International Journal of the Society of Iranian Archaeologists
Volume:1 Issue: 2, Summer-Autumn 2015

Drawing upon a variety of geographical, historical, and ethnographic observations, and using a number of variables including the degree of mobility, division of labor, and social organization, this paper defines a series of strategies for pre-modern pastoralism and then proceeds to detect the markers for these strategies using recent developments in the fields of archaezoology, archaeobiology, archaeochemistry, archeobotany, spatial analyses and settlement pattern studies.

The study of circumstances surrounding the development of record-keeping for information purposes, and of what these records looked like in prehistoric human societies has always been of significance in archaeological research. Such research is important because it relates to the beginnings of the use of accounting which came to be one of the main elements of institutionalized management and bureaucracies under urbanization and in historical periods. Tepe Zāgheh is one of the key sites during the transitional period from Neolithic to Chalcolithic period in the Qazvin Plain, having provided a considerable collection of tokens (counting objects) in addition to various other pieces of the archaeological evidence discovered in the excavations carried out there. Thus 238 Zāgheh tokens were available for typological study and theoretical analysis. The principal goals of this paper are to re-identify accounting and reckoning systems at Tepe Zāgheh and to identify the evolutionary stages of these systems in Zāgheh. It is apparent from implemented studies that Zāgheh society had an early form of accounting system for keeping track of farming products and of animal counts, and that tokens were the principal devices used in this process.

In 1982 an elite burial was discovered in Arjan, near modern Behbahan. The presence inside the bronze coffin of cotton textiles and gold bracteates suggesting the use of garments dated to the waning years of the Elamite Empire. The main purpose of this study is to examine the implications of this discovery for the history of garments and, most particularly, to offer a new historical understanding regarding the origins of cotton and its introduction into the Near East.

The southern Urmia lake basin, particularly the basin of Zarrine Rud, has been occupied by various human groups since prehistoric period and later, thanks to abundant sources of water, fertile soil, rich pasturelands and variety of animals and plants. In the first millennium BCE, this region witnessed the formation of the Kingdom of Mannea, which had an important role in cultural and political course of the region. Despite the importance and pivotal role of Zarrine Rud basin in the hypothetical realm of Mannea, unfortunately no sufficient research and scientific excavation has been done in this area and it has remained little-known. One of the sites in this region is the Jowšātū fort which is of great importance because of its strategic location, the size and structure of extraordinary and unique architecture. Architectural remnants of the Jowšātū fort include a great defensive wall on the east side, less important stone walls, and mudbrick walls with the rubble foundation on the other sides Regarding the collected potsherds and architectural characters, it is suggested to date back to the early Iron Age III. Yet, the architectural evidence indicates the possibility of two construction periods. The first is related to the construction of huge stone wall which remained unfinished due to political or military reasons. In terms of construction, there is no similar building with circular tower in the area.

Fārsān is a county in the Chāhār Mahāl va Bakhtiyāri Province, located in the Central Zagros region, where fairly high mountains with several peaks reaching a height over 3000 meters overlook a natural landscape consisting of a relatively small plain and multiple ravines that disperse away. Archaeologically, the plain is among the least-known areas on the Iranian Plateau. An archaeological survey program was carried out in the area in 2007 by the author. This survey identified and recorded a large number of prehistoric sites of which 28 could be dated to the Chalcolithic Period. Not surprisingly, given the natural setting of the region, surface scatters without significant height account for a major proportion of the identified sites. Based on the morphology and observations of the modern regional nomadic tribes as well as the scarcity of surface finds, the recorded sites are of temporary encampment nature. In the surface assemblage from Fārsān, the Early, Middle and Late Chalcolithic phases are represented, though the material from the Middle phase predominates. Thus, the majority of the sites may belong to this phase. In the Early Chalcolithic Period, we are faced with fewer sites, while the Late phase shows a decreasing trend in terms of site distribution compared to the Middle Chalcolithic Period. The Chalcolithic pottery reveals very close relations with contemporary material from Fars (Bakun A and B), Khuzestan (Middle and Late Susiana) and to some extent from the Iranian Plateau. However, the closest parallels can be found in the prehistoric cultures of Fars. Extensive cross-regional interactions appear to have prevailed between Fārsān and Susiana plain and Fars in the period under discussion. Increased intra and inter-regional contacts in effect characterize the Chalcolithic Period. Though also being the case in the preceding periods, the trend towards increased contact significantly augmented in this period as the large body of available evidence suggests. The Chalcolithic sherds collected during the present survey find close parallels among the related assemblages from sites in Susiana and Fars.

Ancient economy has commonly been studied in the context of commerce and trade, less attention being paid to the production side of the economy. Additionally, artificial periodizations based on political change, including the division of Near Eastern history to the pre-Islam and Islamic periods, has prevented historians from considering issues such as economic growth in the long term. The present paper, focusing on the production side of the Sasanian economy, tries to establish certain principles and introduce possible criteria to study the economic history of the Sasanians. Regions of Khuzistan and Tokharistan/Bactria provide useful examples and comparisons for illustrating some of the points.

Sassanian artists were realistic in creating memorial artworks, but their artistic style did not necessarily result in exact depiction of figures with accurate facial representations. In contrast, such realism manifests itself only through determined appearances and unchangeable artistic conventions. Doing so, identifying people is only possible by recognizing their distinct crowns, headbands, attire, specific signs, position in queues, their posture and overall representation in the figure. Based on semiological analyses, in this paper, it has been argued that Pāpak, a member of the famous clan of Qāren was “Bidaxš” and that vice-regent of Bahram II, Bahram III, Nerseh and Hormizd II. Contrary to some scholars’ argument concerning the resemblance between the symbols of Bidaxš and those of the Qāren clan, a close comparison shows a significant dissimilarity between the two. While the symbol of the clan of Qāren is a blossoming bud on a horizontal line, the symbol of Bidaxš is a bud surrounded by two leaves. That is not portrayed on a horizontal line. The relief of Hormizd II at Naqsh-e Rustam is perhaps the best example in this case, which clearly demonstrates the difference between the two symbols. At Naqsh-e Rustam, both symbols are depicted on the helmet of Hormizd II’s defeated enemy. The nobility of “Bidaxš Pāpak,” therefore, refutes the stereotype idea among some scholars who argue that the rank of Bidaxš was only restricted to the royal family.