Technological Changes in Pottery Production during the Third Millennium BCE: A Case Study of Tol-e Qaleh in the Kur Basin, Fars, Iran

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Department of Archaeology, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran.

2 Iranian Center for Archaeological Research (ICAR), Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

The third millennium BCE in the Kur River basin of Fars is marked by the two cultures of Banesh and Kaftari.
Scholars have assumed a gap in the chronological sequence between these two periods, suggesting that sedentary
communities became largely dispersed during this time span. Tol-e Qaleh, a settlement site from the third
millennium BCE in the eastern Kur basin, was surveyed and excavated in 2021 and 2022. The earliest and latest
contexts identified by the stratigraphic excavations represent the Banesh and the Shogha-Timuran, respectively.
Through laboratory examinations of a distinct pottery type, namely the red ware dating to the Banesh, a transitional
phase, and Kaftari period, the present study aimed at exploring the technological transformations in the pottery of
the third millennium BCE at Tol-e Qaleh: Was there continuity in the industry, or is a discontinuity evident? To
this end, eight pottery samples were subjected to X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) tests as
well as petrography. The previously established presence of “anorthite phase” in the local soil attested to the local
provenance of the assemblages dating to the Banesh, transitional, and Kaftari periods at Tol-e Qaleh. Moreover,
the results of chemical analyses suggested that the constituent elements of the potsherds remained consistent
throughout the third millennium BCE at the site.

Keywords

References

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Iranian Journal of Archaeological Studies
Volume 14, Issue 2
December 2024
Pages 45-56

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