Excavation at Toll-e Gap of Kenareh Marvdasht, Fars

Authors

Abstract

After years of excavations and surveys in Kur River Basin and in Fars province, there are still major problems and huge unanswered questions in the local chronological sequence. Archaeological excavations and surveys showed that the number of settlements was greatly reduced after the Tall-i Malyan urban phase (Middle Banesh phase, late 4th and early 3rd millennia B.C.) whereas few evidences illustrate the subsequent Late Banesh phase. There are discontinuities in the chronological sequences of most of the sites excavated up to now between middle Banesh and Kaftari epochs. Considering archaeological surveys, soundings and C14 dating, it seems that the Kur River Basin consequently faced a remarkable population reduction in the middle of the 3rd millennium B.C. Sumner proposed to consider the mid-3rd millennium B.C. as a gap between late Banesh (2800-2600 B.C.) and early Kaftari (2200-1900 B.C.) phases, suggesting that during this interval, most of the inhabitants of the Kur River Basin turned to pastoralism, explaining the sparsely occupation of this territory. This view relied on evidences from ABC trench cultural layers in Tall-i Malyan, on C14 absolute dating, on the discontinuity between Banesh and Kaftari surveyed settlements and on an obvious recess in the pottery sequence in the Kur River Basin. Recently published evidences from trench H5 and new excavation in H1s sounding in Tall-i Malyan, however slightly modified this scenario and pointed on a certain continuity between Banesh and Kaftari periods in Tall-i Malyan. Regarding the current archaeological information, it seems necessary to excavate sites with both Banesh and Kaftari periods to explore the 3rd millennium B.C. in Fars. Through visits and surveys in the Kur River Basin, the authors decided to open trenches in Toll-e Gap Kenareh in order to get more information about this crucial period. Toll-e Gap Kenareh is located 5 Km southwestward of Persepolis and 3 Km northeastward of Marvdasht in the Kur River Basin. Covering around 0.5 hectare, it is situated 1629 m above the sea level and is 4 m higher than the current surrounding plain. Toll-e Gap was firstly excavated by L. Vanden Berghe in the 1950s for two days while Alizadeh presented the site as belonging to Shogha, Iron Age III, Achaemenid, Sasanian, and Islamic periods. The first season of excavation at Toll-e Gap was conducted in Sept/Oct 2012 to identify the cultural stratified sequence of the site and to get relative and absolute dating for the 3rd millennium B.C. Fars. Two trenches (A and B) were excavated during this season of excavation on the east and west sides of the site and reached the virgin soil at 5.3 m depth. Recovered materials include potsherds, bone fragments, metal, stone, glass objects, tokens, and so on. According to the recovered potsherds and comparing them to the other sites of the Kur River Basin, it can be inferred that the chronological sequence found in Toll-e Gap Kenareh displays early Islamic, Sasanian, early Kaftari, and Banesh (early, middle, and late?) periods. Toll-e Gap Kenareh open then new horizons in the archaeology of Fars during the 3rd millennium B.C, above all for the transition between the well-known Banesh and Kaftari periods. Above Kaftari Period layers, there is a Sasanian Period settlement, which shows that this site has been used temporarily during the Sasanian Period. The more recent artifacts in this site belong to the 9th and 10th centuries A.D., and as the site is close to Estakhr, its function could have been related to this city.

Keywords


- ابن‌بلخی، 1374، فارس‌نامه، براساس متن مصحح: لسترنج و نیکلسون، تصحیح و تحشیه از: منصور رستگار فسایی، شیراز: بنیاد فارس‌شناسی.
- اسدی، احمدعلی، 1391، «پژوهشی دربارة سفال‌های سده‌های آغازین دوره اسلامی شهر استخر، فارس»، در: پژوهش‌هایی درباره‌ی تاریخ، فرهنگ و تمدن ایران، به کوشش: شهرام زارع، تهران: انتشارات بصیرت، صص: 195-219.
- اسدی، احمدعلی، شیرانی، فریده، 1390، «گزارش کاوش تپه مادآباد مرودشت- فارس»، آرشیو پژوهشکده باستان‌شناسی (منتشر نشده).
- اسماعیلی‌جلودار، محمد اسماعیل، 1389، «ارتباط تجاری بنادر باستانی شمالی و جنوبی خلیج‌فارس از قرن 1 تا 5 اسلامی»، رساله‌ی دکتری گروه باستان‌شناسی دانشگاه تهران (منتشر نشده).
- امیری، مصیب، و موسوی‌کوهپر، سید مهدی و خادمی‌ندوشن، فرهنگ، 1391، «طبقه‌بندی و گونه‌شناسی سفال‌های ساسانی-اسلامی بیشابور مطالعه‌ی موردی فصل نهم کاوش»، نشریه مطالعات باستان‌شناسی، شماره 1، دوره 4 (شماره پیاپی 5)، صص: 1-32.
- چوبک، حمیده، 1391، «سفالینه‌های دوران اسلامی- شهر کهن جیرفت»، نشریه مطالعات باستان شناسی، شماره 1، دوره 4 (پیاپی 5)، صص: 83-112.
- حصاری، مرتضی، 1392، شکل‌گیری و توسعه آغاز نگارش در ایران (از پیش نگارش تا آغازایلامی)، تهران: سمت.
- خانی‌پور، مرتضی، مهجور، فیروز، 1392، «بررسی سفال‌های اسلامی شهر استخر»، اباختر، سال هفتم، پیاپی 24 و 25، صص: 168-184.
- خانی‌پور، مرتضی، 1392، «بررسی گاهنگاری مقایسه‌ای دوره‌ی کفتری براساس کاوش‌های باستان‌شناختی تل گپ کناره»، پایان‌نامه‌ی کارشناسی‌ارشد گروه باستان‌شناسی دانشگاه تهران (منتشر نشده).
- خانی‌پور، مرتضی، 1393، «بررسی گذار از دوره‌ی بانش به دوره‌ی کفتری در زاگرس جنوبی»، در: مجموعه مقالات همایش باستان‌شناسان جوان، به کوشش: محمد حسین عزیزی خرانقی، مرتضی خانی‌پور و رضا ناصری، تهران: دانشگاه تهران، صص: 197-208.
- خانی‌پور، مرتضی و نوروزی، رضا و ناصری، رضا و خسروی، سلمان و زراعت‌پیشه، میلاد و عمادی، حبیب، 1393، «تبیین فرهنگ‌های هزاره‌ی سوم ق.م. حوضه‌ی رود کُر براساس کاوش تل گپ کناره»، مرودشت، مجله مطالعات باستان‌شناسی 10، صص: 39-58.
- زیدی، محسن، 1383، «الگوی پراکندگی و نوسان‌های جمعیتی فرهنگ‌های پیش‌از تاریخ تا دوران اسلامی در دره‌های رود کُر شمال‌غربی فارس»، پایان‌نامه‌ی کارشناسی‌ارشد گروه باستان‌شناسی دانشگاه تهران (منتشر نشده).
- سامی، علی، 1330، گزارش‌های باستان‌شناسی بر مبنای کاوش‌های 12 ساله‌ی بنگاه علمی تخت‌جمشید، شیراز: چاپ مصطفوی.
- سرلک، سیامک، 1389، فرهنگ هفت هزار ساله شهر قم (کاوش‌های باستان‌شناختی محوطه‌ی قلی درویش جمکران- قم)، انتشارات نقش.
- کامبخش‌فرد، سیف‌الله، 1349، کاوش‌های نیشابور و سفالگری ایران، تهران: انتشارات وزارت فرهنگ و هنر.
- لوبرتون، آلن، 1376، «شوش، کارگاه کاوش آکروپل I»، در: شوش و جنوب‌غربی ایران، زیر نظر: ژان پرو و ژنوییو دلفوس، ترجمه: هایده اقبال، تهران: مرکز نشر دانشگاهی، صص: 49-65.
- مستوفى،‌ حمدالله، 1331، نزهة القلوب‌، به:‌ کوشش‌ گای لسترنج‌، تهران.
- نکویی، پریسا، فاضلی‌نشلی، حسن، جوانمردزاده، اردشیر، 1393، «گاهنگاری مقایسه‌ای سفال دوره‌ی آغاز شهرنشینی و شهرنشینی دشت مهران براساس مطالعه سفال‌های تپه چغاآهوان»، مجله مطالعات باستان‌شناسی 10ف صص: 167-184.
- نوروزی، رضا، و خانی‌پور، مرتضی و خسروی، سلمان و زراعت‌پیشه، میلاد و قاسمی، زینب، 1391، «گزارش فصل اول لایه‌نگاری تل گپ کناره»، آرشیو پژوهشکده باستان‌شناسی (منتشر نشده).
 
- Abdi, K., 2001, “Malyan 1999”, Iran 39: 73-98. 
- Alden, J. R., 1978, “Excavations at Tal-i Malyan: Part I, A Sasanian Kiln”, Iran 16: 79-92.
- Alden, J. R., 1979, “Regional Economic Organization in Banesh Period Iran”, PhD, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
- Alden, J. R., 1982, “Trade and Politics in Proto-Elamite Iran, Current Anthropology, 23 (6): 613-640.
- Alden, J. R., 2003, “Appendix D: Excavations at Tal-e Kureh. In Sumner”, W. M. (ed.), Early Urban Life in the Land of Anshan: Excavations at Tal-e Malyan in the Highlands of Iran. Pp. 187-198. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology: Philadelphia.
- Alden, J. R., 2013, “The Kur River Basin in the Proto-Elamite era-surface survey, settlement patterns, and the appearance of full-time transhumant pastoral nomadism”, In C. Petrie (ed.),  ancient Iran & Its Neighbors, Pp: 207-232, Oxbow Books, Oxford, UK.
- Alden, J. R., Abdi, K., Azadi, A., Beckman, G. & Pittman, H., 2005, “Fars Archaeological Project 2004: excavation at Tal-e Malyan”, Iran 43: 39-47.
- Alizadeh, A. 2003, “Some Observations Based on the Nomadic Character of Fars Prehistoric Cultural Development. In Yeki ud, Yeki nabud”, Essays on The Archaeology Of Iran In Honar Of William M. Sumner (Edited by Naomi F. Miller and Kamyar Abdi). Cotsen Instituteof Archaeology University of California, Los Angeles. Pp.83-97.
- Azarnoush, M., 1994, The Sasanian Manor House at Hajiabad, Iran, Casa Editrice Le Lettere.
- Azizi Kharanaghi, H., Fazeli Nashli, H. & Nishiaki, Y., 2013, “Tepe Rahmatabad: a Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic Site in Fars Province”, In: Neolithisation of Iran –The Formation of New Societies, edited by R. Matthews and H. Fazeli Nashli, pp. 108–123. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
- Bernbeck, R., 2004, “Archaeology in Iran Puts Perceptions in Place”, The Daily Star, 21 January 2004: 8.
- Delougaz, P. & Kantor, H. J., 1996, Chogha Mish, Volume I. The First Five Seasons of Excavations 1961-1971, University of Chicago Oriental Institute Publications Vol. 101. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago: Chicago
- Fukai, S., Horiuchi, K. & Matsutani, T., 1973, Marv- Dasht III: The Excavation at Tall-i-Mushki 1965, Tokyo University Iraq-Iran Archaeological Expedition Reports, 14, Institute of Oriental Culture of the University of Tokyo, Tokyo.
- Ghirshman, R., 1938, Fouilles de Sialk, vol.1.Paris.
- Goff, C., 1963, “Excavations at Tall-i Nokhodi”, Iran I: 43- 70. 
- Goff, C., 1964, “Excavations at Tall-i Nokhodi, 1962”, Iran II: 41-52. 
- Herzfeld, E., 1935, Archaeological History of Iran, Oxford University Press: London
- Hole, F., 1987, “Archaeology of the Village Period”, in F. Hole (ed.), The Archaeology of Western Iran: Settlement and Society from Prehistory to the Islamic Conquest, Washington D. C.: 29-78.
- Hole, F., 1977, Studies in the Archaeological History of the Deh Luran Plain: The Excavation of Chogha Sefid, Memoirs of the Museum of Anthropology 9, Ann Arbor. The University of Michigan Press.
- Keall, Edward J. & Keall, Marguerite J., 1981, “The Qal'eh-i Yazdigird Pottery: A Statistical Approach”, Iran 19, 33-80.
- Lamberg-Karlovsky, Carl C., 1971, “The Proto-Elamite Settlement at Tepe Yahya”, Iran 9, 87-96.
- MacCall, B. K., 2009, “The Mamasani Archaeological Survey: Epipalaeolithic to Elamite settlement patterns in the Mamasani district of the Zagros Mountains, Fars Province, Iran”, PhD, University of Sydney.
- Masson, V. M., & Sarianidi, V., 1972, Central Asia: Turkmenia before the Achaemenids, New York: Praeger.
- Miller, N. & Sumner, W., 2004, “The Banesh-Kaftari Interface The View From Operation H5, Malyan”, Iran 41: 7-19. 
- Miroschedji de P., 1974, “Tepe Jalyan, une necropole du 3eme millenaire av. J.-C. au Fars Oriental (Iran)”, Arts Asiatiques 30 : 19-64.
- Nicholas, I. M., 1980, “A Spatial/ Functional Analysis of Late Fourth Millennium Occupation at the TUV Mound, Tal-e  Malyan, Iran”, PhD, University of  Pennsylvania.
- Nickerson, J. L., 1983, “Intrasite Variability During the Kaftari Period at Tal-e Malyan (Anshan), Iran”, PhD, Dissertation Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
- Petrie, C., 2011, “Culture:' innovation and interaction across southern Iran from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age (6500-3000 BC)”, In B. Roberts and M. Vander Linden (eds.) Investigating archaeological cultures: Material culture,variability and transmission, Pp: 151-82. New York:Springer.
- Petrie, C. A., Asgari Chaverdi, A. & Seyedin, M., 2006, “Excavations at Tol-e Spid” In Potts, D. T. and Roustaei, K. (eds), The Mamasani Archaeological Project Stage One: A Report on the First Two Seasons of the ICAR-University of Sydney Expedition to the Mamasani District, Fars Province, Iran. Pp. 89-134. Iranian Centre for Archaeological Research: Tehran.
- Petrie, C., A., Sardari, R. Ballantyne, M. Berberian, C. Lancelotti, M. Mashkour, B. McCall, D. T. Potts & Weeks, L., 2013, “Mamasani in the 4th millennium BC”, In C. Petrie (ed.) ancient Iran & Its Neighbors, Pp: 171-194, Oxbow Books, Oxford, UK.
- Petrie, C. A., Asgari Chaverdi, A. & Seyedin, M., 2005, “From Anshan to Dilmun and Magan: The Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Kaftari and Kaftari-Related Ceramic Vessels”, Iran 43: 49-86.
- Pézard, M., 1914, Mission à Bender-Bouchir: Documents Archéologiques et Épigraphiques, Ernest Leroux: Paris.
- Potts, D. T., 1999, The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
- Potts, D. T., 2001, Excavations at Tepe Yahya, Iran, 1967-1975: The Third Millennium, American School of Prehistoric Research Bulletin, 45. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University: Cambridge.
- Potts, D. T. & Roustaei, K., (eds), 2006, The Mamasani Archaeological Project Stage One: A Report on the First Two Seasons of the ICAR-University of Sydney Expedition to the Mamasani District, Fars Province, Iran, Tehran: Iranian Centre for Archaeological Research.
- Schmandt-Besserat, D., 1992, Before Writing, Vols. 1 & 2. University of Texas Press, Austin.
- Schmidt, E. F., 1939, “Tall-i Bakun, In The Treasury of Persepolis and Other Discoveries in the Homeland of the Achaemenians”, Oriental Institute Communications No. 21, University of Chicago Press, Chicago: 121-129.
- Stein, A., 1936, “An Archaeological Tour in the Ancient Persis”, Iraq III: 111-230.
- Stein, A., 1940, Old Routes of Western Iran. MacMillan and Co, Ltd: London.
- Sumner, W. M., 1972, “Cultural Development in the Kur River Basin, Iran. An Archaeological Analysis of Settlement Patterns”, Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Pennsylvania.
- Sumner, W. M., 1972, “Cultural Development in the Kur River Basin, Iran: an archaeological analysis of settlement patterns”, PhD, Dissertation Pennsylvania.
- Sumner, W. M., 1974, “Excavations at Tal-e Malyan”, Iran XII: 155-180.
- Sumner, W. M., 1985, “The Proto-Elamite City Wall at Tal-i Malyan”, Iran 23: 153-161.
- Sumner, W. M., 1986, “Proto-Elamite Civilisation in Fars, In Gamdat Nasr: Period of Regional Style?”, (Eds. Finkbeiner, U. and Rollig, W.), Beihefte zom Tubinger Atlas des Vorderern Orients, 62, Ludwig Reichert, Wiesbaden: 199-211.
- Sumner, W. M., 1988, “Malyan, Tall-e (Anšan)”, Reallexikon der Assyriologie 7: 306-320. 
- Sumner, W. M., 1989, “Anshan in the Kaftari Phase: Patterns of Settlement and Land Use”, In Archaeologia Iranica et Orientalis: Miscellanea in Honorem Louis Vanden Berghe, (Eds. De Meyer, L. and Haerinck, E.), Gent: 135-161.
- Sumner, W. M., 2003, Early Urban Life in the Land of Anshan: Excavations at Tal-e Malyan in the Highlands of Iran, Malyan Excavations Reports III, University Museum Monograph, 113, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Pennsylvania.
- Vanden Berghe, L., 1952, “Archaeologische Opzoekingen in De Marv Dasht Vlakte (Iran)”, Jaarbericht Ex Oriente Luxe 12: 211-220.
- Vanden Berghe, L., 1954, “Archaeologische Navorsingen in De Omstreken Van Persepolis”, Jaarbericht Ex Oriente Lux 13: 394-408.
- Weeks, L. R., Alizadeh, K. S., Niakan, L. & Alamdari, K., 2006, “Excavations at Tol-e Nurabad”, In Potts, D. T. and Roustaei, K. (eds), The Mamasani Archaeological Project Stage One: A Report on the First Two Seasons of the ICAR-University of Sydney Expedition to the Mamasani District, Fars Province, Iran. Pp 31-88. Iranian Centre for Archaeological Research: Tehran.
- Whitcomb, D. S., 1985, Before The Roses and Nightinglas Excavations at Qasr-I Abu Nasr, old Shiraz, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
- Whithouse, D,  1979, “Islamic Glazed in Iraq and the Persian Gulf, The ninth and Tenth Centuries”, Annali dell Instituto Orientale di Napoli 39(N. S. 29), 45-61.
- Wilkinson, Ch., 1973, Nishapur. Pottery of Early Islamic period, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
- Wright,  K. I., 1992, “A Classification  System  for  Ground  Stone Tools from the Prehistoric Levant”, Paléorient 18:53–81.
- Wright, H. T. (ed.), 1981, An Early Town on the Deh Luran Plain: Excavations at Tepe Farukhabad, Memoirs of the Museum of Anthropology, Vol. 13. The University of Michigan, Museum of Anthropology: Ann Arbor.
- Wright, H.T. & Neely, J. A., 1994, Early Settlement and Irrigation on the Deh Luran Plain: Village and Early State Societies in Southwestern Iran, University of Michigan Technical Reports, Vol. 26. The University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology: Ann Arbor.
- Wright, K. I., 1994,” Ground Stone Tools and Hunter-Gatherer Subsistence in Southwest Asia: Implications for the Transition to Farming”, American Antiquity 59 (2): 238-263.
- Young, T. C., Jr., 1969, Excavations at Godin Tepe: First Progress Report, Art and Archaeology Occasional Paper 17, Toronto, Royal Ontario Museum.