A 1st Millennium BCE Burial-Deprived Ritual Practice: New Evidences from Shahliq Kurgan, Northwestern Iran

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Department of Archaeology, Islamic Azad University, Abhar Branch, Abhar, Iran

2 Department of Archaeology, Islamic Azad University, Abhar Branch, Abhar,Iran

Abstract

Until now, the well-known Kurgans in northwestern Iran were associated with burial mounds containing burial pits;
however, discoveries in 2018 revealed mounds lacking human burials indicating still unknown rituals and ceremonies.
Shahliq Kurgan, 178 km northeast of Tabriz, is one of such Kurgans. Before the construction of Peygham-Chay Dam
by East Azerbaijan Regional Water Authority, the survey and identification of archaeological sites at the dam site
was done in 2014 in order to save the historical-cultural monuments at risk of being submerged. The first season of
rescue excavation began in 2018. The architecture of the mound, abundant stone tools, sacrificial offerings as well
as ash deposits, indicate that the mound had been a place for some special rituals and ceremonies during the early
first millennium BCE. The ash material recovered from the site suggested the tradition of cremation, a hypothesis
rejected in later anthropological experiments. It may also be one of the first sites where fire was set in an open
space for ritual purposes, since the large volume of ash could be evidence for this idea. The evidences for ecological
sequence obtained from deposits underneath a stone structure indicate that during the period of establishment of
human settlements in Bronze Age, metal extraction and smelting and extensive use of forest resources caused the
vegetation to turn from dense forests into scattered shrubs. The present study is based on field excavations as well
as library resources to study the function of burial-deprived kurgans following a descriptive analytic approach.

Keywords

References

Asgarpour, Vahid. Tirandazi, Arash and BahramAjorlou. 2016. An Introduction to theArchaeological Ethnography of the nomadicpeople of Central Karabakh, AnthropologicalResearch of Iran, Vol. 6, NO.1.
B, Yusuf. 1394. Scythians in the Land of Mannea,translated by Kamyar Abdi, Zagros ResearchQuarterly, second year / second and third issues.Pp. 75-79.
Babapiri, Javad. 2007. Report of the RescueExcavation of the Tape Kohne Pasgah behind theKhoda-Afarin Dam, the Archive of the Reports ofthe Archaeological Research Institute.
Bakhshaliyev, V. 1997. Nahçıvan Arkeolojisi/TheArchaeology of Nakhichevan. Istanbul: Arkeolojive Sanat Yayınları.
Belli, O. & V. Bahşaliyev. 2001. NahçıvanBölgesi’nde orta ve son tunç çağı boya bezemeliçanak çömlek kültürü: Middle and late bronzeage painted pottery culture in the NakhichevanRegion. Arkeoloji ve Sanat Yayınları.
Belli, Oktay, Konyar, Erkan. 2003. Dogu AnadoluBolgesinde, Erken Demir Cagi Kale veNekropolleri, Arkeolojive Sanat Yayinlari.
Brown-Burton, T. 1951. Excavation in Azarbaijan,1948, John Murrary London.
Burney, C. A. 1962. The excavations at Yanik Tepe,Azerbaijan, 1961 second preliminary report. Iraq,24(2), 134-152.
Burney, C. A. 1964. The Excavations at Yanik Tepe,Azerbaijan, 1962: Third Preliminary Report. Iraq,26(1), 54-61.
Burney. Charles. 1979. Meshkinshahr Survey, Iran,Vol XVII, PP 155-156.
Dark, Ken, R. 2000. Theoretical Archeology,translated by Kamyar Abdi, Tehran: UniversityPublishing Center, First Edition.
Davis Kimball J.; V.A Bashilove & L.T. Yablonsky, 1995. Nomads of the Eurasian Stepps in the earlyIron Ages, In: Petrenko. V.G, Melyukova. A. I,Olkhovsky V.S. Bokovenko. N.A, Zinat Press:Berkeley.
Davis Kimball, J. 2000. The Beiram Mound aNomadic Cultic Site in the Altai Mountains(Western Mongolia) Center for the study ofEurasian Nomads, Berkeley, California.
Davis-Kimball, J., 1997. A Nomadic Cultic Sitein the Altai Mountains (Western Mongolia) InArchaeology, Vol. 50, No.1 (February/May 1997)pp. 89-95.
Dyachenko, A. N; A. S Skripkin; A. I. Klepikov &Kubyshkin. 2000. Excavations of the AksaiKurgans in the Vollga-Don Region (Russia),Kurgans, Ritual Sites and Settlements, EurasianBronze and Iron Ages, Oxford: Archaeopress.
Ebtehaj, Vida. 2004. Study of the ArchitecturalStructure of Megalithic Tombs in the Iron Ageof Iran: a case study of shahar-yeri in Ardabil,Master Thesis in Archeology, Supervisor:Alireza Hojbari Nobari, Tehran: Tarbiat ModaresUniversity (unpublished).
Firoozmandi, Bahman & Meysam Labaf Khaniki.2006. Social Structure of Scythian Communitieswith an Attitude to Burial Methods, Journal ofHumanities, University of Tehran, No. 6, pp. 67-91.
Halbwachs, M. 1992. On Collective Memory, Editedtranslated, and introduced by L.A. coser. TheHeritage of sociology series. Chicago: Universityof Chicago press.
Hojabari Nobari, Alireza. 2007. Report ofarcheological excavations of the Cemeteries ofLarijan and the Sangar in Khoda-afarin RegionFirst Season, Cultural Heritage and TourismResearch Institute.
Hojabri Nobari, Alireza. 2017. Report on the Studyof Late bronze and iron Age Sites in Varzeqan,Cultural Heritage and Tourism Research Institute,Tarbiat Modares University.
Hojabri, Ali. 2007. Preliminary Descriptive Reportof Rescue Excavation Pahrooz Tappehsi– Khodaafarin,Cultural Heritage and Tourism ResearchInstitute.
Iravani Ghadim, Farshid. 2013. ArchaeologicalExcavation Report of Jafar-Abad and lower Tuai (Chapter 2). Research Institute of CulturalHeritage and Tourism.Irvani Ghadim, Farshid & Soleyman. Mamizadeh
Giglu. 2012. Typology and introduction of IronAge Ceramics of Jafar-Abad Kurgans (the FirstSeason of Excavation), Journal of ArchaeologicalStudies, No. 2, Vol. 4, (Serial No. 6), pp. 33-50.
Kuşnareva, K. K. 1997. The Southern Caucasus inPrehistory, the University Museum University ofPennsylvania: Philadelphia.
Laneri, N. 2008. An Archaeology of FuneraryRituals, University of Chicago, Second Printingwith Minor Corrections.
Özfırat, A. 2001. Doğu Anadolu yayla kültürleri:MÖ II. binyıl(Vol. 5).
Pourfaraj, Akbar. 2012. Explaining Iranian North-West Kurgan’s Culture based on survey andexcavation of Nir Boyni Yoghun Castle. Journalof Archaeological Studies. Vol 4. NO 1. Springand summer 2012. Serial number 5.
Salmanpour, Reza & Seyedeh Zahra AbtahiForoushani . 2013. Final Report of ArchaeologicalSurvey and Identification of Horand County, Vol.1-5, Archive of Archaeological Research InstituteReports.
Talbot Rice, Tamara. 2009. the Scythian, Translatedby Roghayeh Behzadi, Tehran: TahooriPublications, second edition.
Tayefeh Qahramani, Nasrin. 2014. Report on the studyand identification of the rescue of cultural andhistorical monuments in the Peygham Chay Damarea, Archive of the Archaeological ResearchInstitute.
Tayefeh Qahramani, Nasrin. 2017. Report of Surveyand identification the rescue of cultural andhistorical monuments in the Peygham Chai Damarea, Archive of the Archaeological ResearchInstitute.
Tayefeh Qahramani, Nasrin. 2018. Report on the Studyand Identification of the First Season of theRescue Excavation of Cultural and HistoricalMonuments in the Area of Peygham ChayDam,Archive of the Archaeological Research Institute.
Tayefeh Qahramani, Nasrin. 2019. Report on the Studyand Identification of the Second Season of theRescue of Cultural and Historical Monuments in the Peygham Chai Dam area, Archive of theArchaeological Research Institute.
Tayefeh Qahramani, Nasrin; Farzad Mafi & Araz Najafi.2019. Analysis of the Role of Geographical Factorsin the Spatial Distribution of the First MillenniumBC Settlements on the Banks of the PeyghamChay River (East Azerbaijan - Kaleybar), ParsehJournal of Archaeological Studies, 10 consecutive.
Iranian Journal of Archaeological Studies
Volume 11, Issue 2
2021
Pages 83-95

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics