JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDIES
Year:2019 | Volume:11 | Issue:1 (SERIAL NO. 19)|Papers Count:14

Seven pieces of celadon from a recent excavation in the historical ruins of port of Harireh in Kish Island in Iran have been studied in order to characterize the wares. Investigations were carried out on the body as well as the glaze of celadons. Celadon samples were investigated petrologically and chemically by polarized light microscopy (LM), environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM), quantitative X-ray diffraction with Rietveld refinement (QXRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and simultaneous thermos-analytic (STA) in order to understand their manufacturing process The amount of FeO as the main glaze constituent and K in the body is quantitatively calculated for possible modelling of technology as essential know-how. Based on the Na2O and CaO constituents, celadons show high similarities to the wares made in China-Kiln. The mineralogical composition of the pottery proves that the firing temperature of celadon was about 1200-1300º C. Production technology of the celadon potteries has been evaluated by means of suitable raw materials which have not been fitted in south Iranian coastal Gulf.

Central Zagros Region is considered as one of the most important areas in the archaeology of prehistory of Iran and Mesopotamia. Our knowledge from the archeology of the area shows that this region plays an important role in the evolution of villages and urban development in the world. The present research aims to study the settlement pattern of the 27 Middle Bronze Age sites in the Kangavar valley through considering their ecological and environmental characteristics as well as their spatial characteristics (rank-size and Shannon entropy analyses). The concentration of sites with centralized system in the south eastern parts of the area and the spatial balances among the sites in the other parts suggests the formation of a cultural-economic organization to imply that the sites such as Godin and Karkhaneh with the centralized systems, in the middle parts of the area have extended the range of its control over the landscape. Inter-regional communications via trading networks as well as other cultural traits which have been seen from the Godin III assemblages could be used as the indications for such organizational complex systems in Iran and Mesopotamia.

Shaur palace located at western side of Susa ancient site, next to Shaur River. Excavations at the site began since 1970 to 1976 by Remi Bucharlat, Adran Labrus, and Mahmoud Kordavani. They identified three archaeological levels that dated to Islamic, Parthian, and Achaemenid periods. Excavations revealed few glassworks among recovered material, which dated from Parthian to Islamic periods including vessels for medical, cosmetic purposes; such as bottles, attar vials, bowls, glasses, and ornaments such as beads and rings. The glassworks usually were green objects that manufactured using free-blowing method, while some productions enjoyed mold-blowing method. Considering comparable Iranian and foreign objects, they probably produced by same technique and decoration, or exchanged within the Parthian territories. However, some remains indicate Iranian artistic effects, Hellenistic and Roman motifs dominated glassworks of Shaur, would indicate regional exchanges between Khuzistan Plain and more distant western areas.

Fars Cultural sphere have different perspectives, including mountainous areas with a cold weather, central part with a temperate climate while the southern part which is limited by the northern Persian Gulf coasts; experiences warmer conditions. According to the archaeological importance of the region, the Bavanat River Basin was investigated aiming at (1) to identify all cultural monuments, (2) to provide the archaeological maps of the area, (3) to investigate the evolutionary process of settlements in different periods, and (4) to assess the environmental effects on the formation of settlements and to explain the cultural position of the study area. During the survey, 200 archaeological sites were identified to have been dated from the Neolithic period to the Late Islamic period. The oldest site is related to the Neolithic but until the Bakun era, there has been no settlement identified. Eight sites revealed Bakun painted potteries and seven sites showed potteries from Lapui period. Since from Banesh period there has been just one occupational site it seems that after Banesh the basin was abandoned until the Achaemenid period.

Botkhaneh Cave located at 21 km southwest of Kuhdasht, is one of the archaeological sites which has probably been occupied by mobile pastoralists which through the time the cave was deeply looted. During a rescue archaeological operation the material culture was collected by the last author and his team. The results of the pottery analysis and the occupation pattern in the adjacent sites represent the continuity of a temporary occupation in the cave. In this paper, we assess the characteristics of this site through an archaeozoological study of the animal remains. The faunal assemblage of this site is composed of domestic and wild. Caprines (sheep and goat) followed by bovines and equids are the most represented taxa while a considerable amount of donkey remains could be identified. We also developed analysis for the kill-off patterns for Caprines and some other taphonomic variations. These observations help to better understand the faunal accumulation in the Botkhaneh Cave in relation to the other archaeological materials.

In this paper we have studied bronze and silver coins belonging to the Elymaean using PIXE analytical method to identify concentration of elements as well as chemical composition of metals to understand the number of mines and the number of mint. To achieve the above mentioned goals, we analyzed 35 coinages of Elymais dated to about (85 BC-224 AD). Results obtained indicated that percent proportion of main elements of coins such as silver and copper were differently used in the three periods of Elymaean and coins made in the first period have had more purity. Furthermore, the analyzed coins are minted in five mint centers and their primal raw materials were explored from three different sources. The statistical analysis was performed by using of SPSS software.

Hubuš kia is a royal city and country in Northern Zagros and one of the significant buffer states between Assyrian and Urartian spheres of influence during the 9th to 7th centuries BC. Our information about Hubuš kia comes primarily from Neo-Assyrian cuneiform texts. The localization of this place name and the petty state of the first half of first millennium BC has been a subject of debate and dissension among scholars and Assyriologists through the past century. The authors of the present study, based on the Neo-Assyrian inscriptions dealing with the Zagros polities, geographical analysis of the inscriptions and study of the archaeological founds derived from four seasons of excavation in Tape Rabat, suggests that ancient site of Rabat, could be comparable with that of ancient city of Hubuš kia. Rabat Tape is located on the western bank of the Lower Zab River in northwestern Iran near the city of Sardasht. The location of the site and its archaeological characteristics, allows us to propose that Rabat Tape could be the same as the ancient city of Hubuš kia.

Numerous castles and fortifications overlooking the plain dot the surrounding heights of Isfahan. This fortification network provided protection and particularly had control over the administrative center of Isfahan kura during the Islamic era up to the Safavid period. Therefore, a comprehensive investigation and evaluation of the fortification network is significant not only for a better understanding of the Isfahan landscape, but also for gaining a clearer perception of the formation of the cities in the main region of Isfahan called "rostaq-e Jay". To this end, the present article is based on three different sources: the archaeological data resulted from the systemic survey of the eighteen forts and fortifications in the Isfahan heights; the satellite imagery; and the written sources. The analyses of the data show an extensive network of fortifications that in relationships with others provided control over the roads and urban and rural settlements in the plain. Thus the location of the forts and the placement of the main urban centers, i. e. Jay and Yahudiya, were interrelated and affected the overall structure of the landscape.

The large areas of the lands of Proto-Elamite period from the west to the east of Iranian plateau indicates the importance of that period and requires a special attention to the Proto-Elamite expansions. Although according to some information and data such as the Proto-Elamite contexts, a number of researchers consider the sudden break of the Proto-Elamite era and regard the evolutionary trends up to the old Elamite era as a vague question but some of the important areas of the Proto-Elamite period such as Susa, Malian, Yahya, Shahr-i Soukhteh, and Hessar, that all have the main Proto-Elamite period sign, i. e. the inscriptions, have subsequent trends in the expansion, continued up to the old Elamite era and even later. It has been tried in this study to consider the state of the transformation trends by analyzing the data in the Post-Proto-Elamite areas with the required subsequences such as pottery and seals. In order to present the answers for the questions regarding the state of cultural changes after the Proto-Elamite era and whether the sequence of deployment was gradual, or changed all at once to a new culture in the subsequent periods. Despite the differences in different regions, and with respect to some variations in some data, the sequence of deployment from the Proto-Elamite to the old Elamite eras can be observed through the information gathered in this study.

During 2007 archaeological survey of Little Zab River in Sardasht district in NW Iran, 6 typical Uruk (Uruk Related) sites have been brought to light. One of the important one is Tepe Badamyar Rabat with typical Beveled Rim Bowl pottery that is considered as first Uruk evidence in NW Iran. In addition to Rabat, the Uruk materials found in Tepe Baghi, Tepe Waliv, Tepe Molla Yousef, Tepe Lavin and Tepe Goman would provide the opportunity for studying on one millennium gap between Hasanlu VIIIA (Pisdeli) and VIIC (Kura-Araxes) in southern parts of the Lake Urmia region. This gap is considered as main vague issue in archaeology of NW Iran. The Uruk evidence in the mentioned sites mainly belongs to Middle and Late Uruk periods (3600/3500-3100 BC). These new finding not only establish good opportunity for revising NW Iran chronological framework but provide good base for studying inter-regional relationship of NW Iran communities with south and northern Mesopotamian societies during the 4th millennium BC. This article is trying to introduce fresh typical Uruk sites in southern part of the Lake Urmia with detailed emphasis on new pottery, lithic and special finds of Tepe Badamyar Rabat. Also the present paper is intended to deal with the Uruk cultural influences in NW Iran, proposing a chronological framework for the period concerned and to discuss interregional relationship with adjacent region.

In a new research on the Seleucid coins of Avicenna’ s (Bu Ali Sina) Museum of Hamedan, eight new Tetradrachms from uncertain mint 65 have been identified. These coins issued under the authority of the Seleucid rulers, Antiochus III Megas (223-187 B. C. ) and early reign of Seleucus IV Philopator (187-175 B. C. ). In this article, the research main aim is review the issues and identify the likely location of the uncertain mint 65 and accordingly, coins of this mint that have been found in northwest of Iran. On following, all the characteristics of the mentioned mint are studied through following steps; catalogue of mint sequence, the value and duration of the mint and its comparative analysis with the main mints, such as Antioch on the Orontes, and survey of portrait types, the number of engravers and also identification of the elements by proton induced X-ray emission and its comparison to the Eastern Mints of the Seleucid Period. Contrary to the book of Selucid Coins (SC), the results of our study suggest that the relocation of this mint from Commagene or Northern Syria on the base of Seleucid coins to the eastern Mesopotamia or to the far northwest of Iran.

The approximate one century of Ilkhanid dominions in Iran, was a priory in flourishing such an innovation styles of Architectural and Urban designing in Islamic ages of which clarifying its different dimensions has been less considered. Parallel to this attitude, investigating the architectural form of Ali Shah’ s Mosque in terms of the greatest ever made religious architecture in Iran would be among the most prominent issues related to the medieval construction methods during Islamic ages. Using descriptive analytical methods besides library studies as well as reviewing historical documents around Ali Shah’ s Mosque in Tabriz and its overlapping with archaeological excavation’ s results followed by in Ali Shah site, this project is aimed to recognize the architectural combination and the spatial appearance of Ali Shah Mosque. According to the results and considering the sequence of religious architectural movement through Ilkhanid era, it is obvious that aside from the usual construction language that can be seen in Ghazaniya and Sultaniya, focusing on bilateral units, not only the loftiest ever made arch of Islamic world was made in Ali Shah’ s span, but also one of the highest chamber dome of those ages had been created in this structure.

The Fars Region, as an internal watershed with several permanent rivers and waste water streams especially Kor and Sivand Rivers, had created many types of settlements. For this reason, many studies have been performed on this region during Bakun period. New findings of this research include a set of pottery pieces and other archaeological findings such as clay stump and tokens which were unearthed from 62 areas of Fars Region. Among these traces, 44 types of pottery pieces which were obtained from 15 sites of” Bakun A “ era along with 5 pieces of pottery which were obtained from the excavations performed by Longsdourf and McCown & Smith in 1932 and 1937, respectively. From Pasargad Pottery Bank some pottery sherds were selected for performing petrographical studies. The most significant finding of these experiments suggested a similar composition and consequently origin of all samples from the under study region.

Dargaz County is located in northeastern Iranian Plateau, near to borders of Turkmenistan. Its location so close to Turkmenistan and ancient Nisa, as the first homeland capital of the Parthians, shows the importance of this area in the Iranian history. Discovery of 85 sites dating to the Parthian period in this plain is a testimony to this importance. In this paper, the distribution of the sites has been discussed considering the impact of environmental elements. Settlements of this area have been measured by the distribution of its surface finds. Taking into account of environmental data and the site size, three clusters of sites have been proposed for the Parthian sites of Dargaz. The sites of Toghi and Shahr Tepe are the central sites of two clusters of A and B, respectively. The cluster C represents those sites that have been distributed on the foothills and on the plain as well. Some of these sites are cemeteries of nomadic sector of the Parthian population of the time.