Socio-economic transformations in the Tehran Plain
The project aims to pilot the collection of data regarding the frequency, distribution, density and condition of sites from the terminal Palaeolithic (c. 8000 BCE) to the Late Chalcolithic (c. 3000 BCE) in the Tehran Plain. Selected sites will be chosen for detailed survey and test excavations in order to enhance the absolute chronology of the Tehran Plain, as well as characterise site function with regards to site craft standardisation and specialisation. Geoarchaeological analysis will investigate changes to the archaeological landscape. So far, staff and students from the Universities of Durham, Bradford, Leicester and Tehran held their third season of survey and excavations directed by Prof Robin Coningham of Durham University and Dr Hassan Fazeli Nashli of the University of Tehran.
In order to study settlement distribution and function, we have conducted transect surveys in an area to the southeast of Varamin, on the Tehran Plain. Three seasons of survey have been completed to date covering areas of mountan, plain and desert. Over 90% of the sites that have been recorded have been damaged through farming and illegal excavations, prompting heritage management issues. Selected sites have been excavated in order to develop the chronology and understanding of sites. One such site, Tepe Pardis was chosen for excavation as it was threatened by an expanding clay quarry.
Excavations at Tepe Pardis in 2004 revealed six pottery kilns and a slow wheel dating to the Transitional Chalcolithic (c.5300-4300 BCE). This concentration of kilns, adjacent to a large natural deposit of clay and combined with the general lack of domestic occupation and waste at the site, suggests that Tepe Pardis represents one of the earliest specialised settlements in the Central Plateau.
