The Archaeology of the Fifth Millennium BC of the Iranian Central Plateau and its Challenge

Subject Areas : Prehistoric Archaeology

Hassan Fazeli Nashli ¹

1 - Associate Professor, Department of Archaeology, University of Tehran, Tehran. Iran.

Received: 2023-07-10 Accepted : 2023-07-10 Published : 2011-08-23

Keywords: Culture History Archaeology, Plum Ware, Central Plate, Tepe Qabristan, Tepe Sialk, Tepe Cheshme Ali, Fifth Millennium BC,

Abstract :

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.