for agriculture have prevented the formation and development of settlements systems in this area. Based on the clay fragments and graves shape, the collection of the archaeological evidence obtained from this area is included under the Iron Age. The death landscape deals with the relation between the funerary evidence and the geographical landscape deals with the social and ideological aspects. What is the most important in the relation between the ancient graves and the environment is the non-arbitrariness of their location. In this regard, through the use of the GIS, the logic of the graves distribution can be clarified and they can be sociologically and ideologically interpreted. In order to do so, the environmental and cultural information of the graves and the areas enclosed in this region must be investigated and analyzed. The most important criterion for graves distribution in the death landscape of this region is the different types of these graves that can be marked in different ethno-sociological groups

The cultural sequence, chronology, and archaeological landscape of the geographical distribution of the prehistoric cultures in the peripheral territories of the eastern and northern Urmia Lake regions have not been the focus of any inclusive studies. The basic question of present investigation is the geographical distribution of the Iron Age remains in the Uch'hāchā rural district of Southern Karadagh, the northwest of Iranian plateau. Typologically and chronologically, such remains are the fortified sites and graveyards fall within the Iron Age I-II (pre-Urartian period) c. 1500-800 BC. The grave types are megalith triliths and simple cists and the Caucasian Kurgans. The pre-Urartian settlements have not yet been recognized in the 1650-2500m a. b. s. l. The geographical distributions of the Iron Age I-II sites were affected by the mountain landforms. Noticeably, the Iron Age fortified settlements indicate to pastoral-nomad peoples adopted their life in this steppe land. Such a semi-arid and rough mountain land, contrary to Mesopotamia, has no geographical potential for the formation of urban way of life and multi layers archaeological sites, as mounds. In addition to the transhumance and pastoral-nomad way of life adopted in the pastures of Karadagh and Karabakh, the metallurgical subsistence based on copper and iron mines in the Karadagh, is another theory proposed by the authors. Such a theory should be examined by the methods of archaeological sciences and later archaeological expeditions. The expansion of the realm of Urartian kingdom in this region should be analyzed and understood based on the subsistence desirement and motivations.