An Impressed Grey Vessel of Chaltasian: A New Socio-Economic Evidence of Iron Age Societies of the Iranian Central Plateau

Studying and understanding the social, economic, and political structures of Iron Age communities is a significant aspect of archaeological research of this period. Until now, much of the archaeological research on the Iron Age in Iran has focused largely on the typological study and comparison of findings from cemetery excavations, with less attention given to the study and reconstruction of the various aspects of the social, economic, and political structures of communities from this period. Most researchers to date have regarded the people of the Iron Age in Iran as communities lacking organized administrative and political structures, and based on the limited number of settlement sites, have described them as nomadic herders. However, the study, interpretation, and analysis of findings from settlement sites of this period in Central Iran have revealed new perspectives on the presence of socio-economic and political institutions and organizational structures. The discovery of a piece of grey pottery with a cylinder seal impression at Chaltasian Tepe, Varamin, alongside other evidence from significant and large settlement sites of the Iron Age, provides us with evidence of socio-economic institutions during the Iron Age