Archaeological site in Kermān Province, Iran From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tapeh Yahya (Persian: تپه یحیی) is an archaeological site in Kermān Province, Iran, some 220 kilometres (140mi) south of Kerman city, 90 kilometres (56mi) south of Baft city and 90km 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 fro Tepe Yahya, occupied in the VB, IVC (Proto-Elamite),
and IVB periods.[1]
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 chloritestone ware; these carved dark stone vessels have been found in ancient Mesopotamian temples.[2]
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.[3]
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.[4] 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.[5]
Stone plate with engraved eagle. Copper Age. Ca. 4300 BC. Yahya VC Period.
The site is a circular mound, around 20 meters in height
and around 187 meters in diameter.
[6]
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 expedition
was under the direction of C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky.
[7][8][9][10][11]Jane Britton was one of the excavators on the dig in 1968.[12]
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.[13]
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.[14] Three samples from the IVC strata were
radiocarbon dated (calibration method unknown) yielding dates of 2955 BC, 2790 BC, and 3490 BC.[1]
Among the discoveries were two Iron Age platforms from the Achaemenid period.[15]
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.[16] The 10.6% lead content of the figurine shows that it was actually from the Late Uruk period.[17][18]
A related site is Tal-i Iblis, where early metallurgy has also been attested.[3]
Early writing
Proto-Elamite tablet found at Tepe Yahya
To Period IVC belong twenty seven proto-Elamite tablets that have been recovered from
the floor and fill of four rooms. Twenty one of the tablets record grain quanities,
mostly for rations. Several cylinder seals and a number of cylinder sealings were found on this level as well as bevel-rimmed bowls.[19][20] 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.[3][21][22][1]
Peter Damerow and Robert K. Englund, "The Proto-Elamite Texts from Tepe Yahya", The American School of Prehistoric Research Bulletin 39, Cambridge, MA, 1989 ISBN0-87365-542-7
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
C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Urban interaction on the Iranian plateau: Excavations at Tepe Yahya 1967-1973, Oxford University Press, 1974, ISBN0-19-725703-8
Clifford C. Lamberg-Karlovsky and Thomas Wight Beale, "Excavations at Tepe Yahya, Iran, 1967–1975, The early periods", Cambridge, Massachusetts 1986, ISBN0-87365-541-9
Clifford C. Lamberg-Karlovsky and D. T. Potts, "Excavations at Tepe Yahya, Iran, 1967–1975, The third millennium", Cambridge, Massachusetts 2001 ISBN0-87365-549-4
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
Beale, Thomas W., and Sarah M. Carter, "On the track of the Yahya large kuš: evidence for architectural planning in the Period IVC complex at Tepe Yahya", Paléorient, pp. 81-88, 1983
Reindell, I. and J. Riederer, "Infrarotspektralanalytische Untersuchungen von Farberden aus persischen Ausgrabungen",
Berliner Beitrage zur Archdometrie 3, pp. 123-134, 1978
Meier, David Mathias Philip, "Preliminary archaeometallurgical investigations of Bronze Age metal finds from Shahdad and Tepe Yahya", Iranian Journal of Archaeological Studies 1.2, pp. 25-34, 2011
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
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
Mutin, Benjamin, "The Proto-Elamite Settlement and its Neighbors: Tepe Yahya Period IVC", ed. C.C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Oxbow Books / American School of Prehistoric Research Publications, 2013 ISBN978-1-78297-419-2
Amiran, Ruth. "More about the Chalcolithic culture of Palestine and Tepe Yahya." Israel Exploration Journal, vol. 26, no. 4, pp.157–162, 1976
Burney, Charles, "Tepe Yahya: its implications for Near Eastern archaeology", Antiquity 49.195, pp.191–196, 1975
Lamberg-Karlovsky, Carl C., and Maurizio Tosi, "The Proto-Elamite community at Tepe Yahya: Tools of administration and social order", South Asian Archaeology 4, pp.104–114, 1985
Kamilli, Diana C., and C. C. Lamberg‐Karlovsky, "Petrographic and electron microprobe analysis of ceramics from Tepe Yahya, Iran", Archaeometry 21.1, pp.47–59, 1979
Peter Magee: Excavations at Tepe Yahya, Iran, 1967-1975: The Iron Age Settlement, ISBN0-87365-550-8
Piperno, Marcello, "The Lithic Industry of Tepe Yahya A Preliminary Typological Analysis", East and West 23.1/2, pp.59–74, 1973
Mutin, Benjamin, C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, and Leah Minc, "Investigating ceramic production during the Proto-Elamite period at Tepe Yahya, southeastern Iran: Results of instrumental neutron activation analysis of periods IVC and IVB ceramics", Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 7, pp. 849-862, 2016
Negahban, Ezat O., "The Tepe Yahya excavation permit", Iranica antiqua 37, pp. 229-232, 2002
D. T. Potts, "The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State", Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN0-521-56496-4
Shafiee, Mojgan, et al., "The Absolute and Relative Chronology of Tepe Vakilabad: A Reappraisal of the Chronology of the Chalcolithic Period of Tepe Yahya in SE Iran", Journal of Research on Archaeometry 5.1, pp.81–94, 2019
Thornton, Christopher P., et al., "On pins and needles: tracing the evolution of copper-base alloying at Tepe Yahya, Iran, via ICP-MS analysis of common-place items", Journal of Archaeological Science 29.12, pp.1451–1460, 2002
M. L., Eda Vidali and C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, "Prehistoric Settlement Patterns around Tepe Yahya: A Quantitative Analysis", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 35, no. 4, pp.237–250, 1976
Yazdani, Sahar, and Rouhollah Yousefi Zoshk, "Tribute or Taxation; New Evidence of the Structure of Iran's Political Economy in the Proto-Elamite Period Based on a Proto-Elamite Tablet from Tepe Yahya: TY. 11, Kept in National Museum of Iran", Journal of Iran National Museum 1.1, pp.83–92, 2020 (in farsi?)
.JPG)
