Ryan, P. 2011 'Phytolith analysis' In Excavations at Monjukli Depe, Meana-Čaača Region, Turkmenistan, 2010, by S. Pollock and R. Bernbeck, Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan 43 (original) (raw)

Reconstructing subsistence practices: taphonomic constraints and the interpretation of wild plant remains at aceramic Neolithic Chogha Golan, Iran

the taxonomic composition of charred archaeobotanical assemblages. Considering these results, we discuss the subsistence economy of Chogha Golan. Domestic emmer wheat was cultivated from AH II onwards. Wild barley, Aegilops sp., lentils, peas and various vetches may have been cultivated as well. This spectrum of typical Neolithic food plants was supplemented by a high diversity of other potential wild food resources, including medium and smallseeded grasses, Pistacia, Bolboschoenus glaucus, Malva and Brassicaceae. A compilation of ethnobotanical data, mainly from the Near and Middle East, represents the basis for assessing the potential uses of the wild plants.

New Evidence for Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period from Kohgiluyeh Region

Compared to other regions in the Near East, our knowledge about the Neolithic period in Iran is rather limited; in the Central Zagros area, however, we have a more reliable set of information about this period. Except some areas in Fars and Bakhtyari, less information is available for southern Zagros, including Kohgiluyeh region. Kohgiluyeh region in southern Zagros is located between two major cultural zones of Khuzestan and Fars in southwestern Iran. This intermediate region is archaeologically less known compared to its neighbors. In the present paper, an Early Neolithic site is introduced. On the basis of surface collection, with majority of bladelets and cores, the site has been dated to the early Neolithic or Aceramic Neolithic. Considering the modern climate of the region and environmental context of the site we may postulate that the residents of the site practiced a simple form of early-agricultural economy. Due to the mountainous landscape of the region, their substance pattern had been based on using the nearby resources through hunting, food gathering and using water sources.

Late Chalcolithic Subsistence Patterns in Northwest Iran as Seen from Tepe Gird-i Ashoan, Little Zab Basin

PAZHOHESH-HA-YE BASTANSHENASI IRAN, 2023

The archaeological site of Tepe Gird-i Ashoan in the Little Zab basin of Piranshahr County was excavated in two consecutive seasons. The work yielded remarkable information about the regional cultural traditions in the Late Chalcolithic period. The recovered material culture indicates the presence of the chaff-faced/Pisdeli pottery tradition, and the relative chronology evinces that the strongest interactions were with Caucasia, Anatolia and Mesopotamia. Notwithstanding the fairly extensive archaeological work in northwest Iran, the Zab basin remains almost totally neglected as regards botanical and zoological studies. The present study explored the biological evidence from the site and attempts a reconstruction of the subsistence patterns prevailing in the Late Chalcolithic northwest Iran in light of the evidence from Gird-i Ashoan. To gain an insight into the regional societies in the 4 th and 5 th millennium BC, the subsistence patterns of the inhabitants of the Little Zab basin was examined. In effect, recovery of an abundance of ash deposits alongside other burned materials at Gird-i Ashoan permits such interdisciplinary enquiries as archaeobotany and Zooarchaeology. Drawing on excavations as well as botanical and osteological analyses, the present study attempted to explain the local subsistence patterns through a descriptive-analytical approach. Thus, the two major topics addressed here were the subsistence patterns adopted by the mid/late Chalcolithic populations of Gird-i Ashoan, and the animal species represented in the excavated assemblages. Animal husbandry seemingly constituted the major component in the local subsistence system and surpassed agriculture judging from the fact that the faunal evidence outnumbers the floral remains. Therefore, the results of the study pointed to a mixed agro-pastoral subsistence pattern, and attested to the cultivation of bread wheat and barley, indicating that agriculture also played in part in the local economy.