فهرست مطالب hassan fazeli nashli

The communities of the Kura- Araxes cultural complex with their highly distinctive cultural and economic features represent the occupation of some parts of the Near East and Caucasia during the Bronze Age.  Generally, the origin of this culture is sought in the Southern Caucasus. In Iran, the spread of this cultural tradition represents not only a rupture in the cultural development of the Mesopotamian traditions. Environmental changes linked to Rapid Climate Change (RCC) also forced the population to develop new economic strategies. Until about two decades ago, knowledge of the flourishing Kura Araxes occupation was limited to the north-west of the country and to some parts of the Central Zagros, but recent research in the zones south and north of the Alborz Mountain Range, on the northern edge of the Central Plateau allows by now to present a more detailed picture of the Kura Araxes occupation in both diachronic and synchronic perspective. Recent archaeological excavations in the two sites of Qaleh Tepe and Ali Yourd Tepe revealed some important new data from Kura-Araxes settlements in the corridor of the north Central Plateau and northwestern Iran. The two sites are located in the eastern Zanjan Province in the Abhar Rood Basin. This paper aims to update the chronology of the Kura-Araxes culture based on the radiocarbon dates from the two sites of Qaleh Tepe and Ali Yourd Tepe. The stratigraphy and radiocarbon dates of the two sites reveal the beginning of the Kura-Araxes culture in the region from c. 2900 BCE, followed by a quick extension into the northern Central Plateau, where it is represented by sites such as Shizar, Doranabad, Ostur, and Barlekin. Similarity and diversity characterize the Kura-Araxes cultural complex.  However, based on the current data, the ceramic style represents a common feature, but also the architectural remains indicate a common cultural tradition during the first quarter of the third millennium BCE in the Central Zagros, northwestern Iran, and on the Central Plateau

Simultaneously with the formation of class societies and civilizations in Mesopotamia, there was an increasing need for various sources. The civilizations in the Mesopotamian Plain, due to their limited and in some cases the lack of such sources, were forced to establish extensive connections with another areas. Tukrish is one of the areas that has been considered by the Mesopotamians in this regard. In Most of the researches that have been done on the approximate location of Tukrish, scattered references to this area in the inscriptions, have led researchers to consider only a few limited inscriptions for the final conclusion. In addition, there is an imbalance in the investigation of inscriptions and ancient works, among the researches related to Tukrish. For these reasons, various ancient areas and cultures have been proposed for this toponymy. In this research, an attempt has been made to investigate about the inscriptions related to Tukrish, ancient mining and trade routes, in order to suggest the most suitable area for it. In the Mesopotamian inscriptions, Tukrish is introduced as a mountainous land, with a political system of princely settlements, with various mines and as a commercial intermediary. Tukrish is first attested in Ur III period. According to archaeological findings, a lapis lazuli and tin trade route was formed in the north of the Iranian plateau in the Ur III period. According to the available evidence, Tukrish was located somewhere on this trade route, in the northwest on Iran and the east of Assyria. According to the mentioned mines for Tukrish, its more precise location can be considered as the boundary between the two mining axes of Astana-Sarband and Takab-Dashkasen. This placement guarantees access to gold, silver and tin mines in the Sanandaj-Sirjan orogenic axis, especially Takab and Shazand mines, which have many ancient mining artifacts.

The early Bronze age of the southeastern Iran has been a major topic of discussion among scholars due to the discovery of Bronze Age urban centers in southeastern Iran, such as Shahr e Soukhte, Shahdad and Konar Sandal (Jiroft). Specialization is one of the main characteristics of urban societies. The manufacture and production of stone objects of different types such as chlorite, marble, travertine and lapis lazuli is one of the prominent features of the Southeast civilizations during the Bronze Age. The chlorite stone objects of the Jiroft civilization are considered the most significant archeological findings in the cultural basin of Halilrud. So far, many researches have been done on the iconography, production and distribution patterns of these vessels. Several interdisciplinary researches have been conducted on the origin and structure of some of these stone objects. Based on interdisciplinary studies, this article discusses the chronology of chlorite objects as well as their structure and their possible provenances in the south of Kerman province. Chlorite samples from two production workshops in Jiroft Plain - Konarsandal and Varamin – were analysed using thin section petrography and XRD methods.The different studies conducted on various samples from different sites and mines reveals that they used multiple sources such as the western mountainous areas (Esfandagheh) as well as southern regions.
In addition, the results of the analysis on two samples using the Accelerator Mass Spectrometer suggests new dates for the chlorite vessels. it was previously believed that these objects date back to the second half of the third millennium B.C. (2500-2000 BC) but with the recent results it is revealed that the chlorite objects of Jiroft were produced at least in a span of a thousand year from the early third millennium to the early of the second millennium BC.

The study of architecture and architectural decorations is one of the most basic archaeological tools for the recognition of ancient cultures and societies. However, despite its importance as the prologue of Iranian architecture in the historical period (i.e., Median and Persian architecture), Iranian Iron Age architecture has been studied less than it deserves. Painted bricks and tiles— which are found across different regions of Iran, e.g., the Northwest, Luristan, and the Central Plateau at ancient sites such as Hasanlu, Qalaichi, Rabat, Baba Jan, Qoli Darvish, Sialk, Shamshirgah, and Gholam Tape—are among the most significant elements of Iron Age architecture, about which our knowledge has grown considerably over the last few decades. The present article deals with the descriptions of the aforementioned bricks and their typology. We try to show how much these bricks have been influenced by the art of neighboring nations. This article also aims to indicate the function of these painted bricks, and by extension, the function of the buildings on which these bricks are adorned. The research results suggest that these bricks can be divided into three distinct categories that are consistent with a triple political and geographical division of Iran during the first half of the first millennium BCE. The research also shows that despite the fact that these bricks have been influenced by the art of neighboring regions, they are indigenous and have been made by native artisans. It seems that the painted bricks of the Iranian Iron Age are mostly used in religious buildings and temples of this time.

The societies of the northern and southern zones of the “Iranian Central Plateau” flourished during the last quarter of fourth millennium BCE. This floruit was marked by the rise of complex social systems, long distance trade, and new systems for the management of economic activities, such as the “proto-Elamite writing system” (Vidale 2018; Helwing 2019; Fazeli Nashli and Nokandeh 2019). This evidence supports the view that the inhabitants of the Iranian Plateau during this time were connected to each other, represented by a relatively uniform writing system and similar economic organization. However, nowadays we know that the similarity of the “Grey Ware Culture” occurring in Proto-Elamite sites of the north-central Plateau such as Sofalin, Qoli Darvish, Meymanatabad and Sialk also suggests inter-regional contact, beyond the “Proto-Elamite phenomenon” during the last quarter of fourth millennium BCE. The population of the whole of the north Central Plateau appears to have dispersed during the third millennium BCE and current information suggests that most Chalcolithic settlements were gradually abandoned beginning around 3400 BCE, and that the hiatus in settled occupation continued throughout the third millennium BCE. This may be connected with climatic events during the last quarter of the fourth millennium BCE, characterized by aridity and increased aeolian activity, which destabilized the agriculture system. As Vidale postulated (Vidale et al. 2018) the social evolution of the Central Plateau, based on non-centralized networks during the Chalcolithic period and were extinguished shortly after 3000 BC but shaped again shortly which was different from the previous period.  This paper will summarize the findings of these excavations and propose a chronological framework for these social and cultural changes from the late fourth to the early 1st millennia BCE. In this paper we document the intra-regional societal developments and inter-regional material culture connections that made the third and second millennia BCE such a dynamic time.

Tepe Jelo Asiab was excavated as part of the Talvar Dam salvage project in 2009. The main objectives of the present study included the classification and typology of the Iron III pottery from the site, and establishing whether there was a continuity or break between the Iron III cultures of the Central Zagros and other concurrent pottery horizons across Iran. The established pottery classification provided the required basis for a relative chronology. The results indicated that the analyzed sample, while displaying certain local and indigenous characteristics, was strongly inspired by the general Iron III tradition that characterized almost all the contemporaneous assemblages across Iran. Given the utilitarian nature of the considered pieces and the low percentage of storage vessels as well as the exposed architecture, Jelo Asiab gives the impression of a summer base camp that provided shelter for local nomads not only during the Iron III but also in the later periods.

A joint program by the University of Tehran and the University of Leicester carried out a first season of archaeological exploration of Zoroastrian societies in Maybod, Yazd province during May 2016 for two weeks. Historical archaeology is still in its infancy in Iran. Due to extensive modernization vast amounts of data have been lost and therefore most research into the recent past can be considered as salvage program.  The aim of this research is to explore some aspects of the social history and ritual activities of the last communities of Zoroastrian societies of Yazd province based on the analysis of architectural layout, archaeological survey of the contemporary villages, interview, and historical records. Here we represent the preliminary report of the survey results of Mazra’e Kalantar and Asr’ Abad villages. In this paper we have clarified the architectural patterns and the typology of buildings of Zoroastrian communities. We have analyzed two different buildings types of religious and domestic spaces of Mazra’e Kalantar and Asr’ Abad villages. The second part of this paper is focused on the ethnographic results in order to achieve a holistic understanding of life experience based on the historical knowledge of local people.

Introduction Iran in the Transitional Chalcolithic periodTracking the emergence of political authority and social hierarchy in the archaeological record has been one of the major challenges addressed by archaeologists in the past fifty years or more, with considerable attention given to potential material correlates of early stages in developments leading ultimately toward statehood (Chapman 2003; Smith 2012). Much of this research has explored the evidence from past societies of the ancient Near East, including Mesopotamia and Iran (Wright 1998; Flannery 1999; Smith 2003), but there has been less investigation of the communities of the Iranian plateau in this light (Matthews and Fazeli 2004). What was their role(s) in the complex series of socio-political developments leading to the appearance of hierarchical societies in the centuries between 5500 and 4000 BC, and how might the archaeological evidence inform us on those roles? Recent and ongoing research into societies of the Iranian plateau in the so-called Transitional Chalcolithic period (5200-4200 BC) is continuing to enhance our understanding of this question. In this article we summarise and analyse the evidence from archaeological investigations of sites and regions on the Tehran, Kashan, and Qazvin plains, addressing in turn settlement patterns, subsistence strategies, craft production, and mortuary practices (Fig. 1).

Pottery is one of the cultural evidences that its developments in different times are important archaeological indicators. Pottery can be viewed from different aspects. Appearance features such as form, shape, color, decoration and pottery production technology have changed over time. In this research, with the study of the technology of the pottery obtained from the excavation of the Sagzabad Tepe in Qazvin plain, which is one of the important areas of excavation in the central plateau of Iran, the period of the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age has been investigated. In this study, with focus on the pottery in this region, new information on the production of pottery has been obtained. To determine the chemical composition of the potteries, a series of excavated objects consisting of a selection of potteries from each period were analyzed using the ICP-OES method and a statistical comparison of the data obtained from the measurement of 40 elements was performed consisting of the major, minor and trace ones. The correlation coefficient of the analyzed samples also was   studied. Comparing the results obtained from the analysis of potteries according to the hypothesis suggests that all potteries are probably local productions and it is possible that they have been produced in the same region (clay sources) in different periods.is possible that they have been produced  in the same region (clay sources) in different periods.

The archeology of the modern period, studying the features of the modern world, becomes more extensive and adds to the subjects of research, the scope of geography and its methodological necessities. This article first identifies the basic structures of this approach by looking at the archeology of the new period and then, with a preliminary statement of the historical conditions of Iran in the modern period, discusses its value for historical and ethnoarchaeological studies in the country. The method of this article is documentative. The study of the material culture of the modern period in Iran (with the exception of what is the subject of study by scholars of art history) has little history; accordingly, limited archaeological research of the new period in Iran has not yet been studied. The interdisciplinarity of the above approach makes it possible to study some other types of activities as a study in the material culture of the modern era. In particular, ethnoarchaeology and historical archaeology have provided valuable experience for research in the late period, which can be a good model for the study of material culture in the future.

The expansion of socio-economic complexities in Central Plateaue of Iran (CPI) occurred during the transitional and early chalcolithic Periods (5th millennium BCE). Methodology of the present research based on the analysis of pottery data and some other backup and complementary evidences of the 5th millenniume BCE which have been discovered in Qazvin and Tehran Plains’ archaeological surveys, newly added sites’ excavations such as Chahar Boneh and Ebrahim Abad, reexcavations of some prehistoric sites such as Zaghe, Qabrestan and Sialk, and finally, laboratories researches and chronological studies in CPI region. Pottery production which was commonplace in the form of household in the half of the 6th millennium BCE in CPI’s societies, gradually, was specialized due to improving of the pottery production and painting from Sialk I1-3 to Sialk I4-5. The important changes that occurred in this period are included: the increasing of prehistoric sites in Tehran Plain; the producing of counting objects in Zagheh; putting gifts made of non-native raw materials in the graves of Zagheh; the appearance of elegant and red pottery of Cheshmeh Ali in the area of CPI; and production and baking of pottery in advanced furnaces in Tepe Pardis. Most of mentioned evidences certificates on the prevalence of workshop production activities in this period. Some important developments, such as advances in architecture, metalworking and pottery, took place from the early Chalcolithic (Sialk III1-3) to the late Chalcolithic (III6-7b). Also, the evidences of copper ore melting were obtained in Qabrestan and Sialk in this period. The existence of planning and organization in the societies of the 5th millennium BCE in CPI is proven by the use of potter's wheel, the exploitation of advanced pottery furnaces, the decoration of interior and exterior surfaces of potteries with geometric, plant, animal, human and narrative designs, and using characteristics such as proportionality, symmetry, composition and framing are the reasons of the specialized production.

Recently, three season of archeological investigation on the Esfandagheh plain in Kerman province has been carried and several Neolithic sites back to seven and six millennium BC has been recorded in this region. Among these, Gav Koshi is a small Neolithic site less than one hectares and has been located in the northwest city of Jiroft. Based on the results of three season of excavations, the site has two important ceramic Neolithic phase of early seventh (with more than 500 years of occupation) and late seventh millennium BC with some gaps between on it. In recent chronological study, Khanipour and Niknami (2017) propose the following chronological tables for the Fars regions includes Transitional Rahmat Abad (7500-7000 BC), Formative Mushki (7000-6400 BC), Mushki (6400-6000 BC), Jari (6000-5600 BC) and Shams Abad (5600-5200 BC) and therefore, the first phase of Gav Koshi back to the Formative Gav Koshi (700-6500 BC) with local development. While the site abandoned for a short period of time, it was reoccupied again during the Gav koshi period (ca. 6400-6000 BC, see table 1). The ceramics of the first phase is completely local and handmade with a fine greyish slip covered on the surface. The red geometric broken lines applied on the exterior around the neck of bowls or diamond used the entire of surface???. The houses were made with mudbrick structures (35×12×12 cm), sometimes the thickness of mudbrick is 50 cm, and so three mudbrick contains the thickness of wall, where they have been usually joint to each other.  The houses dimensions were usually between 2.50 m to 4 m, indicates enough space for each family. Usually, the floor was covered by red ochre.  For the roof, they usually used local reed which is still grow in the region. One of the important discovery of Gav Koshi was a room with dimensions of 285×360 cm, with a floor raised look like a platform and the floor carefully painted with red ochre. The whole internal walls were also painted with red ochre. Numerous of animal bones and also lots of human and animal figuries were found inside the room, indicates that the room had been probably used for ritual practices.  The second phase was very close to the surface and it seems by the time the archtectural remains have been destroyed. While the ceramic of the lower layers indicates local development, but chronologically, the ceramics of upper layers reveal regional chrecterestics similar with Kushk-e Hezar, Mushki/Bashi, Qasr e-Ahmad and Harmangan in the Fars region (Khanipour and Niknami, 2017). During the second phase of Gav Koshi, several samples of mortars and pestles found with the obsidian cores and blades, all indicates regionalization of Kerman Neolithic during the last quarter of seven millennium BC.

The archaeological survey and identification of the Patak Plain in Deh Luran was carried out during the winter of 2016 titled “Drainage Survey and Identification Number 23” as one of the 10 Rescue Programs of the National Tropical Plan. Detection, documentation, national registration, determining the area and frontage of archaeological sites, and contingent necessary rescue excavations, were the main aims of this survey program. Patak plain is located in a definite environs between rivers Dowirag and Chichab, and the highlands of Mamelah and Dalpari southeastern of Deh Luran. During this survey which was done intensive and systematic methodologically, 58 mounds, sites and areas and two chains of ducts (Qanat) were discovered. Many evidences related to various phases of Village Periods were gathered from 22 sites of the given ancient areas. The material of the Initial Village Period (Bus Mordeh, Ali Kosh, Mohammad Ja’far, Sefid and Sorkh) were observed on the surface of 10 sites. 12 settlements were belong to CMT (Chagha Mami Transition), Sabz and Khazineh related to the Early Village Period. Increasing the number of settlements was the most important event in Patak Plain during the Middle Village Period. We have gathered the cultural material of this period in 17 sites. The number of sites decreased into 7 settlements during Late Village Period (the Susa A and Sargarab phases) extremely. Despite of the western portion of Deh Luran Plain in which many archaeological surveys and excavations have been conducted, its eastern part, mainly, Patak Plain was unknown. The performance of the present survey has pave the way to put some questions upon settlement pattern, chronology and regional interactions of the plain. We have analyzed the gathered material from the all sites to determine the position of chronology, to understand the situation of sites’ settling, and to distinguish the cultural interactions of Patak Plain. We have analyzed the data base of the survey and then classified and typed the sherds and lithics and objects, and studied them in relation with contemporary sites of vicinity regions comparatively to achieve a chronological result. The importance of the archaeological situation of Patak Plain was defined by doing of this survey. Moreover, we could improve our understanding of the number of sites and the position of their settlings, and the level of interrelations of the Patak Plain internally and externally during the four phases of Village Period (Initial, Early, Middle and Late). Finding of the stone tools and objects the same as those of Bos Mordeh and Ali Kosh phases in some sites of this region, intensifies a hypotheses of synchronous village period life by Patak Plain and western part of Deh Luran Plain residents. The most important point on Early Village Period in Patak Plain were the abandonment of some sites and the formation of new settlements. These occurrences are analyzable on the basis of easy and favorable access to ecological variables, and forced abandonment of some members of early village period original sites because of populations’ increase further site-catchment of settlements. Patak Plain faced with increasing of the number of sites (17) and abundance of population in middle village period. The number of settlements has reduced to 7 sites during late village period. Settlements in Patak plain have been begun from the Bus Mordeh and Ali Kosh phases and continued to Mohammad Ja’far period in which an important innovation in technology i.e. ceramic production was begun. Pottery shards of the various village periods in Patak Plains are comparative with simultaneous sites in Deh Luran Plain, Eastern Susiana (Chagha Mish and Chagha Bonut), and Western Susiana (Djowi, Ja’farabad and Susa).

One of the interdisciplinary approaches which recently had a key role in resolving of archaeological issues, especially domestication process, was Archaeogenetics. Caprines were domesticated in the early Neolithic period and their domestication was a major part of the process that led to the invention of agriculture. Since goat has had a key role in subsistence economy of human societies in different environments hence it became one of the main aims of archeogentics studies. By use of aDNA of goats and archaeogenetics approaches, this paper extracted and analyzed 10 samples of goat aDNA from Neolithic period of Kashan and Qazvin plains and determined their phylogenetic relations with modern domestic and wild goats to shed more light on the life of late Neolithic society of central plateau of Iran. Results show that these samples have closest genetic relations with haplogroup A of wild goats which now live in southeastern of Turkey. Hence archeogenetic evidences show that by 7500 B.P, Neolithic societies of Iran central plateau used goats which were domesticated about 10000 B.P in southeastern Turkey.

The study of circumstances surrounding the development of record-keeping for information purposes, and of what these records looked like in prehistoric human societies has always been of significance in archaeological research. Such research is important because it relates to the beginnings of the use of accounting which came to be one of the main elements of institutionalized management and bureaucracies under urbanization and in historical periods. Tepe Zāgheh is one of the key sites during the transitional period from Neolithic to Chalcolithic period in the Qazvin Plain, having provided a considerable collection of tokens (counting objects) in addition to various other pieces of the archaeological evidence discovered in the excavations carried out there. Thus 238 Zāgheh tokens were available for typological study and theoretical analysis. The principal goals of this paper are to re-identify accounting and reckoning systems at Tepe Zāgheh and to identify the evolutionary stages of these systems in Zāgheh. It is apparent from implemented studies that Zāgheh society had an early form of accounting system for keeping track of farming products and of animal counts, and that tokens were the principal devices used in this process.

Mehran Plain is located in the cultural region of South West Iran. Studying the geographic location of this region in relation to the formation of early states is important. The cultural materials of Chogha‌ Ahowan in Mehran plain would explain the process of urbanization and Cultural interactions of this region with its neighbors. According to the surveys conducted to collect necessary pottery materials from the simultaneous adjacent areas, potteries of trench II attributed to the early urbanization and urbanization period were classified and analyzed. These potteries on the basis of forms are divided into seven groups including jar, crock, bowl, tray, spout vessels, handle vessels and miniature vessels. Based on the typology and the characteristics of each pottery type we tried to represent a clear result of the pottery industry for the area during the early urbanization and urbanization periods.

This paper presents the petrographic examination results on the thirteen pottery sherds from the first season of excavation of Tepe Gratziani in Sistan plain. In order to specify whether the pottery were local or imported، conducted experiments have been performed by polarizing microscope of Jame Swift Model in the petrographic lab of the Institute of Cultural Heritage which based on the review of test results and geological map of the area. It became clear that the source of all the pottery is local and also the remained structure of kilns demonstrates the local production of Tepe Gratziani’s pottery. Sections of examining pottery sherds show that the baking temperature has not been more than 800 centigrade due to the presence of Meekers “tiny calcite crystals” with less than 4 microns in size as well as the presence of Asparay “coarse calcite crystal” in the pottery sections.

Water resources throughout human history have always been an important factor in attracting human settlement. The main purpose of this paper was to investigate what is the role of Shadchay River in the location of two prehistoric settlements that are called Tepe Meymon Abad. In this research by field studies and also to investigate the characteristics of the sediments, samples were taken from the trenches of archaeological sites and remains of ancient waterway. The results obtained are compared with each other and also the necessary maps were plotted by using GIS and Freehand software. The results of the geoarchaeological studies show that these two sites are located on the alluvial plains and on the end of the Karaj alluvial fans. The fine-grained alluvial fan deposits of the Karaj, has created favorable conditions for the human settlement in this area. According to the samples taken and all evidence, probably in the past, a tributary of the Karaj river flowed in a course which is different from its nowadays water way and consequently by its redirection the settlement moved and transferred to a location closer to the river.

Aiming to identify and record the Prehistoric sites of the Mehrān Plain، the archaeological survey was carried out During the March of 2010; this، has lid to identifying 36 archaeological sites including tell site، open air site and rock-shelter. Of them، 15 sites have attributed to the Prehistoric Times; Of which، the Village period sites being studied and presented over this article. Overall، 1 site can be attributed to the Pre-pottery Neolithic، 2 sites Initial Village Period، 5 sites Early Village period، 8 Sites Middle Village Period and 3 sites can be attributed to the Late Village Period. The undertaking investigations have attested the high interaction between the prehistoric societeis of the Plain with neighbor areas in Khuzestan and Dehluran ine the east and Mesopotamia in the west of the Plain. This paper is trying to focus on the attributed sites to the Prepottery Neolithic to the Late Village period Settlements.

Archaeological excavations on the western part of the Central Iranian Plateau، known as the Qazvin Plain provides invaluable information about the sedentary communities from early occupation to the later prehistoric era. Despite the past archeological data، chronological studies mostly rely on the relative use of the Bayesian modeling for stratigraphically-related radiocarbon dates. The current paper provides a new model for excavations and the chronological framework based on new radiocarbon dating of the six key archeological enclosures in the Qazvin plain. A Bayesian analysis of these data is presented on a site-by-site basis to give the best chronologies. Finally، all dates are combined into a single model of the chronology of the Qazvin Plain from the Late Neolithic to the Iron Age. The procedure aims to use the Bayesian model to predict the transition points between the archaeologically-defined periods with the highest possible precision، to redefine the existing chronology for the Qazvin Plain.

Regional archaeological survey involves identifying archaeological traces and sites that can provide a good picture about inter and extra cultural relationships in the region. However, systematic sampling involves dividing the survey area into a sampling frame that gives us details data and information from the sit. Since the Khorāsān area is poorly studied in the prehistoric period, we chose Tappeh Borj which is located near Nishapur for stratified systematic sampling in order to get better understanding about cultural and archaeological characteristics on the site and the region. In the following we will mention the results of typology and classification of archaeological findings. Based on the archaeological evidence, we would argue that there was a local culture in the site because there is no significant correlation with neighboring areas.

Archaeological investigation in the Qazvin plain during the 1970s presented new light to study the cultural developments of Iranian prehistory. In spite of its significance, these studies faced with two main problems of the inadequacy of using secure chronological data and the second was that some of the excavators when found new ceramic types suggested the migration and invasion of new people within the central plateau. This paper revised the chronology of the fifth millennium BC sites based on the c14 dates and stratigraphic sequences in order to show the cultural historical approaches is not significant to understand the cultural carnages of the region. This is significant that the new chronological studies clearly show there is no relationship between the abandonment of old sites and settling of news sites. There are large gap between the sties which abandoned during the fifth millennium BC sites such as Tepe Sialk North to the emerging of new sites such as Sialk South. We suggested sits such as Sialk abandonment caused by natural phenomenon such as highly sedimentation and flooded from 5900 BC to 4500 BC and therefore such abandoned was not originated by invasion. This paper is also suggested that the fifth millennium BC communities of the Iranian central plateau can be view as tribal ranked societies and it is still too early suggest external warfare. It is important to say that when we see new ceramic types it is better to address it as an innovation and interaction rather an external stimuli for change.

The archaeological record is an insufficiently defined concept. The concept is used by archaeologists as a model for their evidence. As a model, it brings metaphysical implications to archaeological theory. Some of the implications of the concept of the archaeological record show that there are actually two different models of archaeological evidence as a record: physical model and textual model. Different conceptions of the archaeological record disagree more fundamentally on the formation processes that have produced the record.

The typology and classification of ceramic assemblages, obtained from archaeological investigation and excavations, is one of the standard methods in archeological studies. In this paper, characteristics and parameters of ceramic types of Tehran plain from late Neolithic period to the late Chalcolithic period have been studied, based on the typology the of ceramic collections of the second season of excavation at Tepe Pardis. These kinds of investigations help us study the traditions and styles of pottery in each and among different periods. The outcome of this study can be applied for the classification of prehistoric ceramics in the Central Plateau of Iran.

In March 2004, a fluxgate gradiometer survey was conducted over Tepe Ghabristan, covering approximately 6ha of ground. It identified further areas of the Iron Age cemetery with possible grave pits (Areas B and C). In addition, an irrigation channel was discovered which could be contemporary to these Iron Age graves (Area D). The anomalies in Area E can be interpreted as buried structural remains, possibly linked to metalworking.