Investigation and Study of Pottery Discovered from the First Season Archaeological Excavations at Zel Hathijan, Delijan Cave, Iran

Zel Hastijan Cave, in the city of Delijan, is considered one of the most important sites in archaeological studies between the central plateaus and the western part of the country, and was excavated in 2023. During one season of excavation in this ancient cave, unique cultural monuments such as manuscript leather, a Bullae, textile, wooden tools, and pottery were obtained. Due to the significance of pottery and its role in archaeological studies, this cultural material was studied in this paper. For this research, 78 significant pieces of pottery from the Sasanian era, out of 1389 pieces of pottery obtained from the excavation, were selected for study. At first, these potteries were classified and typified based on technical specifications and shape. This research has a fundamental quiddity with a descriptive-analytical approach and the procedure method of this research is library and field studies (pottery). The main purpose of this article is the quantitative and qualitative study of Sasanian pottery in Zel cave. The results of the research showed that these potteries belong to the late Sasanian period and the early Islamic period, and among the shapes identified among the pottery of Zel cave, in the order of abundance, they include jars, pots, bowls, skillet, plates, and trays, and the most common motifs. The decoration of the pottery is carved patterns. Most of the pottery has proper firing (although some of them have improper firing) and this shows the temperature control of the kiln for firing pottery. In general, the results of the typological comparisons and comparative chronology of the pottery samples of Zel cave hill clearly show the similarity of these samples have with the pottery of its neighboring and extra-regional areas; In such a way that the greatest cultural similarity have with the regions of western Iran and northwestern Iran.