Organised by: Dr. Hassan Fazeli (Tehran University)and
Prof. Roger Matthews (The Institute of Archaeology, University College London)
hfazelin@ut.ac.ir
roger.matthews@ucl.ac.uk
Location: Lecture theatre G6 (Ground Floor) of the Institute of Archaeology, UCL.
Time: Friday 16th April
Workshop Description:
This workshop on the Neolithisation of Iran will provide a forum for presentation of all
the latest results from surveys and excavations on Neolithic sites in Iran, as well as the
opportunity to synthesise results and interpretations from earlier fieldwork. The outcome
will be a state of the art consideration of the nature of the relevant evidence from Iran as
well as a review of that evidence, on a region by region basis, in the light of current theories
about the transformation to Neolithic lifestyles in the Near East more broadly.
| Time | Name | Paper Title |
|---|---|---|
| 09.20 | Fazeli & Matthews | Welcome and Introduction |
| 09.30 | Garazhian | Tell-e Atashi, a Pre-Pottery Neolithic B site in southeastern Iran and a revision to the Near Eastern neolithisation process |
| 09.55 | Shakooie | Lithic industries of Tell-e Atashi, a Neolithic (PPN) site in south-eastern Iran |
| 10.20 | Garazhian et. al | The Neolithic sites in northeast Iran (Khorasan) |
| 10.45 | COFFEE | COFFEE |
| 11.15 | Coningham et al | The neolithisation of the central plateau of Iran |
| 11.40 | Askari | The neolithisation of the Fars region |
| 12.05 | Tsuneki | Proto-Neolithic caves in the Bolaghi valley, southern Zagros |
| 12.30 | LUNCH | LUNCH |
| 14.05 | Fazeli et al | From cave to village: the process of neolithisation in the Seimareh region in the central Zagros of Iran |
| 14.30 | R. Matthews et al | The Central Zagros Archaeological Project (CZAP): cult and sedentism in the neolithisation of central west Iran |
| 14.55 | Zeder | Rehabilitating the Zagros: old data provide new insights into the central role of the Zagros in initial animal domestication |
| 15.20 | W. Matthews | Regional variation in the neolithisation of the Zagros region |
| 15.45 | COFFEE | COFFEE |
| 16.15 | Young et al | Animals and people in the neolithisation of Iran |
| 16.40 | Fazeli et al | Third millennium AD: revolution in Neolithic studies in Iran |
| 17.05 | Discussion |
Workshop Abstracts
The neolithisation of the Fars region
Mr Alireza Askari (affiliation),
Mr Alireza Sardari (Iranian Centre for Archaeological Research, Tehran, Iran),
Prof Daniel Potts (Nottingham University),
Dr Cameron Petrie (Cambridge University),
Dr Matthew Jones and Dr Lloyd Weeks(Nottingham University)
This paper reviews the origins and development of Neolithic communities in highland southwest Iran. The paper incorporates evidence from past and ongoing archaeological and palaeoclimatic fieldwork in the region, highlighting the approaches taken to investigate this complex process. Major issues discussed include:
- Relative and absolute chronology
- Evidence for plant and animal husbandry
- Material culture
- Environment and climate in Neolithic Fars
- Models of change: origins –colonisation vs. adoption by hunter-gatherer groups
- Development –regionalism and cultural transmission
- Eclipse –the transition to the Chalcolithic period
Current debates surrounding these issues are summarised in an effort to develop an up-to-date synthesis of the evidence from Fars and provide an intellectual framework for future research. Particular attention is paid to the results of recent fieldwork in the Mamasani district of northwest Fars, where a long sequence of Neolithic occupation has been documented through excavation at the site of Tol-e Nurabad and regional site surveys. Associated lake and wetland sediment coring in Mamasani is providing the first detailed information on local climate and environment during the early-mid Holocene, and in some instances dramatically altering our perceptions of the landscapes occupied by early Neolithic communities in Fars. The paper concludes by briefly contextualising the evidence from Mamasani and wider Fars in relation to debates surrounding the spread of the Neolithic across Iran.
askari_chaverdi@yahoo.com
Lloyd.Weeks@nottingham.ac.uk
cap59@cam.ac.uk
dan.potts@arts.usyd.edu.au
Matthew.Jones@nottingham.ac.uk
sardari@modares.ac.ir
Third millennium AD: revolution in Neolithic studies in Iran
Dr Hassan Fazeli (Institute of Archaeology, University of Tehran, Iran)
and Prof Roger Matthews (University College London)
Western Iran has long been the focus of archaeologists interested in understanding the development of agriculture and sedentary communities, often at the expense of other parts of the country. However, after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the subsequent interruption of international collaborative projects, research into Iranian prehistory decreased significantly.
Due to the lack of international interest in the Iranian Central Plateau it has largely been studied by Iranian teams. However, the Kashan, Tehran, Qazvin and Sharood plains have never been systematically surveyed or excavated extensively, and our understanding of the wider region has been hindered by a lack of absolute dates and detailed stratigraphic information.
Further south within the Fars region, the lack of early human occupation from the end of the Epipalaeolithic to the sixth millennium BC presented a different set of problems, and excavations at Bakun, Jari and Mushky have suggested a lack of early farming communities in the region. A similar story is visible within east and southeast Iran, where a lack of detailed survey and excavation means our understanding of the neolithisation process is limited.
At the end of 1990s, however, and the beginning of the 21st century a new archaeological research program was established to study the origins of agriculture and early human occupation within Iran. The main points of focus have been:
The north of Iran: From cave to state, Behshar (Mazandaran) by the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicraft and Tourism Organisation of Mazandaran, University of Tarbiat Modarres (Iran), Munich University (Germany), University of Warsaw (Poland) and Iranian Center for Archaeological Research. This project has included excavations within Epipalaeolithic caves, and at Neolithic-Transitional Chalcolithic and Bronze Age sites, in order to develop a better understanding of socio-economic developments within the north of Iran.
The Central Plateau of Iran: Socio-economic transformations in the Iranian Central Plateau, incorporates a number of collaborative international projects within the Qazvin Plain, Tehran Plain, Kashan Plain and the Sharood Plain. Excavations at Neolithic and Transitional Chalcolithic sites has provided more than 70 C14 dates from secure stratigraphic contexts establishing detailed chronological and typological sequences.
Southeast Iran: Very little was known about the Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic in the Kerman region, but new excavations by Garazhian in Bam have identified Pre-Pottery Neolithic occupation, and further investigations will hopefully shed more light on the process of neolithisation in the region.
Central Zagros: Recently started excavations within the Central Zagros Archaeological Project (CZAP) are allowing us to re-evaluate the prehistory of the region, in particular the earliest stages of sedentism and the origins of cultic behavior associated with proto-domestication of animals such as wild goat.
South Iran: Joint excavations in Rahmat Abad by the University of Tehran and the University of Binghampton have identified cultural layers dating to the seventh millennium BC, whilst the joint Japanese-ICAR research project in Pasargad has focused upon eighth millennium BC settlements. Further joint Iranian-UK-Australian excavation and survey in the Mamasani region is providing a detailed picture of the Neolithic in southern Iran. Combined together, these projects support the need for further extensive work to study early communities in order to overcome the lacunae in our understanding of the southern Neolithic.
tcrnrom@ucl.ac.uk
hfazelin@ut.ac.ir
The neolithisation of the central plateau of Iran
Dr Hassan Fazeli (Institute of Archaeology, University of Tehran, Iran) and Prof. Robin Coningham
(Durham University, UK)
The transition from mobile hunter-gatherers to sedentary agricultural communities within the Iranian Central Plateau has been the focus of recent archaeological fieldwork since the late 1990s. Extensive surveys within the Qazvin, Tehran and Sharood Plains have failed to identify Mesolithic or Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites, and scant evidence of Early Neolithic occupation. Excavations at Cheshmeh-Ali and Tepe Pardis within the Tehran Plain suggest that the earliest occupation dates to the Late Neolithic, ca. 5600 BC. Within the Qazvin Plain, excavations at Zagheh, previously thought to be Neolithic, demonstrated only later Chalcolithic occupation. Consequently, two sites identified through survey –Tepe Chahar Boneh and Ebrahimabad –were excavated, both of which demonstrated substantial Late Neolithic occupation, but again no Early or Pre-Pottery Neolithic layers.
The lack of other securely dated pre-sixth millennium BC sites suggests that Chahar Boneh may represent the earliest occupation of the Central Plateau. It is also clear that inter-regional networks existed by the second half of the sixth millennium, with the presence of Sialk I pottery in the upper levels of Ebrahimabad and other sites within the Qazvin and Tehran Plains. However, the lack of plain red and buff ware vessels, key indicators of the Neolithic, found at Chahar Boneh, coupled with the absence of later Chahar Boneh style ceramics at Zagheh and Ebrahimabad, suggests a more complex archaeological picture.
We do have, however, a very detailed ceramic and artifact typology of the Late Neolithic within the Central Plateau from Tepe Chahar Boneh, Ebrahimabad, Tepe Pardis, Cheshmeh-Ali, and soon from Sialk dating from 6000-5200 BC and supported by absolute dates. Further survey and extensive horizontal, as opposed to deep stratigraphic, excavation will hopefully illuminate these chronologies and typologies.
hfazelin@ut.ac.ir
r.a.e.coningham@durham.ac.uk
From cave to village: the process of neolithisation in the Seimareh region in the central Zagros of Iran
Dr Hassan Fazeli (Institute of Archaeology, University of Tehran, Iran)
Mr Hojjat Darabi (Institute of Archaeology, University of Tehran, Iran)
Mr Reza Naseri (affiliation)
Mr Amir Beshkani (affiliation)
The central Zagros of Iran is one of the key regions to study the settlement and economic changes from the upper Palaeolithic to the Neolithic period. Recent archaeological researches in the Seimareh region permit us to re-evaluate such socio-economic changes within the area. Along the Seimareh river there are some small caves which seem to belong to the Upper Palaeolithic period. Alongside these caves the Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of East Chia Sabz is located. The site is at an elevation of 663m above sea level. This paper will describe the preliminary results of rescue excavations at the site of East Chia Sabz and at the caves, carried out during the spring 2009.
In the interior and exterior of the caves we have recorded lots of lithic material which most probably belongs the latest phases of Epi-Palaeolithic period. The chipped stones, including various cores, blade, bladelet, scraper and debitage or chipping debris, were produced through pressure and punch techniques by using the chert as the main raw material, which can be found in the nearby riverbed. It is worth noting that in the upper layers some obsidian lithics have been found. The preliminary observation of the chipped stone industry suggests a gradual change from the earliest to the latest period in lithic production, i.e. from dominant punch technique to pressure technique.
The site of East Chia Sabz has 6m of Neolithic contexts and based on the excavation we suggest that stone structures are one of the main characteristics of this open Neolithic site. Two burials in crouched position with burial goods such as a necklace made of perforated land snail shells, were discovered at site. The other important artifacts are: stone vessels, mortar, bedrock mortar, ground stone, pounder, pestle, bone awl and pendants all recorded as special finds. The excavation results of East Chia Sabz permit us to have a new view about the neolithisation process in the west of Iran.
hfazelin@ut.ac.ir hojjatdarabi@gmail.com
Animals and people in the neolithisation of Iran
Dr Hasan Fazeli (Institute of Archaeology, University of Tehran, Iran) and Dr Ruth Young (Leicester University)
Recent fieldwork in Iran has produced a number of small animal bone assemblages, which have been recorded and subjected to preliminary analyses. There are many difficulties understanding small data assemblages, and in an attempt to overcome some of these difficulties and learn more about human-animal relationships during the Neolithic, a wider consideration of published animal bone analyses has also been carried out. These are reports on excavations from a range of different environmental settings right across Iran, and from a range of different types of sites. While there are also difficulties with the presentation and analysis of the bone assemblages from some of these reports, when considered together they provide an interesting overview of the changing roles of animals in the Neolithic. Synthesising published reports also offers a broad context against which we can consider the more recent material, and allows us to look for common trends and major contrasts. It is clear that site environment has little impact on the range of domesticates exploited, or the proportions of key species such as sheep, goat and cattle. What appears to have greater impact on animal bone assemblages is the type of site –whether domestic, seasonal or temporary and so forth –and this in turn reinforces the need to explore animal bone assemblages in conjunction with a full range of material culture from any site.
rly3@leicester.ac.uk
hfazelin@ut.ac.ir
Tell-e Atashi, a Pre-Pottery Neolithic B site in southeastern Iran and a revision to the Near Eastern neolithisation process
Dr Omran Garazhian (Department of Archaeology, Bu Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran)
Archaeologists studying the Neolithic have for long regarded the Fertile Crescent as the origin of Early Neolithic societies, where well-known sites such as Jericho, Çatalhöyük, Abu Hureyra, Aşıklıhöyük, HallanÇemi, Çayönü, Jarmo, Ganj Dareh and Asiab were excavated from the 1950s onwards. For Iran, James Mellaart in 1975 identified three regions relevant to the Early Neolithic: Azerbaijan, the Zagros and Khuzistan. Meanwhile, in southeastern Iran, Neolithic studies, notably the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, were overshadowed by well-known Chalcolithic and Bronze Age sites such as Shahr-i Sukhteh, Tepe Yahya, Tall-i Iblis and Bampour.
The assumption was that the Neolithic Revolution occurred in the highlands of the Fertile Crescent where pleasant conditions were provided by the Early Holocene climate for the domestication of animals and plants. It is therefore very significant that a Pre-Pottery Neolithic site has been identified in southeastern Iran, far from the edge of Fertile Crescent. An archaeological project is currently being conducted in Darestan, in the district of Bam in East Kerman province, southeastern Iran. Darestan lies in a desert area located on the western borders of the southern Lut desert.
Tell-e Atashi is the largest recognised Pre-Pottery Neolithic B site in Darestan, and it was targeted by sampling and stratigraphic sounding in summer 2008. The systematic sampling, which was conducted at Atashi and its adjoining area, covers c. 12 hectares. The sampled area represents about 5% of the extent of the site and comprised 723 2x2m squares. The test trenches show that cultural sediments survive to a height of about 6m from the surface down to virgin soil and consist mostly of architectural structures. The stratified deposits excavated so far represent 11 architectural phases, grouped into Period 1. At the macro scale, site visits and surveys led to recognition of ten Neolithic sites in the vicinity of Tell- e Atashi.
The Neolithic sites in northeast Iran (Khorasan)
Dr Omran Garazhian and Dr Liela Papoli Yazdi (Department of Archaeology, Bu Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran)
The northeast of Iran consists of a mountainous region located between the two desert areas of Iran and Central Asia. The natural landscape of the region includes three parallel ranges. The northeast of Iran reaches to the eastern and central Iranian desert from the south and the west, and to the east Alborz range from the north. It is surrounded by Kopet Dagh in the northern parts. The region is similar to the Zagros rather than the Alborz geologically.
This region is unknown from the Neolithic research point of view. Jeitun settlement is located in the northeast part of Iran and the southwest of Turkmenistan. Furthermore, Sang-e Chakhmaq and some Neolithic settlements of the southern Alborz slopes are introduced. These sites are located on the west and northwest parts of the study area, while the Gorgan plain is located in the northwest. Neolithic settlements are reported from all surroundings of the study area except the south and southwest parts which are not surveyed yet.
This paper is based on the researches, excavations and surveys conducted in the past 15 years on the Neolithic settlements of northeast Iran. The chronological base and Neolithic data indicators introduced in the article come from Qaleh Khan, excavated by the authors. Furthermore, more Neolithic sites recognized in surveys are introduced in the article: one in Jajarm, three on the Mashhad plain and one in Neyshabour. Generally, the settlement pattern of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic settlements, their landscape, and the stratigraphic data will be discussed.
The Central Zagros Archaeological Project (CZAP): cult and sedentism in the neolithisation of central west Iran
Prof. Roger Matthews (University College London), Dr Yaghob Mohamadifar (Department of Archaeology, Bu Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran), Dr Wendy Matthews (Reading University)
A team from Iran and UK excavated in summer 2008 at two sites in the Central Zagros mountains of western Iran. The region is one of the key areas in which wild plants and animals, which were later domesticated, occurred naturally. Over a period of several thousand years, people started to settle down in permanent villages, living in houses built of clay slabs and mud-bricks. They began to cultivate certain plants intensively, and they domesticated the wild animals that existed in the mountains and plains around them, including goat.
In 2008 a team excavated at Tappeh Sheikh-e Abad, Kermanshah province. The site is one of the largest of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period in the region, and can be dated to around 10,000-9,000 years old. A short spell of investigations also took place at the site of Tappeh Jani near Eslam Abad-e Gharb, of similar date.
At Sheikh-e Abad, one building has 14 rooms with intact floors, as well as extensive ash deposits in a courtyard. The other building consists of a T-shaped room surrounded by large walls, 80cm thick. At the south end of the room we excavated an extraordinary range of items that suggest the room was a sacred space or shrine. The deposit included four pairs of horns attached to the front part of skulls of large wild goats and one skull of wild sheep, some decorated with red ochre paint. This is important because excavations at nearby Ganj Dareh in the 1970s recovered the earliest evidence for domestic goat, dated to 9,500 years ago. We suggest that the Sheikh-e Abad shrine can be seen as evidence for cult activities taking place at the time when wild goat were being domesticated about 10,000 years ago.
As to diet, many wild legumes, including lentils, are present, and also almond shells. There is a wide range of wild plants, including grasses and reeds from both dry and wet environments, and many charred wood fragments. Cereals are absent or very rare. The most abundant animals are goat and sheep, including large wild goat. Large and small deer and gazelle were hunted, and hare/rabbit and fox are also present. Birds, fish and tortoise further indicate exploitation of a range of habitats.
The project sheds new light on the significance of sedentism and cult to human communities following what appear to be purely hunter-gatherer lifestyles, at the start of the neolithisation process in central west Iran. In this light, the emphasis is more on social and cultic factors, rather than those of environment and subsistence that have been traditionally to the fore in studying this major episode of socio-cultural transformation.
roger.matthews@ucl.ac.uk
yamohamadi@yahoo.com
Regional variation in the neolithisation of the Zagros region
Dr Wendy Matthews (Reading University)
The adoption of sedentary settlement and domestication of plants and animals has transformed human-environment inter-relationships and life-styles. Although ultimately generally global in extent and evolutionary in nature, the diversity and non-linearity of options at the scale of local environments, communities and life-cycles is of central importance to understanding processes of neolithisation.
The Zagros is a key region for study of the development and spread of Neolithic ecological and social strategies as it is one of the core heartlands of wild varieties of plants and animals selected for domestication and it hosts several of the major route-ways in the Ancient Near East. Research in the Zagros has also been seminal in development of approaches and theories in the study of the origins of agriculture and sedentism.
This paper reviews the nature of Neolithic economy and society in the Zagros in the light of recent fieldwork and theoretical debates in this and other regions of the Ancient Near East. In particular it examines regional variation in: environment and ecological strategies; the development of early sedentism, communities and routinised practices; evidence for the role of 'ritual'; and networks of contact in the Zagros mountains and fertile inter-montaine valleys.
Lithic industries of Tell-e Atashi, a Neolithic (PPN) site in south-eastern Iran
Ms Marym Shakooie (Institute of Archaeology, University of Tehran)
Chipped stone tools and debitage represent the most abundant form of artefact found on prehistoric sites. In many areas of the world they represent the only form of remains that have withstood the inroads of environment and human perturbation, such as erosion, decay, and landscape development. Because of this, lithic artifacts represent one of the most important clues to understanding prehistoric lifestyles and subsistence.
Tell-e Atashi is a major site in Neolithic Darestan, located in the district of Bam in east Kerman province, south-eastern Iran. Systematic sampling was conducted at Tell-e Atashi in the central part and surrounding area. Some parts of the surroundings have been disturbed by farmers, which will not be discussed in this paper. The sampled area is ca. 5% of the whole extent of the site and comprised 723 2×2m squares. Stratigraphic soundings were also excavated on the highest part of the site. In the first season approximately 2.8m of the layers were excavated and recorded. The stratified deposits excavated so far represent 11 architectural phases, grouped into Period 1, which comprises floor levels in an uninterrupted sequence belonging to the same period.
As there is no any report or evidence of PPN chipped stone from SE Iran, in this paper I will try to describe them exactly to define a new data base for this region. I will not compare them with the other region such as Zagros or Levant because there is no chronological evidence of Tell-e Atashi and also we did not have any laboratory evidence. Therefore this study will be limited to the Tell-e Atashi. lithic artifacts obtained from the sampling and the stratigraphic soundings will be considered in this paper.
Proto-Neolithic caves in the Bolaghi valley, southern Zagros
Akira Tsuneki (Department of History and Anthropology, University of Tsukuba, Japan)
The Iran-Japan archaeological mission excavated two prehistoric caves (Eshkaft-e Haji Bahrami = TB75 and TB130) in the Bolaghi Valley, the Sivand Dam salvage area in Fars Province, in 2005 and 2006. The most remarkable result was the discovery of a cultural sequence from the Epi-Palaeolithic to the Proto-Neolithic. This discovery revealed evidence of occupation that holds the key to the problem of neolithisation in the southern Zagros. We divided the cultural deposits into five phases based on typology of the lithic assemblages. Phase 1 is dated to the Zarzian, Phase 2 to the Late Zarzian, Phases 3 and 4 to the so-called Proto-Neolithic, particularly to a period subsequent to M'lefaat and Karim Shahir in western Zagros. Phase 5 can be dated to the late Proto-Neolithic, contemporary with the Aceramic Jarmo. A series of eighteen radiocarbon dates were obtained from charcoal samples from these five phases. We have no evidence of farming, such as sickle elements or domesticated plants, either in the Epi-Palaeolithic or in the Proto-Neolithic phases. Faunal remains indicate that medium sized quadrupeds, such as gazelle, goats and sheep were the most important subsistence game throughout the phases. However, it is notable that the proportion of goats and sheep in the faunal assemblage increases drastically from 17% in the Epi-Palaeolithic phases to 46% in the Proto-Neolithic ones. Size seems to indicate that the goats utilized in the Proto-Neolithic were from wild species, but such an emphasis on goat and sheep utilization indicates a tendency towards domestication. Only further investigation will resolve this problem, but we must notice that goat and sheep became much more important for people's subsistence during the Proto-Neolithic period in the southern Zagros. This evidence provides a new plan for the neolithisation of this region.
tsunebo@sakura.cc.tsukuba.ac.jp
Rehabilitating the Zagros: Reclaiming the Role of the Eastern Fertile Crescent in Near Eastern Agricultural Origins
Dr Melinda A. Zeder (National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, USA)
Excavations in the Zagros in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s produced a large corpus on animal remains with direct bearing on initial sheep and goat domestication. Using a variety of newly developed methods for detecting animal domestication researchers proposed different scenarios that placed initial domestication of these keystone species at widely different times and places within this region. Since these early expeditions and associated archaeozoological studies, major focus on Near Eastern plant and animal domestication has shifted to the western arm of the Fertile Crescent, especially on the southern and northern Levant. With the proliferation of new data studied with new techniques from these regions, the Zagros has been relegated to backwater status, a recipient region where domestic plants and animals and agricultural economies arrived late and were somewhat passively adopted. A reanalysis of the curated collections of animal remains from these early expeditions using new techniques for detecting and dating initial animal domestication, as well as exciting new genetic data on goat domestication, is rehabilitating the Zagros as a major player in Near Eastern agricultural origins and helping reshape our general understanding of this process as it unfolded across the Fertile Crescent.