Absolute (C14 AMS) and Relative Chronologies of the Little Zab River Basin’s Bronze Age Cultures; The Genesis of Cultural Identity against the Backdrop of the Late Chalcolithic Developments Iran by Micro-PIXE

Accounting for only a rather limited part of northwestern Iran, the Zab basin has historically assumed a prominent, strategic role as a bridge between Mesopotamia and the Lake Urmia Basin. The Zab region has not received due scholarly attention notwithstanding its great importance to the Early Bronze Age (EBA) research, in particular the regional developments characterizing the Late Chalcolithic-Early Bronze transition. As a crossroads, northwest Iran links Mesopotamia to Caucasia on the one hand and the regions to the north to the central Iranian plateau on the other, hence its important place in archaeology of Iran and the broader Middle East. Meanwhile, the Zab basin as the home for the major lines of communication linking southern Mesopotamia to the Urmia Lake basin and thence the mineral rich region of Caucasia is of great importance. Thus, an inquiry into local cultural developments, viz. the spread of cultural contacts in the ancient Near East, at the onset of the Bronze Age, is vital.