A Study on the Late Iron Age pottery in northwestern Iran, based on a typical pottery called "Triangle Ware"

The matter of the pottery tradition so-called "Triangular Ware" of the late Iron Age and its dating, despite numerous re-examinations and revision by the scholars, still has some ambiguities and inconsistencies. This causes an incongruity of dating the Iron Age sites of this region. This paper presents a new insight into the Iron Age Triangle Ware of the region and reviews all aspects of this pottery tradition. The main question is in which periods and how long this pottery tradition was common in Northwestern Iran and what is the position of this special ware among the pottery assemblages of the late Iron Age in this region? Based on the typology of the Triangle Ware found at the sites of Hasanlu, Ziwiyeh and Bukan area, we found out that these potteries belong to some diagnostic types of wares in consecutive historical periods from the late 7th to the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. The beginning and the end of this date corresponds to the time span attributed to 350 years erosion deposits of Hasanlu IIIa, indicating the presence of three pottery styles in this layer. The final results of the study are proposed as follows: First, the Classic Triangle pottery (Mannaean pottery) which was common in the southern part of the Lake Urmia basin dates back to the late 7th and early 6th century BC. Second, Yellow-Brown-Orange Pottery in Median-Early-Achaemenid period, and at the same time, the monochrome and bichrome "Triangle-Festoon Ware" that is introduced as a latest kind of the Triangle Ware, are traced back to Late Median and Early to Middle-Achaemenid period in Western Iran. Third, Western Triangle Ware (non-Classic Triangle Ware), is prevailing in the mid-late Achaemenid period, and lasts until 275 BC. Identifying this pottery with the Classic Triangle-Festoon Ware in the Western Iran shows an overlap between them in the early 5th century BC.