Tepe Abdul Hosein: A Neolithic Site in Western Iran Excavations 1978 by Judith Pullar

Review by: Abbas Alizadeh

Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 57, No. 2 (Apr., 1998), pp. 146-148
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/546289 .
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146 JOURNALOF NEAR EASTERNSTUDIES VOL. 57 No. 2

Chap. 5 treats separately those pieces for scholarship) and while the bibliographycontains
which a Minoan origin has been demonstrated several publications not actually cited in the text
or suggested. The format emulates that estab- or footnotes of the book itself, on the whole, this
lished in chap. 2, so that the entries are arranged volume is tremendously useful and can be rec-
according to vessel shape, with a brief descrip- ommended without reserve. It will be a welcome
tion and discussion of each, albeit sans illustra- addition to the bookshelf of every archaeologist
tion, followed by a separate series of catalogue specializing in the Bronze Age of either the
entries listing the findspots of each example Aegean or the EasternMediterraneanand will be
known from Syria-Palestine. of particularinterest to those attemptingto doc-
Chap. 6 contains a site index, in which the ument the trade between those two regions. It
sites in Syria-Palestine at which Aegean vessels will also join the works of Furumark,French,
and figurines have been found are listed in al- and Mountjoy at every ongoing archaeological
phabetic order, with an abbreviated record re- excavation in Egypt and the Near East which
iterating the shapes present at that site and the touches upon Late Bronze Age levels, for it is an
catalogue numbersassigned to each. As Leonard essential volume of description, discussion, and
notes, the catalogue and indexes in the various comparanda which will serve to augment the
chapters can be used either individually or in scarce resources available for identifying the
concert with one or more of the others. often-fragmentary Aegean sherds recovered at
Following these chaptersare three appendixes. such Eastern Mediterraneansites. As such, an
Appendix A lists the specific chariotcomponents added, perhapsunintentional,benefit stems from
representedin the chariot scenes on Mycenaean the fact that the volume has been printed as a
vases from Syria-Palestine, while Appendix B hardbackbook with sewn binding; thus, its man-
lists the incised signs and Appendix C the ufacture guarantees that the volume will stand
painted signs found on the Aegean pottery from up to years of well-thumbeduse and will survive
Syria-Palestine. the rigors of being taken into the field season
Finally, following an extremely useful bib- after season.
liography, some thirty-eight distribution maps
graphically depict the findspots of the Aegean ERIC H. CLINE
pottery in Syria-Palestine, arranged according
to vessel shape. For example, map 11 depicts Universityof Cincinnati
the distributionof Mycenaean "GlobularStirrup
Jars"(FS 171 and 173) found in Syria-Palestine,
while map 23 charts the findspots of Mycenaean
"Conical and Ostrich Egg Rhyta" (FS 199 and TepeAbdul Hosein: A Neolithic Site in Western
201) found in Syria-Palestine. Iran Excavations 1978. By JUDITHPULLARET
Within the chapters and individual entries AL.B.A.R. InternationalSeries 563. London:
themselves, Leonardis authoritative;yet he takes B.A.R., 1990. Pp. 259 + 77 figs. + 24 pls.
care to present alternateviews and/or to explain This book is an excellent example of what can
the various problems involved. The numerous be achieved with a modest budget and during a
drawings of shapes and motifs accompanying short, but careful, season. It is also an exemplary
the text and catalogue are extremely useful. Al- way of organizing and presentingexcavated ma-
though one misses the presence of plates, ample terials. In chap. 2, for example, the excavator
references are given to those which may be leaves nothing to the reader's imagination. The
found in Furumarkand elsewhere. Overall, the archaeological units and levels are well defined,
text, catalogue, and illustrations clearly reflect the techniques described, and the rationale for
Leonard's painstaking labor of more than two each operation explained. This gives the reader
decades. an excellent opportunity to ascertain the weak-
While there are a number of superficial typo- ness and strengthof the projectand to appreciate
graphical errors (which do not greatly affect the the conditions underwhich the excavations were

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APRIL 1998 BOOK REVIEWS 147

carried out. Moreover, the report is generously seems to be a break in the occupationallevels of
supported by numerous meticulously prepared the aceramicand ceramic phases, separatedby "a
section drawings, plans, and charts. All the ob- hard crust of dark brown or black clay mixed
jects found on floors are triangulated,numbered, with small stones" (p. 6). The 1 m of occupa-
and described in a separate page facing the il- tional debris above this deposit was too disturbed
lustrations (e.g., pp. 42-43, fig. 13). The spatial to yield any tracesof solid architecture,but traces
distributionpatternson the surfaces and floors of of walls are noted in sections (p. 10). It seems
artifacts and ecofacts are painstakingly provided that the site as a village was deserted by the mid-
with facing charts, describing each item. The seventh millennium and was consequently cov-
same is done for the burials and their contents. ered with mixture of colluvium and alluvium.
The book is a report on the excavations at The pottery (pp. 157-61) is primarilycoarse,
Tappeh Abdul Hosein, a small early Neolithic plain, and handmade;the surface is usually buff.
site, ca. 6 m high and 50 m in diameter. At an Insofar as the shapes can be reconstructed,they
elevation of 1860 m, the mound is located in are simple with thick, flat bases. Mineraland veg-
the valley of Ab-e Qeshlaq, halfway between the etal temperingagents were used either separately
modern towns of Khurramabadand Malayer, in or in combination, with the latter being most
the central Zagros mountains. The excavation of frequent. Some sherds are burnished, but since
the mound was intended to test a number of most of the sherds have an eroded surface or
hypotheses concerning the crucial period of tran- are covered with incrustation, burnishing may
sition from hunting-gatheringto early domestica- have been more common. The painted pottery is
tion of plants and animals and the environmental scanty, and one piece is identified as "J" ware,
conditions during the early Neolithic period presumablycontemporarywith the Halaf period
(p. 8). in northern Mesopotamia. Only a handful of
Temporary camps or campsites of the late painted pottery was found (23 lip-sherds and 46
Pleistocene hunting-gatheringpopulation of the body-sherds, little over 0.3 percent of the total).
Zagros mountains are representedby such sites These sherds of mixed painted pottery,dating to
as Karim Shahir, Zawi Chemi, Shanidar B-l, the sixth and fifth millennia, were discovered
MoDlafaatand Gerd Chai, Ganj Darreh E, and in the upper disturbed levels (p. 10). Almost all
Asiab. Initial village life, though not necessarily of the painted examples exhibit characteristics
permanent,is representedin the Zagros by sites of early Neolithic pottery. The presence of later
such as Tappeh Guran and Tappeh Sarab. A ceramic, perhaps as late as Late Middle Susiana
number of 14C dates put the earliest occupation (fig. 62:11), indicates that the site must have
of Tappeh Abdul Hosein in the early seventh been used as a campsite after it was abandoned
millennium B.C., i.e., the end of Ganj Darreh, as a village.
and before the beginning of Tappeh Guran and Clay figurines,spindlewhorls, andtokens were
TappehSarab. found in most levels (pp. 169-72). Also bone
The deposits are divided into aceramic and tools, stone bowl fragments, pounders, pestles,
ceramic phases, each with a number of associ- and grinders, all common components of early
ated levels. The earliest occupation seems to be Neolithic sites occur (p. 10). Stone tools were
a seasonal campsite with no solid architecture. found in all levels and resembled the lithic tech-
This phase is characterizedby having a number nology at Ganj Darreh and Asiab (pp. 213-16).
of cooking and storing installations(p. 9). Some- Sixteen pieces of obsidian were found from all
what later,tracesof rectangular,mud-brickarchi- levels, except in the campsite phase (pp. 12, 113).
tecture with mud-plasteredfloors, some painted Eleven pieces of the NemrutDagh obsidian seem
red, occur (p. 9). Cultivated wheat and barley to be the earliest occurrence of this commodity
were presentfrom the beginning, aceramic phase in the Zagros mountains (pp. 6, 12, 113). The
(p. 5). But except for a number of surfaces and lack of obsidian at Ganj Darreh, its presence at
floors (some mud-plastered),no traces of solid Abdul Hosein, and its abundance at Guran and
architecturewere found in this phase (p. 6). There Sarab also draw attentionto the transitorynature

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148 JOURNAL
OF NEAREASTERNSTUDIES VOL. 57 No. 2

of the site between Ganj Darreh and Sarab and and language, limited themselves to translating
Guran. from previous French,English, or Germantrans-
Although the bones were not available for lations, Only the Hittite version of the poem was
analysis, worked bones were used to identify the put directly into Spanish (A. Bernab6, Textos
presence at the site of some domesticates such as Literarios Hetitas [Madrid, 1979 and 19871, pp.
sheep/goat, deer, boar, and wolf/leopard (pp. 10, 93-115).
189-91). It is unfortunatethat the faunal mate- The translatorhas aimed his work at the lay-
rial has not been analyzed due to the political man, at a readerwith an interest mainly either in
turmoil in Iran (p. 6). This hampers any conclu- ancient poetry, or in Mesopotamianculture, or in
sions on the state of animal husbandryat the site, both. In order to offer a continuous and coherent
crucial to the natureof the transitionperiod. text, Silva Castillo resorts to the Old Babylonian
Two-row hulled barley (Hardeum distichon), version to complete the StandardVersionin some
emmer (Triticium dicoccum), and lentils (Lens cases. Moreover, to save the reader from the
culinare) were identified. Pistachio nuts and philological selva selvaggia of differentkinds of
almond stones were also present (pp. 217-20). brackets, but giving, at the same time, an accu-
Hubbard (pp. 217-22) argues that agriculture rate idea of the state of the text, he uses italics
was brought to the site in an already evolved for the restitution of broken words and signs,
form. The predominance of the barley and em- brackets for more importantand commonly ad-
mer and the absence of einkorn at Abdul Hosein mitted restitutions, and a different font for the
is indeed peculiar, as Hubbard indicates. This Old Babylonian version. I. M. Diakonoff, in
situation suggests to him that plant domestica- his Russian translation(Epos o Gilgames'e(0 vso
tion is not at its initial stage here; rather, it vidavsem), Literaturnye Pamjatniki [Moscow,
reflects a conscious choice on the part of the in- 1961]), followed the same procedure.For simi-
habitantsof the site (pp. 219-20). lar reasons, Silva divides the text into thematic
chapters, independent of the traditionaldivision
ABBASALIZADEHinto tablets, although he makes the conventional
TheUniversityof Chicago numbering into lines, columns, and tablets clear
enough.
Silva's introduction puts stress on the mean-
ing of Gilgames as an epic figure replete with
Gilgamesh, o la angustia por la muerte (poema human and psychological nuances justifying the
babilonio). Translatedby JORGESILVACAS- subtitle of this book: "la angustia de la muerte"
TILLO.Mexico City: El Colegio de M6xico, (the anguish of death). In the light of W. L. Mo-
1994. Pp. 226. ran's article (JCS 32 [1980]: 208-10) regarding
This translation is of primary importance for Rilke's interest in Gilgames, one may perhaps
Spanish speakers:it is the first one made directly say of Gilgames'sheroic strugglebetweenlife and
from the Akkadiantext.' Othertranslators,2with death that "es erhilt sich der Held, selbst der
little or no knowledge of the original writing Untergang war ihm / nur ein Vorwand, zu sein:
seine letzte Geburt"(Duineser Elegien I 41-42).
11 thank Jerrold S. Cooper and Philip Jones for The footnotes restrictthemselves to illuminat-
reading earlier drafts of this review and for sharing ing some obscure expressions. Some pieces of
their comments with me. The responsibility for the the Hittite version are
ideas expressed, however, rests solely with me. quoted in these notes (in
While I was finishing this review, a second im- such cases, Silva follows J. Bott6ro's indirect
proved edition of Silva's work appeared(see my review
in a forthcoming issue of JAOS). Such promptness
proves the already mentioned importanceof this book. Florence Malbran-Labat(Estella, 1982). Agusti Bar-
2 Agusti Bartra(Mexico City, 1963 and Barcelona,
tra, who was a Catalan poet exiled in Mexico after
1972), Hylmar Blixen (Montevideo, 1980), Federico the Spanish Civil War, is the only one, before Silva,
LaraPeinado (Madrid, 1980, 1983, and 1988). Nicolais who attempted to render the epic in truly literary
Darical translated into Spanish the French version of Spanish.

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