Administrative Management in the Bronze Age of Southeast Iran: Evidence from Tepe Taleb Khan in Sistan

The southeast region of Iran, especially the Hirmand civilization area, played a key role in regional and inter-regional trade during the late 4th and 3rd millennia BC. During this period, we witness the formation of large urban centers with numerous related settlements, workshops, and specializations, followed by administrative management, and social and economic complexity. So far, many archaeological studies have been conducted in this region, but little has been done to study administrative management systems based on archaeological evidence. The Department of Archaeology at Zabul University conducted six seasons of fieldwork at Tepe Taleb Khan in the framework of the student’s educational excavations. As a result, and due to the fact that this mound is a representative of the Hirmand Civilization, the recovered evidence helped us to examine the cultural, social, and economic aspects of this civilization. Ample archaeological evidence related to administrative management was documented at the site. Here, an attempt is made to read such evidence that was recovered in the fifth and sixth seasons of excavation. According to the objectives, the main questions are as follows: What was the nature of administrative-related evidence that was recovered from Tepe Taleb Khan? And what are their cultural significance? During the excavations, numerous pieces of evidence related to accounting and administrative management were found, including seals, sealing-related material, and tokens, which could reflect social hierarchy in the region during the third millennium BC. In addition, the production of such various materials was controlled by the elites. In this research, the administrative structure of the Hirmand civilization was studied within the framework of the administrative management system. The archaeological findings obtained from Tepe Talebkhan include seals, sealing, tokens, bullae, and numerical clay tablets. They could collectively be considered as important evidence related to the management and administrative systems, correlated to what happened in the related settlement of Shahr-i Sukhta during the third millennium BC.