The Reflection of Ecological and Geographical Features on the Painted Pottery from Shahr-e Sukhteh

Studying the human settlements and the range of natural resources consumption is a part of research done in the Geographical landscape field which is part of historical geography. In such studies, however, human’s attitude towards the landscape and the way it reflects in human-made artifacts has not received serious attention yet. Pottery ware, in this regard, is considered the oldest objects remained from ancient civilizations decorated with various motifs. Geographical and environmental elements are among the commonest motifs applied on such ware. Shahr-e Sukhteh in Sistan and Baluchistan Province is an ancient settlement in Iran plateau where many pottery works have been gained in excavations. The way ecological and geographical features reflected on the pottery ware obtained from Shahr-e Sukhteh is the main subject to be discussed in this research. Therefore, the main question would be this: What are the ecologically- and geographically-inspired motifs painted on the pottery from Shahr-e Sukhteh? And which phenomena and features have been particularly emphasized? A qualitative analysis of the motifs shows that although the artists had been occasionally dedicated to the realistic representation of environmental elements, such procedure in most cases has been performed symbolically. Therefore, painting the landscapes on the works had been done according to their symbolic significance.Quantitative study of the motifs on the burnt city pottery shows that the depiction of water and its related elements has the highest number and the man-made works have the lowest number.