Craft Specialization at Shahdad: Pottery Production During the Third Millennium BC

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Department of Archaeology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Archaeology, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran

Abstract

Many potteries have been discovered from excavations and a surface survey at Shahdad, but few works have been
done to examine craft specialization in pottery production at this important site. Different types of potteries, some of
which bearing potter marks demonstrate that craftsmen of the site had involved in manufacturing of centralized pottery
production. A number of kilns and many waste of pottery could also support the above idea.
Therefore, the aim of this paper is to examine why of pottery manufacturing at Shahdad, which could be considered as
craft quarter for pottery production. It seems that pottery production at Shahdad had been affected by its environmental
conditions. This interaction between craftsmen and environment caused for manufacturing of special types of potteries at
Shahdad. It is necessary to state that this interaction has also caused for standardization in pottery production at the site
during the third millennium BC.

Keywords

References

Bogucki, p.1999 The Origins of Human Society. Oxford:Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
Childe, V.G.1979 The Urban Revolution. In G. L. Possehl (ed.)Ancient Cities of the Indus: 12-17. NewDelhi: Vikas Publishing House Pvt Ltd.
Coningham, R. A. E.1995 Dark Age or Continuum? An ArchaeologicalAnalysis of the Second Emergence ofUrbanism in South Asia. In F. R. Allchin (ed.)The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia,The Emergence of Cities and States: 54-73.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Costin, C. L.1991 Craft Specialization: Issues in Defining,Documenting, and Explaining theOrganization of Production. ArchaeologicalMethod and Theory: 1-55. Tucson: TheUniversity of Arizona Press.Dimitrova, Christina.
2008 Pottery Production in Ancient Greece. In R. I.
Kostov; B. Gaydarska & M. Gurova (eds.)Processding of the International Conference29-30 October 2008: 108-110. Sofia.
Haggett, P.1966 Locational Analysis in Human Geography.New York: St. Martin’s press.
Hakemi, Ali.1973 Excavations around Dasht-i-Lut: Discoveryof Prehistoric Civilization at Khabis,Shahdad.Art and People (In Persian) 126: 75-83.
1997 Shahdad: Archaeological Excavations of aBronze Age Center in Iran. Rome: IsMEO
Hakemi, A & S.M.S. Sajjadi.1988 Shahdad Excavations in the Context of theOases Civilization. In Giancarlo Ligabue &
Sandro Salvatore (eds.) Bactria: An AncientOasis Cvilization from the Sands ofAfghanistan, Venice: 143- 153.
Hiebert, F. T. & C. C. Lamberg- Karlovsky.
1992 Central Asia and Indo- Iranian Borderlands.Iran 30: 1-15.Kardovani, Parviz.
1971 Soils of Shahdad. Journal of HistoricalStudies (In Persian) Period 6. Tehran:University of Tehran
Leeuw, S. E. Van der.1977 Toward a Study of the Economics of PotteryMaking. Ex Horreo 4: 68-76.
Majjidzade, Yousef.1989 Beginning of Urbanization in Iran (InPersian). Tehran: University Press Centre.
Mariani, L.1984 Craftsmen’s quarters in the Proto- urbansettlements of the Middle East: thesurface analysis. South Asian Archaeology:118-124. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress:Mashhadi, Naser; Seyed Kazem Alavi Panah & HasanAhmadi.2002 The Geomorphological Study of Yardangs ofLut Desert. Desert (In Persian)7(2): 25-43.
Orton, C.2012 Indicators of craft specialisation in medievalceramics from north - west Russia. InM. Brisbane (ed.) The Archaeology ofMedieval Novgorod in Its Wider Context: AStudy of Centre/periphery Relations. UK:Oxbow Books. .
Salvatori, S.1977 A Brief Surface Survey at Shahdad.Unpublished Paper.
Salvatori, S. & M. Vidale.1982 A brief surface survey of the proto-historicsite of Shahdad (Kerman, Iran): preliminaryreport. Rivista di Archeologia VI: 5-10.
Shepard, A.1956 Ceramics for the Archaeologist. Washington,D. C: Carnegie Instituton of Washington.
Smith, C.1975 Production in Western Guatemala: A Test ofvon Thunen and Boserup. In Formal Methodsin Economic Anthropology. In S. Plattner (ed.)American Anthropological Association SpecialPublication 4: 5- 38. Washington: USA.
Tainter, J. A.1988 The Collapse of Complex Societies.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tosi, M.1984 The Notion of Craft Specialization and itsRepresentation in the Archaeological Recordof Early States in the Turanian Basin. In M.Spriggs (ed.) Marxist Perspective inArchaeology: 22-53. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.
Vidale, M; Oliver Craig; Francois Desset; GiuseppeGuida; Pierluigi Bianchetti; Giancarlo Sidoti; MaurizioMariottini& Enrico Battistella.2012 A chlorite container found on the surfaceof shahdad (kerman, Iran) and its cosmeticcontent. Iran 50: 27-42.

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics