Late Chalcolithic Subsistence Patterns in Northwest Iran as Seen from Tepe Gird-i Ashoan, Little Zab Basin

The archaeological site of Tepe Gird-i Ashoan in the Little Zab basin of Piranshahr County was excavated in two consecutive seasons. The work yielded remarkable information about the regional cultural traditions in the Late Chalcolithic period. The recovered material culture indicates the presence of the chaff-faced/Pisdeli pottery tradition, and the relative chronology evinces that the strongest interactions were with Caucasia, Anatolia and Mesopotamia. Notwithstanding the fairly extensive archaeological work in northwest Iran, the Zab basin remains almost totally neglected as regards botanical and zoological studies. The present study explored the biological evidence from the site and attempts a reconstruction of the subsistence patterns prevailing in the Late Chalcolithic northwest Iran in light of the evidence from Gird-i Ashoan. To gain an insight into the regional societies in the 4th and 5th millennium BC, the subsistence patterns of the inhabitants of the Little Zab basin was examined. In effect, recovery of an abundance of ash deposits alongside other burned materials at Gird-i Ashoan permits such interdisciplinary enquiries as archaeobotany and Zooarchaeology. Drawing on excavations as well as botanical and osteological analyses, the present study attempted to explain the local subsistence patterns through a descriptive-analytical approach. Thus, the two major topics addressed here were the subsistence patterns adopted by the mid/late Chalcolithic populations of Gird-i Ashoan, and the animal species represented in the excavated assemblages. Animal husbandry seemingly constituted the major component in the local subsistence system and surpassed agriculture judging from the fact that the faunal evidence outnumbers the floral remains. Therefore, the results of the study pointed to a mixed agro-pastoral subsistence pattern, and attested to the cultivation of bread wheat and barley, indicating that agriculture also played in part in the local economy.