Abharrud Basin in Chalcolithic Period: Revision to the Dalma Settlements at the North-Western Borders of Iranian Central Plateau

Subject Areas : Prehistoric Archaeology

Shokouh Khosravi ¹ , Hamid Khatib Shahidi ² , Sajjad Alibaigi ³

1 - Ph.D. Candidate in Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, University of Tarbiat Modares, Tehran, Iran.
2 - Assistant Professor, Department of Archeology, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
3 - Ph.D. Candidate in Archaeology, Department of Archeology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran. ,

Received: 2023-07-13 Accepted : 2023-07-13 Published : 2010-02-20

Keywords: pottery, Chalcolithic, Dalma culture, Abharrud basin area, the occupied sites (settlements),

Abstract :

In the fifth millennium B.C, the Dalma ceramic cultural tradition spread throughout much of the north-west and western of Iran. However, insufficient pieces evidence of the same expansion and distribution of this tradition over eastern parts of North west and central Iranian plateau have been obtained during the surveys at Abharrud basin area. Abharrud basin is located among the three cultural-geographic regions of the central plateau, north-west and west of Iran. During the surveys in this area, 12 Dalma associated sites were discovered and examined. The discovered sites might have possibly been small villages situated near water sources and mostly on the intermountain plain of Abhar or among the highlands; according to the location selection, these villages belong to nomads wandering in between the north-west and western parts of Iran's basins. The matter of this research is that it can yield a large amount of information about the eastern cultures and traditions of the north-west, north-east of western Iran and the western cultures of central plateau and the characteristics and cultural types of these regions (their similarities and differences) in a small but prominent region.