Analytical-Comparative Study of Gotvand Gach-e Sangi Site, Based on Pottery Documents

As a cultural material, pottery is an important evidence to achieve chronology and recognize settlement period in any archeological site. Gotvand city is one of the prominent zones in terms of cultural data, particularly potteries found in Gach-e Sangi site. This site is located at north of Susiana Plain near Karun River where educational exploration was conducted and some potteries were collected by surface survey and within trench I and its sounds. The main questions raised in this study include what types of pottery are important, to which designs these are decorated, and to what phases these belong? Moreover, another issue of the study is the analysis of the situation and position of this site among Susiana plain sites. Due to the importance of this cultural material, 86 important pottery artifacts were selected and studied using a comparative-analytical method. Results showed that the most frequent form of potteries was of open-mouth types, especially bowls and glasses, except for a limited number of them that had animal designs, the rest has been decorated by geometrical designs, which temporally belong to the Mid- and Late Susiana phases. In other words, based on chronological order for potteries, the above-mentioned habitat has been formed at the end of the 6th BC and early 5th BC millennia (Mid-Susiana); the issue that was not mentioned in former analytical studies of archaeologists (e.g., Henry Wright) in the site. This site has been incessantly dwelled since the formation in the given phase to the end of the urbanism period. In addition, stylistic and technical analysis and comparison of the important potteries indicated that regardless of continuity of some types, proportional to change and influence of pottery tradition, this site, especially in the new city of Susiana was affected by these transformations and had cultural relations to other zones.
Keywords: Susiana PlainGach-e Sangi Site, Pottery Comparison, Relative Chronology.
 
Introduction and Methodology
Pottery is the most durable data with stylistic and cultural variations, as well as its time period. If it is studied and analyzed within a regular framework, it can be used as reliable document in archeology. The chronological order of pottery is one of the foremost gains, so that a relative time of fabrication and precedence of texture can be found by comparing the given samples with the adjacent zones (Tohidi, 2007:122). Due to abundant and continuous production, it was always followed by transformations and innovations, especially in form and design, some of them emerged due to internal cultural change and growth over the time and another part appeared because of economic and cultural links with far and near communities (Yari & Talayee, 2005:62). Studying these properties in prehistoric period is an important evidence for relative chronology of sites and their comparison. Due to the importance of these data and their variation and frequency in archeological sites, many archeologists studied them in various dimensions (e.g., Majidzadeh, 1991; Alizadeh, 2002; Talayee, 2011). Gach-e Sangi Site (Gotvand city) located in Susiana plain was initially explored for training archeological students within trench I. Of course, numerous potteries were randomly collected during analysis of site surfaces (Derakhshi, 2011). This research studies prehistoric prominent potteries of the site, relative chronology, and situation and analysis of the site for the first time. The goal of studying potteries of Gach-e Sangi site was to acquire relative chronology of the site and determine its cultural relations with adjacent zones. Therefore, the prominent potteries obtained by both surface analysis and exploration site were compared only in terms of form and decoration, a method that is used for relative dating of the sites. Thus, using this comparative method for potteries, relative chronology of site was determined, which was consistent with the common chronology of Dez area and Central Susiana proposed by Delougaz and Kantor (1996), and corrected by Alizadeh (2003؛ 2008). Moreover, the site cultural relation with other zones was analyzed by the same comparative pottery method.
 
Geographical Situation and Research Background
Gach-e Sangi site is geographically located at the south of Gotvand city and beside a natural flood control channel leading to Karun river. This site was registered under No KS.173 (Adams, 1962), and analyzed by Wright (1969) and Johnson (1973) during previous archeological explorations. Finally, this site has excavated and surveyed in order to training archeological students. According to layer and feature system (trench I), 22 layers were identified, so that the surface layer to Layer 14 belonged to New Suse II, and Layers 15 to 22 included a combination of pottery evidence in New Suse II and New Susiana 2 (Derakhshi et al., 2015). Among the potteries under study, 86 potsherds were selected and studied comparatively.
 
Late Mid- Susiana (LMS)
Typology of the potteries in the mentioned phase includes long glasses decorated with vertical designs on external surface and zigzag designs on internal edge, large bowls with hachured lozenge, and ladder and zigzag designs. The existing designs on the above-mentioned forms are geometrical designs. Stylistic and technical similarities of this phase potteries indicate proximity to the key site and central location at Chogha Mish site (Delougaz & Kantor, 1996).
 
Late Susiana 1 (Ls1)
The potteries of this phase are very fine and well-made with a little sand and without temper in most cases. These types of potteries have usually beige to buff color on surfaces. The designs in this group also mainly includes geometrical themes. The extensive similarities of potteries in Late Susiana 1 confirms the relationship between lowland and highland regions.
 
Late Susiana 2 (LS2)
The pottery indexes in this phase include long glasses, and open and semi-circular bowls decorated with various geometrical designs. These potteries can be also compared with the ones in Suse I in Chogha Mish and upper phases of Jafarabad.
 
Conclusion
Comparative analysis of some of prominent potteries in Gach-e Sangi site, which has been feasible based on surface survey and excavation (Trench I), indicated that it has been dwelled incessantly since the Late Mid- Susiana Phase to Late Susa Phase 2 and this shows the importance of the site among eastern sites in Susiana plain and cultural continuity. It seems that Gach-e Sangi site was firstly formed in the Late Mid- Susiana beside an ancient natural flood control channel. Thus, the increased population followed by further prospecting for natural resources in less-known areas in the Mid- Susiana periods directly affected the occurrence of establishments of eastern Susiana plains, as well as this site. The pottery data of this phase was adequately found in Gach-e Sangi site simultaneously with Late Susiana 1 phase. Moreover, pottery similarities of the site with highland areas can be proved. The above-mentioned site still exists in Late Susiana 2 phase; however, this site is mainly related to central and western zones of Susiana plain in this phase. The results of comparative studies demonstrated that continuity or variations may not be only related to stylistic or technical changes in pottery tradition, but also they represent socioeconomic transformations.