Stratified Sequence and Relative Chronology at Toll-e Gap Kenareh, Marvdasht plain, Iran

The ancient site of Toll-e Gap Kenareh is located 5 Km south-west of Persepolis and approximately 3 Km north-east of the city of Marvdasht, in the Kur River Basin. The first season of excavations at Toll-e Gap was carried out between September and October 2012, with the aim to identify the stratified cultural sequence of the site and to obtain relative and absolute dating for the 3rd millennium BCE in Fars. Two trenches (A and B) were excavated during this season of excavations on the eastern and western sides of the site, reaching the virgin soil at a depth of 5.3 m. On the basis of the recovered potsherds and by virtue of their comparison with other sites in the Kur River Basin, it can be inferred that the chronological sequence found in Toll-e Gap Kenareh displays early Islamic, Sasanian, early Kaftari, transitional Banesh / Kaftari and Banesh (early, middle, and late?) periods. Therefore, Toll-e Gap Kenareh opens new horizons in the archaeology of Fars during the 3rd millennium BCE, above all as far as the transition between the well-known Banesh and Kaftari periods is concerned.