Explanation and Analysis of Bronze Pottery Making in Khorassan Case Study: Shahrak-e Firouze Site in the Neyshabur Plain

The study of pottery production and organization in the Bronze Age helps us to know the cultural and technical characteristics. Knowing this issue is done by relying on production technology and recognizing the traditions used in pottery production, as well as by examining the possibility of exchange or trade and internal and external regional actions.  Accordingly, it is necessary to know about the explanation and analysis of the Bronze Age pottery-making in the prehistoric settlement, especially in the Bronze Age. In Khorasan, we don’t have enough archaeological pieces of information about the Bronze Age and this area consists of many plains such as Neyshabur plain that this plain is one of the most important. The location and suitable environment of Neyshabur plain are the most important reasons for the development of human societies. The basis of this research is the construction of furnaces, production techniques, topology, and distribution of pottery pieces, which have been obtained during the 5 seasons of Shahrak-e Firouze archaeological excavations. Based on this, the process of producing pottery has been done outside the residential zone and has been formed centrally, such as large-scale industrial centers on the outskirts or adjacent to the settlement. Their production technology has also been selected and designed with the aim of mass production. The forms are simple and varied and are dated in a comparative approach in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, while in their development, the influences of the Bactria Margiana Archaeological complex (Oxus Civilization) are seen as the most important known culture of Central Asia in the Bronze Age. The similarities between the pottery traditions and, in a way, the specialized pottery production organization between the Neyshabour plain and Central Asia show similar traditions on a trans-regional scale. The results of this study show that the pottery making of Neyshabour in the Bronze Age has been associated with Central Asia more than the interior of the Iranian plate.