The Proto-Elamite Settlement and its Neighbors: Tepe Yahya Period IVC.

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To cite this version:

Benjamin Mutin, C Lamberg-Karlovsky. The Proto-Elamite Settlement and its Neighbors: Tepe Yahya Period IVC.. Oxbow books, 2013. �hal-02429709�

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T ^HE P ^ROTO -E ^LAMITE S ^{ET TLEMENT}

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Tepe Yahya Period IVC

Benjamin Mutin C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky

General Editor and Project Director

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Tepe Yahya Period IVC Benjamin Mutin

C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky

General Editor and Project Director

The site of Tepe Yahya in southeastern Iran is famous, among other important aspects, for the Proto-Elamite complex dated to around 3000 BC (Period IVC). The material culture of Period IVC is not exclusively limited to its Proto-Elamite component, but is also character- ized by the presence of elements from other Middle-Asian cultural ceramic traditions.

In addition to a synthesis of the Proto-Elamite period and the material assemblage at Tepe Yahya, The Proto-Elamite Settlement and Its Neighborsprovides an updated review and com- prehensive discussion of the Proto-Elamite sphere, its relations to Mesopotamia, and its eastern Middle Asian neighbors. This innovative book illustrates that the “multi-cultural”

situation at Tepe Yahya Period IVC was present across many sites in Middle Asia and that, in addition to the Proto-Elamite sphere and the cities of Mesopotamia, Middle Asia around 3000 BC was incorporated within an interactive “multi-players” network of polities.

Benjamin Mutin, Author, is a Research Fellow for the American School of Prehistoric Research, Harvard University. He is an archaeologist who specializes in Middle Asian proto-history and who has worked in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan, and Oman. He holds a Ph.D. in Prehistory, Ethnology, Anthropology, from University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.

C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, General Editor, and Project Director for Tepe Yahya, is the Stephen Phillips Professor of Archaeology, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Peabody Museum (Director 1977–1990).

Large cover image: View of the site of Tepe Yahya.

Photo credit: C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky.

Small cover images:

Far left: Glyptic impression from Tepe Yahya.

Center left: Motif design from ceramic from Tepe Yahya (reconstruction).

Center right: Profile of ceramic from Tepe Yahya (reconstruction).

Far right: Ceramic fragment from Tepe Yahya.

Smal cover images credit: Redrawn by Benjamin Mutin.

Cover and interior layout: Benjamin Mutin and Wren Fournier.

American School of Prehistoric Research Publications Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

Oxbow Books oxbowbooks.com

PROTO-ELAMITES Mutin Cover:DL cover draft 21 11/14/13 3:30 PM Page 1

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Tepe Yahya Period IVC

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AMERICAN SCHOOL OFPREHISTORICRESEARCH MONOGRAPH SERIES Series Editors

C. C. LAMBERG-KARLOVSKY, Harvard University DAVID PILBEAM, Harvard University OFER BAR-YOSEF, Harvard University

Editorial Board

STEVEN L. KUHN, University of Arizona, Tucson DANIEL E. LIEBERMAN, Harvard University RICHARD H. MEADOW, Harvard University MARY M. VOIGT, The College of William and Mary HENRY T. WRIGHT, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

The American School of Prehistoric Research (ASPR) Monographs in Archaeology and Paleoanthropology present a series of documents covering a variety of subjects in the archaeology of the Old World (Eurasia, Africa, Australia, and Oceania). This series encompasses a broad range of subjects – from the early prehistory to the Neolithic Revolution in the Old World, and beyond including: hunter-gatherers to complex societies; the rise of agriculture; the emergence of urban societies; human physical morphology, evolution and adaptation, as well as; various technologies such as metallurgy, pottery production, tool making, and shelter construction.

Additionally, the subjects of symbolism, religion, and art will be presented within the context of archaeological studies including mortuary practices and rock art. Volumes may be authored by one investigator, a team of investigators, or may be an edited collection of shorter articles by a number of different specialists working on related topics.

American School of Prehistoric Research, Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA BMCCLKAug262013:Ox template Dec1107 draft 11/14/13 1:17 PM Page ii

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T ^HE P ^ROTO -E ^LAMITE S ^{ET TLEMENT}

AND I ^TS N ^EIGHBORS

Tepe Yahya Period IVC

Benjamin Mutin

General Editor and Project Director C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky

Oxbow Books Oxford and Oakville

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A Publication by the American School of Prehistoric Research.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher.

Mutin, Benjamin.

The proto-elamite settlement and its neighbors : Tepe Yahya, period IVC / Benjamin Mutin ; general editor and project director, C.C. Lamberg-Karlovsky.

pages cm. -- (The American School of Prehistoric Research monograph series) Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-78297-419-2

1. Yahya, Tepe (Iran) 2. Excavations (Archaeology)--Iran. 3. Iran--Antiquities. I. Lamberg- Karlovsky, C. C., 1937- II. American School of Prehistoric Research. III. Title.

DS262.Y3M88 2013 955'.82--dc23

2013036206

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Table of Contents ix

3.11.1 Chronology

3.11.1.1 The gap before Tepe Yahya Period IVC

3.11.1.2 The dating of the ceramic assemblage of Period IVC 3.11.1.3 The end of Tepe Yahya Period IVC and the ceramic

assemblage of Period IVB 3.11.1.4 Chrono-stratigraphy 3.11.2 Culture

3.11.2.1 Southeastern Iranian Plateau 3.11.2.2 Burnished ware

3.11.2.3 Proto-Elamite 3.11.2.4 Nal ware 3.11.3 Function

3.11.3.1 Southeastern Iranian Plateau ceramics 3.11.3.2 Burnished ware

3.11.3.3 Proto-Elamite ceramics 3.11.3.4 Plain ware

3.11.4 Technology

4 The small finds

4.1 Stone vessels 4.1.1 Stone vessels 4.1.1.1 Quantity 4.1.1.2 Description 4.1.1.3 Context 4.1.1.4 Comparisons 4.1.2 Chlorite vessels 4.1.2.1 Quantity 4.1.2.2 Description 4.1.2.3 Context 4.1.2.4 Comparisons

4.2 Stone objects and fragments 4.2.1 Chlorite

4.2.1.1 Bracelet 4.2.1.2 Buttons 4.2.1.3 Disks

4.2.1.4 Incised object 4.2.1.5 Pin

4.2.1.6 Token 4.2.1.7 Whorls

4.2.1.8 Shaft straighteners 4.2.1.9 Beads and pendants

130 130 131 134 137 138 138 138 138 139 139 139 140 140 143 143 145 145 146 146 146 146 147 147 147 148 148 148 149 149 149 149 150 150 150 150 150 150 150

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4.2.2 Stone 4.2.2.1 Balls 4.2.2.2 Cone 4.2.2.3 Disks

4.2.2.4 Drilled and perforated objects 4.2.2.5 Whetstones

4.2.2.6 Axe and hoe (?) 4.2.2.7 Mortar

4.2.2.8 Pestles

4.2.2.9 Beads and pendants 4.2.2.10 Unidentified fragments 4.2.3 Serpentine

4.2.4 Agate 4.2.5 Turquoise 4.2.6 Lapis lazuli 4.2.7 Heulandite 4.2.8 Black stone 4.2.9 Lithic industry 4.2.9.1 Lithic industry

4.2.9.2 Lithic industry on obsidian 4.2.10 Green stone

4.2.11 Quartz

4.2.12 Red ochre, chromite, limnite, and chalk?

4.3 Clay 4.3.1 Balls 4.3.2 Drilled balls 4.3.3 “Slingballs”

4.3.4 Disk 4.3.5 Whorls 4.3.6 Beads

4.3.7 “Comb handles”

4.3.8 Figurines 4.3.9 Miscellanea 4.4 Metal 4.4.1 Copper

4.4.1.1 Pins and needles 4.4.1.2 Disk

4.4.1.3 Nail 4.4.1.4 Spearpoint 4.4.1.5 Spatula

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Table of Contents xi

4.5 Bone 4.6 Shell 4.7 Ivory 4.8 Vegetal 4.9 Synthesis 4.9.1 Chronology

4.9.2 Archaeological context and activities represented 4.9.2.1 Phase IVC2

4.9.2.2 Phase IVC1 4.9.2.3 Phase IVB6

4.9.2.4 Activities represented

4.9.3 Cultural spheres and spheres of activities 4.9.3.1 In the Soghun Valley and the region 4.9.3.2 Beyond

5 The tablets and glyptic art

5.1 The tablets

5.1.1 Inventory and context 5.1.2 Content

5.1.3 Comparisons

5.2 Seals and seal impressions 5.2.1 Inventory and context 5.2.2 Styles and comparisons

6 Radiocarbon dates

7 Distribution of the ceramic traditions:

Settlement on the southeastern Iranian plateau

7.1 The Soghun Valley 7.2 The Daulatabad Plain area 7.3 The Halil Rud Valley

7.4 Southern Kerman and Hormozgan 7.5 Balochistan

7.6 Pakistani Kech-Makran 7.7 Seistan

7.8 The Bardsir Plain and Takab Plain areas 7.9 Synthesis

7.9.1 Aliabad period (Iblis IV/V) 7.9.2 Yahya Period IVC

7.9.3 Third millennium BC

161 161 161 161 162 162 163 163 163 164 164 165 166 166 169 169 169 169 170 170 170 171 173

175 176 177 178 178 179 182 183 183 184 184 185 186

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8 Conclusions and interpretations

8.1 Chronology

8.1.1 The gap before Period IVC 8.1.2 Period IVC

8.1.3 The gap after Period IVC

8.2 Life in the building complex of Period IVC 8.2.1 Food production, by-products, and habitat 8.2.2 Ceramics

8.2.3 Raw materials and small finds 8.2.4 The people

8.3 Tepe Yahya, the Daulatabad Plain, and the Halil Rud Valley 8.4 The Proto-Elamite Polity

8.4.1 Summary of the evidence

8.4.2 Last chapter of the Uruk Expansion?

8.4.3 The Proto-Elamite system 8.4.4 Tepe Yahya

8.5 The Southeastern Neighbors of the Proto-Elamites 8.5.1 Western Balochistan

8.5.2 Kerman 8.5.3 Northern Iran

8.6 A Dynamic Picture of Middle Asia around 3000 BC 8.6.1 Polities and interactions in eastern Middle Asia 8.6.2 A global game of peer polity interactions 8.6.2.1 Relations

8.6.2.2 Competition and Emulation 8.6.2.3 Polities and conflicts 8.7 Period IVB

8.7.1 The decline of the Proto-Elamite 8.7.2 Tepe Yahya Period IVB

Endnotes

List of References Catalogs

Tables and Graphs Figures

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List of Contributors

Benjamin Mutin, Ph.D.

Department of Anthropology, Harvard University,

Peabody Museum, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Ph.D.

Stephen Phillips Professor of Archaeology, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Peabody Museum, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

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0.1 B. Mutin.

1.3 B. Mutin.

1.4 After Amiet 1980:pl. 38, n˚585.

2.1 After Lamberg-Karlovsky and Potts 2001:fig. 3.1, redrawn and modified by B. Mutin.

2.2 After Lamberg-Karlovsky and Potts 2001:fig. 1.1, redrawn and modified by B. Mutin.

3.1, n˚1 Collection of the PMAE, Harvard University, photograph by B. Mutin.

3.2, Upper Collection of the PMAE, Harvard University, photograph by B. Mutin.

3.2, Lower Collection of the PMAE, Harvard University, photograph by B. Mutin.

3.3, n˚1 Collection of the PMAE, Harvard University, drawing by B. Mutin.

3.3, n˚17 After Potts and Lamberg.Karlovsky 2001:fig. 2.19B.

List of Image Credits

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xvi The Proto-Elamite Settlement and Its Neighbors

3.3, n˚19 After Lamberg-Karlovsky and Potts 2001:fig. 2.27E.

3.3, n˚20 After Lamberg-Karlovsky and Potts 2001:fig. 3.14M.

3.4 B. Mutin.

3.6 Collection of the PMAE, Harvard University, photograph by B. Mutin.

3.7, n˚7 After Lamberg-Karlovsky and Potts 2001:fig. 3.14O.

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List of Image Credits xvii

3.8 B. Mutin.

3.10, n˚1 After Lamberg-Karlovsky and Potts 2001:fig. 1.13B.

3.10, n˚6 After Lamberg-Karlovsky and Potts 2001:2.4D.

3.10, n˚7 After Lamberg-Karlovsky and Potts 2001:2.4E.

3.11 Collection of the PMAE, Harvard University, drawing and photograph by B. Mutin.

3.12 Collection of the PMAE, Harvard University, photographs by B. Mutin.

3.13, n˚1 After Lamberg-Karlovsky and Tosi 1973:fig. 104C.

3.13, n˚5 After Lamberg-Karlovsky and Potts 2001:fig. 1.13C.

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xviii The Proto-Elamite Settlement and Its Neighbors

3.14, n˚4 After Lamberg-Karlovsky and Potts 2001:fig. 1.54A.

3.14, n˚6 After Lamberg-Karlovsky and Potts 2001:fig. 1.6F.

3.15 n˚1 Collection of the PMAE, Harvard University, photograph by B. Mutin.

3.15 n˚2 Collection of the PMAE, Harvard University, photograph by B. Mutin.

3.16, n˚7 After Lamberg-Karlovsky 1970:fig. 31A.

3.16, n˚8 After Lamberg-Karlovsky and Potts 2001:fig. 7.9D.

3.17, n˚2 After Lamberg-Karlovsky and Potts 2001:fig. 1.27H.

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List of Image Credits xix

3.25 Collection of the PMAE, Harvard University, drawing by B. Mutin.

3.27 B. Mutin.

3.28, n˚1 After Matthews 1992a:fig. 4:1.

3.28, n˚10 After Pollock 1990:fig. 8.

3.28, n˚11 After Pollock 1990:fig. 8.

3.29, n˚1 After Le Brun 1978:fig. 32:10.

3.30, n˚1 After Badler 2002:fig. 9.

3.31, n˚1 Nicholas 1990:pl. 17f.

3.31, n˚2 Nicholas 1990:pl. 14a–b.

3.31, n˚3 Sumner 2003:fig. 25j.

3.31, n˚4 Sumner 2003:fig. 25i.

3.31, n˚5 Sumner 2003:pl. 18c.

3.31, n˚6 Sumner 1974:fig. 5a.

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xx The Proto-Elamite Settlement and Its Neighbors

3.31, n˚7 Sumner 2003:fig. 28a.

3.32, n˚1 Whitcomb 1971:pl. IC.

3.32, n˚2 Whitcomb 1971:pl. IA.

3.32, n˚3 Whitcomb 1971:pl. IIIG.

3.32, n˚4 Whitcomb 1971:pl. IIIF.

3.32, n˚5 Whitcomb 1971:pl. ID.

3.33, n˚1 Helwing 2011a:fig. 21:75.

3.33, n˚2 Helwing 2011a:fig. 21:74.

3.33, n˚3 Helwing 2011a:fig. 14:1.

3.34, L After Lamberg-Karlovsky and Potts 2001:fig. 1.6G.

3.34, R Collection of the PMAE, Harvard University, drawing by B. Mutin.

3.35 After Lamberg-Karlovsky and Potts 2001:fig. 3.13G.

3.37 Collection of the PMAE, Harvard University, photographs by B. Mutin.

3.38, n˚1 After Lamberg-Karlovsky and Potts 2001:fig. 3.9I.

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List of Image Credits xxi

3.38, n˚19 After Lamberg-Karlovsky and Potts 2001:fig. 2.22G.

3.38, n˚22 After Lamberg-Karlovsky and Potts 2001:fig. 1.6K.

3.39 B. Mutin.

3.40, n˚1 After Besenval 1997a:fig. 16.

3.40, n˚2 After Besenval 1997a:fig. 16.

3.40, n˚3 After De Cardi 1970:fig. 22:141.

3.40, n˚6 Collection of the Palazzio Brancaccio, courtesy of M. Tosi.

3.40, n˚7 Courtesy of R. Besenval, French Archaeological Mission in Makran.

3.40, n˚10 After Piperno and Salvatori 2007:fig. 773:8559.

3.40, n˚11 After Sajjadi et al. 2003:fig. 12:1713.7.

3.41 Collection of the Palazzio Brancaccio, photographs by B. Mutin.

3.43, n˚4 After Lamberg-Karlovsky 1970:fig. 29I.

3.43, n˚7 After Lamberg-Karlovsky and Potts 2001:fig. 3.7I.

3.43, n˚9 After Lamberg-Karlovsky 1970:fig. 31B.

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xxii The Proto-Elamite Settlement and Its Neighbors

3.43, n˚16 After Lamberg-Karlovsky and Beale 1986:fig. 4.39e.

3.46 B. Mutin.

3.48, n˚4 After Lamberg-Karlovsky 1970:fig. 31D.

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List of Image Credits xxiii

3.53, n˚10 After Potts 1980:fig. 38:7.

3.54 B. Mutin.

3.56, n˚6 After Lamberg-Karlovsky and Potts 2001:fig. 1.27G.

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xxiv The Proto-Elamite Settlement and Its Neighbors

3.56, n˚16 After Lamberg-Karlovsky 1970:fig. 29F.

3.57 B. Mutin.

3.61, n˚1 After Lamberg-Karlovsky 1970:fig. 31F.

3.61, n˚6 After Potts 1980:fig. 38D1.

3.62 B. Mutin.

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The Proto-Elamite Settlement and its Neighbors: Tepe Yahya Period IVC.

T HE P ROTO -E LAMITE S ET TLEMENT

AND I TS N EIGHBORS

Tepe Yahya Period IVC

Benjamin Mutin C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky

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S

I

N

Benjamin Mutin

T

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T HE P ROTO -E LAMITE S ET TLEMENT

AND I TS N EIGHBORS

Tepe Yahya Period IVC

T HE P ROTO -E LAMITE S ET TLEMENT

AND I TS N EIGHBORS

Tepe Yahya Period IVC

Table of Contents

List of Contributors

List of Image Credits

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T ^HE P ^ROTO -E ^LAMITE S ^{ET TLEMENT}

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