Burnished War, the Diagnostic Pottery of the Parthian Period of Sistan, Iran

Pottery is the most important and abundant cultural material of the archeological sites enjoying enormous importance; as large numbers of historical chronologies are based on potteries and its typological comparisons. As such، in terms of structural properties، the pottery identification of each period and region is one of the fundamental aspects of archeological studies. The historical pottery unlike prehistoric one has noticeable decrease in decoration meanwhile the other decorations techniques such as slipping were not common (Regardless of the Sassanid dynasty glazed pottery، quantities are negligible) and these potteries has special complexity as we need more broad studies to be done on the various regions. Regarding to the presence of local styles during the Parthian period as a longest period of the ancient Iranian kingdoms، the potteries have special importance; in other words، diverse pottery types in different regions are indicator of a particular style and advancement of the given period. One of the specific Parthian pottery samples of Sistan region is burnished pottery which has special quality and elegance and is rarely known from other Iranian parts. This pottery type has desirable quality both in its manufacturing phase and the firing process. The Parthian burnished wares are the most elegant and luxurious in the east، especially in Sistan rarely noticed by apart researches. Regarding to the importance of Sistan burnished ware in archeology of the region and its role in the chronology of the Parthian era، this article is trying to study this particular type of pottery of Sistan، its formation process and time-domain spreading، transition and its impact on neighboring areas. Here، the authors are trying to review the studies on the Parthian era Sistan burnished ware apart from complete introduction of this pottery type، to focus on its regional dispersion. The Sistan burnished wares are enjoying much desirable condition in terms of their quality. Most of them are wheel-made with suitable firing and the fabric compaction is high as there is no visible porosity. Burnished designs often applied with horizontal lines on both sides of potteries whose place depends on its function; burnished lines with irregular vertical، irregular horizontal، mixed or zigzag lines as well as in geometrical forms were applied. The potters have applied these decorations on variety of pottery types and forms، such as pitcher، cup and bowl. All given types have burnished both sides of bowls which is mainly cross and regular lines. Although pottery cannot be the only indicator of social hierarchy in a region، but the existence of Burnished ware on the most important sites of Sistan area could shed light on this truth that this type of pottery have produced by experts at the most important sites of Sistan having luxury aspects. Typological comparisons were also found that this type of pottery in the central and western areas of Afghanistan during the Kvshanyan mandatory has been very common.