Pottery Making Technologhy from Neolithic to Chalcolithic (middle Bakun) period in Tappeh Rahmatabad based on Ceramographic and Chemical Analysis

Rahmatbad is an important perhistoric site which located in Dasht-e Kamin in Pasargadae district, close to the Pulvar river basin in Fars province. Based on absolute C-14 dating, Rahmat-Abad is dated to the middle of the 8th millennium BC. This site is well known as one of the key perhistoric sites with a cultural sequence from pre pottery neolithic to Islamic era. 10 pieces of pottery sherds from the Neolithic period (formative Mushki and Mushki) and 5 pieces of pottery sherds from the Chalcolithic (early Middle Bakun) of Rahmatabad were investigated using petrography, XRD and XRF methods in order to compare the chemical compositions and the manufacturing progresses in pottery making during the Neolithic to Chalcolithic period. Chemical and mineralogical studies on the investigated potteries from different sequences of this site indicate a precise classification of using the same raw materials but through different techniques during the Neolithic to Chalcolithic period in Rahmat-Abad. Furthermore, the progress and development of the pottery manufacturing technique used in Rahmat-Abad might have been introduced as an important site in pioneering the pottery progressing during the Neolithic to early Middle Bakun period in Pulvar River Basin.