نشریه باستان شناسی
سال سوم شماره 2 (تابستان 1398)

Research on the chronology of Fars began with Louis Vanden Berghe’s work in the early 1950s. As archaeological work progressed, several gaps appeared in the cultural development of this region. One of the gaps in the chronology is the transition between the Taimurān A phase and the Achaemenid period, spanning approximately 300 years from 900 to 600 BCE. Any effort to document this chronological gap is important because it coincides with the arrival of early Persian communities in Fars. It has been hypothesised that these early Persian communities were nomads and thus finding their settlements is not an easy task. However, recent excavations at the archaeological site of Qasrdasht, near Pasargadae in Kamin Plain, recovered six meters of archaeological deposits in two excavated areas, including a large corpus of pottery and well-defined architecture. This is a clear evidence for a settled community predating the emergence of the Achaemenid dynasty in Fars. In this paper, we present twenty-three absolute dates, including five radiocarbon dates obtained from animal bone and charcoal samples and sixteen thermoluminescence dates obtained from diagnostic pottery sherds. The results are then critically discussed. The radiocarbon dates from bone and charcoal show discrepancies with the expected cultural period as a result of contamination of the earliest material in the excavated area. On the other hand, absolute dates obtained through thermoluminescence from some of the pottery sherds, with diagnostic typological criteria, contribute to filling the archaeological gap between the Taimurān A phase and the Achaemenid period.

One of the most ancient visual representations created by humans is the rock-art. It seems that the surface of rocks was the very first canvass selected by humans to express their artistic creations. The earliest examples of rock art date to the late Pleistocene period, but it seems that it was in Holocene period that rock art developed and expanded. This can partially be attributed to environmental changes that opened up a new mode of settlement before humans, moving out of caves into the open air over the natural landscape. In this paper we offer an overview of the rock art and rock art studies, especially a brief history of research, methodology of the study and documentation of the rock at, as well as perspectives for future research.

The valley to the north of Hezar Masjed-Kopet Dagh mountains serve as the northern barriers of the Iranian Plateau, witnessing over the millennia many conflicts between the nomadic people of Central Asia and the settled people of the Iranian Plateau. The Hezar Masjed-Kopet Dagh  heights is tantamount to a wall to the north of Khorasan, protecting the people of Khorasan from invading northern hoards. However, mountain passes provided a passage that allowed the steppe-dwelling nomads penetrate and plunder the fertle, irrigated farms in the southern foothills of mountain range. It was along these passes that the people of Khorasan built defensive fortifications. Kalat-e Naderi and Mozdooran are two highland forts that guarded these passages.  In Autumn 2016, a joint Iranian-British team surveyed and recorded a major section of these fortifications. Combining the information from historical sources with archaeological finds, as well as dating of the remains indicate that building defensive structures has been going on in this region for a long time. While we can extract some information from Pahlavi sources and the 19th century photographs point to pre-Islamic constructions, the results of archaeological work point to post-Afsharid period.

The  Chehel-Chay River Basin, Minoudast, located to the east of Gorgan Plain, was according to historical sources and archaeological data, a strategic thoroughway during the historical, especially the Parthian period. Systematic archaeological surveys aimed at discerning the distribution pattern of the Parthian period, lead to the discovery of 110 sites, of which 80 date to the Parthian period. Using a landscape archaeology approach we explored the relationship between the environmental conditions and site distribution, especially the role environmental patterns played in site locations. Accordingly we used GIS softwares to carry out cluster analyses on the sites. The outcome suggested that the river, its surrounding heights and the communication routes were among the important factors in site distribution. Within the long intermountain valleys site distribution shows a lines pattern along the rivers whereas in the plains sites, are distributed with short distance between them clustered around a single large town.

Chāh-e Dād Khodā in one of the two counties in the Qaleh Ganj district in the southern end of the Kerman province at the juncture of the latter province with provinces of Hormozgan and Sistan and Baluchistan.  The first season of archaeological survey aimed at supplementing the Archaeological Atlas of Iran and documenting the periodization of the region was carried out in . In addition to the latter goals, the present research explored the questions of regional and interregional contacts and interactions with its surrounding regions. During survey 3 paleolithic, 2 fifth millennium, 10 fourth millennium, 27 third millennium, 29 historical period, 3 Islamic period, and 2 recent sites were discovered and recorded. In the present paper , we have divided the sites into eight categories based on their morphology. The Initial analyses of the survey results one can reach a number of conclusions, especially the role the large Bronze Age (Fourth and Third millennia BCE) sites played in serving as a bridge between the Jazmuriyan cultural zone  and the Persian Gulf hinterlands.

The seventh season of archaeological excavations at the Islamic city of Belqeys in North Khorasan province in April-May 2015 concentrated on the citadel and the lower town was aimed at clearing up some ambiguities in quarters exposed in previous seasons of excavations, especially unearthing the remaining part of a columned structure exposed before. Not only we reached a better understanding of the structure and function of some spaces within the citadel, we also cleared parts of the architecture thus discerning the function and chronology of the Tappeh Minar area.

The open air Paleolithic site of Mirak belongs to the late Pleistocene and located at the northern edge of the Iranian Central Desert. This site is currently situated at an arid plain in the southern part of modern city of Semnan and had witnessed repeated human occupations during the MIS3. Rapid climate change (through millennia and centuries) is one of the main aspect of this site, which had caused severe changes in the landscape. Sedimentological data indicates repeated climate fluctuations in the area leaving diagnostic layers of fluvial and alluvial sediments. Consequently, a shift in fauna and flora of the region has been inevitable. On the other hand, the last glacial cycle has had global effect, which had affected the Iranian central plateau in the form of formation of dispersed landscapes. Therefore, the northern edge of the Iranian Central Desert had been a barrier or corridor for human populations from time to time. Ecological patterns in such circumstances imply that the best approach to deal with such climatic condition was to adapt high mobility strategies. It seems data derived from analysis of lithics from Mirak is in support of such claim.

In the previous issue of this journal a paper appeared by Benjamin Mutin and Omran Garazhian. This paper propounds to be the result of two seasons of field research by the Joint Iranian-French Archaeological Expedition to Bam. Alas it contains a number of inexcusable errors some of which we will try to address here, especially the ones dealing with ignoring research ethics by neglecting previous research or using them without citation. Work, including archaeological fieldwork, began at Bam shortly after the devastating 2004 earthquake. Over the course of the past 15 years, many archaeological teams have worked at Bam, including one by the two of us on "Archaeological Landscape of Bam." These teams have produced many reports all of which are available at the Bam Research Base. Alas, Mutin and Garazhian have used these reports with acknowledging the source or proper citation. In some cases even the results of another team has been presented as their own finding. Additionally, Mutin and Garazhian claim to have discovered "over 250 sites" (p. 93) some of which are located in Dārestān and Bidarān. In fact several large sites are located in these two regions many of which have been disjointed over time due to erosion or other natural factors. Thus, the discovery of 160 Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites, as Mutin and Garazhian claim is clearly an exaggeration or error on their part.Last, but not least, for a team whose focused on the prehistory of the area, not ignoring some key areas including the immediate vicinity of the Arg-e Bam and the areas to its east and west is questionable.