Tepe Yahya Explained

Tepe Yahya
Map Type:Iran
Relief:yes
Coordinates:28.3308°N 56.8675°W
Map Size:200
Location:Kermān Province, Iran
Type:settlement
Built:4th–3rd millennium BC
Epochs:Bronze Age,
Cultures:Proto-Elamite, Halil Rud, Sassanian
Excavations:1968–1971, 1973, 1975
Archaeologists:C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky
Condition:Ruined
Ownership:Public
Public Access:Yes

Tapeh Yahya is an archaeological site in Kermān Province, Iran, some south of Kerman city, south of Baft city and 90 km south-west of Jiroft. The easternmost occupation of the Proto-Elamite culture was found there. A regional survey found a five times larger (10 hectare) unnamed unexcavated site one kilometer from Tepe Yahya, occupied in the VB, IVC (Proto-Elamite), and IVB periods.

History

Habitation spans the 6th to 2nd millennia BC and the 10th to 4th centuries BC.

In the middle of the 2nd millennium BC, the city was a production center of chlorite stone ware; these carved dark stone vessels have been found in ancient Mesopotamian temples.[1]

Steatite was also very common at this site. Nearby, a steatite mine has been discovered. Over a thousand steatite pieces belonging to Period IVB were found, indicating local manufacturing.

The distribution of these vessels was very wide. They were found not only in Mesopotamia, but also in Bampur IV, and in Shahr-i Sokhta.[2] They were also found in the lower levels at Mohenjodaro. Steatite bowls with similar motifs are also found on Tarut island, and copies have been found at Umm-an Nar in the Persian Gulf.[3]

Archaeology

The site is a circular mound, around 20 meters in heightand around 187 meters in diameter.[4] It was excavated in six seasons (1968–1971, 1973, 1975) by the American School of Prehistoric Research of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of Harvard University in a joint operation with what is now the Shiraz University. The expeditionwas under the direction of C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky.[5] [6] [7] [8] [9] Jane Britton was one of the excavators on the dig in 1968.[10]

Periodization is as follows:

Period I Sasanian/Parthian: 200 BC – 225 AD

Period II Achaemenian/Hellenistic: 275–475 BC

Period III Iron Age: 525–700 BC

Abandonment

Period IV A Shahdad/Kaftari - late 3rd to early 2nd millennium BC

Period IV B Halil Rud Civilization - 2nd half of 3rd millennium BC

Abandonment

Period IV C Proto-Elamite: circa 3000 BC

Abandonment

Period V Yahya Culture: 3400–3800 BC

Period VI Coarse Ware-Neolithic: 3800–4500 BC

Period VII Neolithic 4500–5500 BC

In the Neolithic period VII strata an extremely detailed green soapstone female figurine, of a phallic nature, was found. It featured eight individually drilled orifices. An associated charcoal sample was submitted for radiocarbon dating.[11]

In the late 4th millennium BC IVC period strata (comparable with levels 14–16 at Susa) a large Proto-Elamite monumental building, occupied for less than a century, was constructed which covered most of the top of the mound. The design was similar to other Proto-Elamite sites and to the Uruk site at Habuba Kabira in Syria. Construction used a standardized 48 centimeter long by 24 centimeter wide by 8 centimeter thick brick throughout the complex. About 500 square meters of the complex have been excavated. The buildings were designed and constructed from the outside in using a base measure of 72 centimeters. The researcher noted this is close to the "large cubit" measure used throughout the ancient Near East. The first Proto-Elamite tablets were found on the floors.[12] Three samples from the IVC strata wereradiocarbon dated (calibration method unknown) yielding dates of 2955 BC, 2790 BC, and 3490 BC.

Among the discoveries were two Iron Age platforms from the Achaemenid period.[13]

Metallurgy

Four metal artifacts were found at the site, a copper shaft-hole axe from layer IVB5, a copper/lead theriomorphic figurine (listed as being found in IVB), and a copper spearhead from layer IVC2 which was found with a metal vessel containing Jarosite, two large biconical heulandite beads, and an alabaster vessel.[14] The 10.6% lead content of the figurine shows that it was actually from the Late Uruk period.[15] [16]

A related site is Tal-i Iblis, where early metallurgy has also been attested.[17]

Early writing

To Period IVC belong twenty seven proto-Elamite tablets that have been recovered fromthe floor and fill of four rooms. Twenty one of the tablets record grain quantities,mostly for rations. Several cylinder seals and a number of cylinder sealings were found on this level as well as bevel-rimmed bowls.[18] [19] Also, eighty-four tablet blanks indicate that writing was being practiced at Yahya. These finds are similar to the discoveries at Susa Cb and Sialk IV.[17] [20] [21] [22]

See also

Further reading

External links

28.3308°N 56.8675°W

Notes and References

  1. Andrew Lawler, The World in Between Volume 64 Number 6, November/December 2011 archaeology.org
  2. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Clifford Charles, and Maurizio Tosi, "Shahr-i Sokhta and Tepe Yahya: tracks on the earliest history of the Iranian Plateau", East and West 23.1/2, pp. 21-57, 1973
  3. Potts, Daniel T., "Tepe Yahya, Tell Abraq and the chronology of the Bampur sequence", Iranica Antiqua 38, pp. 1-24, 2003
  4. https://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/paleo_0153-9345_1981_num_7_1_4290.pdf
  5. http://hdl.handle.net/11401/89090
  6. C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Tepe Yahya 1971: Mesopotamia and the Indo-Iranian Borderlands, Iran, vol. 10, pp. 89-100, 1972
  7. C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Urban interaction on the Iranian plateau: Excavations at Tepe Yahya 1967-1973, Oxford University Press, 1974,
  8. http://hdl.handle.net/11401/88653
  9. http://hdl.handle.net/11401/88850
  10. News: Archaeological Unit From Harvard Unearths Lost Fortress in Persia. Harvard Crimson. Cambridge, Massachusetts. November 12, 1968. December 30, 2018.
  11. Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C., and Richard H. Meadow, "A Unique Female Figurine: The Neolithic at Tepe Yahya", Archaeology, vol. 23, no. 1, 1970, pp. 12–17, 1970
  12. https://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/paleo_0153-9345_1983_num_9_1_4333.pdf
  13. http://hdl.handle.net/11401/89004
  14. Reindell, I. and J. Riederer, "Infrarotspektralanalytische Untersuchungen von Farberden aus persischen Ausgrabungen",Berliner Beitrage zur Archdometrie 3, pp. 123-134, 1978
  15. https://ijas.usb.ac.ir/article_465_fccc1f93824a3f112aec58fa62aee029.pdf
  16. Heskel, D.& C.C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, "An alternative sequence for the development of metallurgy: Tepe Yahya, Iran" In T.A Wertime & J.D. Muhly (eds.) The Coming of the Age of Iron, pp. 229-266, 1980
  17. C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, The Early Bronze Age of Iran as seen from Tepe Yahya. (with Philip Kohl) Expedition, Vol. 13, Nos. 3-4, pp. 14-22, 1971
  18. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Clifford Charles, "Proto-Elamite account tablets from Tepe Yahya, Iran", Kadmos 10, pp. 97-9, 1971
  19. Beale T., "Bevelled Rim Bowls and their Implications for Change and Economic Organization in the Later Fourth Millennium B.C.", Journal of Near Eastern Studies 37, pp. 289-313, 1978
  20. C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, The Proto-Elamite Settlement at Tepe Yahya, Iran, vol. 9, pp. 87-96, 1971
  21. https://cnrs.hal.science/hal-02429709/file/Mutin_2013.pdf
  22. http://hdl.handle.net/11401/89025

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