Tepe Yahya

Tepe Yahya
Tepe Yahya is located in Iran
Tepe Yahya
Tepe Yahya
Shown within Iran
LocationKermān Province, Iran
Coordinates28°19′51″N 56°52′03″E / 28.33083°N 56.86750°E / 28.33083; 56.86750
Typesettlement
History
Founded4th–3rd millennium BC
PeriodsBronze Age
CulturesProto-Elamite, Jiroft culture, Sasanian Empire
Site notes
Excavation dates1968–1971, 1973, 1975
ArchaeologistsC. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky
ConditionRuined
OwnershipPublic
Public accessYes

Tepe Yahya (Persian: تپه یحیی) is a Bronze Age archaeological site in southeastern Iran. It is in the easternmost area of the Proto-Elamite culture. Excavations at Tepe Yahya show evidence of very early clay tablet usage and writing, early metallurgy, and the manufacture of stoneware for wide distribution. The site is a circular mound—the tell or tepe—around 20 meters high and 187 meters in diameter.[1]

Tepe Yahya is 1 km from a much larger site which was occupied in 3rd millennium BCE.[2] It is in Kermān Province, some 220 kilometres (140 mi) south of Kerman, 90 kilometres (56 mi) south of Baft and 90 km south-west of Jiroft.

History

Tepe Yahya was occupied from the 6th to 2nd millennia BC and the 10th to 4th centuries BC. In the middle of the 2nd millennium BC, the city was a production center of chlorite stone ware; these carved dark stone vessels have been found in ancient Mesopotamian temples.[3]

Chlorite vessel from Kerman Province, Iran. 3rd millennium BC - National Museum of Iran

Excavations and periodization

Tepe Yahya was excavated in six seasons (1968–1971, 1973, 1975) by the American School of Prehistoric Research of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of Harvard University in a joint operation with what is now the Shiraz University under the direction of C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Jane Britton was one of the excavators on the dig in 1968.[9]

Periodization

Periodization is as follows, starting with the most recent:

  • I (Sasanian/Parthian): 200 BC – 225 AD
  • II (Achaemenian/Hellenistic): 275–475 BC
  • III (Iron Age: 525–700 BC
  • (Abandoned)
  • IV A (Shahdad/Kaftar)i: late 3rd to early 2nd millennium BC
  • IV B (Jiroft culture/Halirud style): 2nd half of 3rd millennium BC
  • (Abandoned)
  • IV C (Proto-Elamite): c. 3000 BC
  • (Abandoned)
  • V (Yahya Culture): 3400–3800 BC
  • VI (Coarse Ware-Neolithic): 3800–4500 BC
  • VII (Neolithic) 4500–5500 BC

Findings

The Neolithic period VII strata of Tepe Yahya yielded an extremely detailed green soapstone female figurine of a phallic shape. It featured eight individually drilled orifices. An associated charcoal sample was submitted for radiocarbon dating.[10]

In the late 4th millennium BC IVC Proto-Elamite period (comparable with levels 14–16 at Susa), a monumental building covered the top of the Tepe Yahya mound. The design was similar to other Proto-Elamite sites and to the Uruk site at Habuba Kabira in Syria. It was constructed with a standardized 48 x 24 x 8 centimeter brick used throughout the complex. The buildings were designed and constructed from the outside-in using a base measure of 72 cm, approximating the "large cubit" measure used throughout the ancient Near East. It was occupied for less than a century.

Over 1,000 steatite pieces from to Period IVB were found, an indication of local manufacturing at Tepe Yahya. A steatite mine was discovered near the site. [11] The steatite vessels have been discovered across a wide geographic range. In addition to Mesopotamia, they have been recovered in Bampur and Shahr-e Sukhteh in the modern Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan.[12] They were also found in the lower levels at Mohenjodaro in India. Steatite bowls with similar motifs are also found on Tarout Island off the Arabian Peninsula, and copies have been found at Umm-an Nar in the Persian Gulf.[13]

Two Iron Age platforms from the Achaemenid period were also discovered.[14]

Metallurgy

Tepe Yahya was a site of early metallurgy. Four metal artifacts were found at the site: a copper shaft-hole axe from layer IVB5; a copper/lead theriomorphic figurine from IVB; a copper spearhead from IVC2; and a metal vessel containing jarosite along with two large biconical heulandite beads, and an alabaster vessel from IVC2.[15] The 10.6% lead content of the figurine shows that it was actually from the Late Uruk period.[16][17]

Early metallurgy has also been attested at the related Tal-i-Iblis site in Kerman province.[11]

Writing

Proto-Elamite tablet found at Tepe Yahya

Tepe Yahya yielded the oldest recovered clay tablets with Proto-Elamite script[18] Three tablets from the IVC strata were radiocarbon dated, yielding dates of 2955 BC, 2790 BC, and 3490 BC.[2]

The findings of 84 clay tablet blanks indicate that writing was being practiced at Tepe Yahya. These finds are similar to the discoveries at Susa and Tepe Sialk.[11][19][20][2]

There were 27 used tablets from Period IVC recovered; 21 of these record grain quantities, mostly for rations. Several cylinder seals and a number of cylinder sealings were found on this level, as well as beveled rim bowls.[21][22]

See also

References

  1. ^ [1] D. Potts, The Potter's Marks of Tepe Yahya, Paléorient, vol. 7, iss. 7-1, pp. 107-122, 1981
  2. ^ a b c [2] Peter Damerow and Robert K. Englund, "The Proto-Elamite Texts from Tepe Yahya", The American School of Prehistoric Research Bulletin 39, Cambridge, MA, 1989 ISBN 0-87365-542-7
  3. ^ Andrew Lawler, The World in Between Volume 64 Number 6, November/December 2011 archaeology.org
  4. ^ [3] C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Excavations at Tepe Yahya Iran 1967-1969: progress report 1, American School of Prehistoric Research Bulletin. no. 27, 1970
  5. ^ C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Tepe Yahya 1971: Mesopotamia and the Indo-Iranian Borderlands, Iran, vol. 10, pp. 89-100, 1972
  6. ^ C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Urban interaction on the Iranian plateau: Excavations at Tepe Yahya 1967-1973, Oxford University Press, 1974, ISBN 0-19-725703-8
  7. ^ [4] Clifford C. Lamberg-Karlovsky and Thomas Wight Beale, "Excavations at Tepe Yahya, Iran, 1967–1975, The early periods", Cambridge, Massachusetts 1986, ISBN 0-87365-541-9
  8. ^ [5] Clifford C. Lamberg-Karlovsky and D. T. Potts, "Excavations at Tepe Yahya, Iran, 1967–1975, The third millennium", Cambridge, Massachusetts 2001 ISBN 0-87365-549-4
  9. ^ "Archaeological Unit From Harvard Unearths Lost Fortress in Persia". Harvard Crimson. Cambridge, Massachusetts. November 12, 1968. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  10. ^ Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C., and Richard H. Meadow, "A Unique Female Figurine: The Neolithic at Tepe Yahya", Archaeology, vol. 23, no. 1, 1970, pp. 12–17, 1970
  11. ^ a b c C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, The Early Bronze Age of Iran as seen from Tepe Yahya. (with Philip Kohl) Expedition, Vol. 13, Nos. 3-4, pp. 14-22, 1971
  12. ^ Lamberg-Karlovsky, Clifford Charles, and Maurizio Tosi, "Shahr-i Sokhta and Tepe Yahya: tracks on the earliest history of the Iranian Plateau", East and West 23.1/2, pp. 21-57, 1973
  13. ^ Potts, Daniel T., "Tepe Yahya, Tell Abraq and the chronology of the Bampur sequence", Iranica Antiqua 38, pp. 1-24, 2003
  14. ^ [6] Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C., and P. Magee, "The Iron Age platforms at Tepe Yahya", Iranica antiqua 34, pp. 41-52, 1999
  15. ^ Reindell, I. and J. Riederer, "Infrarotspektralanalytische Untersuchungen von Farberden aus persischen Ausgrabungen", Berliner Beitrage zur Archdometrie 3, pp. 123-134, 1978
  16. ^ [7] Meier, David Mathias Philip, "Preliminary archaeometallurgical investigations of Bronze Age metal finds from Shahdad and Tepe Yahya", Iranian Journal of Archaeological Studies 1.2, pp. 25-34, 2011
  17. ^ Heskel, D.& C.C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, "An alternative sequence for the development of metallurgy: Tepe Yahya, Iran" In T.A Wertime & J.D. Muhly (eds.) The Coming of the Age of Iron, pp. 229-266, 1980
  18. ^ [8] Beale, Thomas W., and Sarah M. Carter, "On the track of the Yahya large kuš: evidence for architectural planning in the Period IVC complex at Tepe Yahya", Paléorient, pp. 81-88, 1983
  19. ^ C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, The Proto-Elamite Settlement at Tepe Yahya, Iran, vol. 9, pp. 87-96, 1971
  20. ^ [9] Mutin, Benjamin, "The Proto-Elamite Settlement and its Neighbors: Tepe Yahya Period IVC", ed. C.C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Oxbow Books / American School of Prehistoric Research Publications, 2013 ISBN 978-1-78297-419-2
  21. ^ Lamberg-Karlovsky, Clifford Charles, "Proto-Elamite account tablets from Tepe Yahya, Iran", Kadmos 10, pp. 97-9, 1971
  22. ^ Beale T., "Bevelled Rim Bowls and their Implications for Change and Economic Organization in the Later Fourth Millennium B.C.", Journal of Near Eastern Studies 37, pp. 289-313, 1978

Further reading

  • Amiran, Ruth. "More about the Chalcolithic culture of Palestine and Tepe Yahya." Israel Exploration Journal, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 157–162, 1976
  • Burney, Charles, "Tepe Yahya: its implications for Near Eastern archaeology", Antiquity 49.195, pp. 191–196, 1975
  • Lamberg-Karlovsky, Carl C., and Maurizio Tosi, "The Proto-Elamite community at Tepe Yahya: Tools of administration and social order", South Asian Archaeology 4, pp. 104–114, 1985
  • Kamilli, Diana C., and C. C. Lamberg‐Karlovsky, "Petrographic and electron microprobe analysis of ceramics from Tepe Yahya, Iran", Archaeometry 21.1, pp. 47–59, 1979
  • [10] Peter Magee: Excavations at Tepe Yahya, Iran, 1967-1975: The Iron Age Settlement, ISBN 0-87365-550-8
  • Piperno, Marcello, "The Lithic Industry of Tepe Yahya A Preliminary Typological Analysis", East and West 23.1/2, pp. 59–74, 1973
  • Mutin, Benjamin, C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, and Leah Minc, "Investigating ceramic production during the Proto-Elamite period at Tepe Yahya, southeastern Iran: Results of instrumental neutron activation analysis of periods IVC and IVB ceramics", Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 7, pp. 849–862, 2016
  • Negahban, Ezat O., "The Tepe Yahya excavation permit", Iranica antiqua 37, pp. 229–232, 2002
  • D. T. Potts, "The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State", Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-521-56496-4
  • Shafiee, Mojgan, et al., "The Absolute and Relative Chronology of Tepe Vakilabad: A Reappraisal of the Chronology of the Chalcolithic Period of Tepe Yahya in SE Iran", Journal of Research on Archaeometry 5.1, pp. 81–94, 2019
  • Thornton, Christopher P., et al., "On pins and needles: tracing the evolution of copper-base alloying at Tepe Yahya, Iran, via ICP-MS analysis of common-place items", Journal of Archaeological Science 29.12, pp. 1451–1460, 2002
  • M. L., Eda Vidali and C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, "Prehistoric Settlement Patterns around Tepe Yahya: A Quantitative Analysis", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 237–250, 1976
  • [11] Yazdani, Sahar, and Rouhollah Yousefi Zoshk, "Tribute or Taxation; New Evidence of the Structure of Iran's Political Economy in the Proto-Elamite Period Based on a Proto-Elamite Tablet from Tepe Yahya: TY. 11, Kept in National Museum of Iran", Journal of Iran National Museum 1.1, pp. 83–92, 2020 (in farsi?)
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