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Related papers
2020
A large catacomb grave was recently excavated in Hajjiabad-Varamin, in the Halil Rud valley (Kerman province, Iran). Dated from the late 4 th to the early 3 rd millennium BC, the burial is abundantly furnished with 90 artefacts, which provide for the first time an insight into the local material (ceramic) assemblage used in the Halil Rud valley around 3000 BC. The ceramics (here fully published) help to define a new ceramic horizon (which we propose to call "Varamin Period"), between the 4 th millennium BC Aliabad wares horizon and the c. mid-3 rd millennium BC occupation periods of Konar Sandal South. The analysis of the spatial distribution of the grave furnishings also reveals aspects of the final stages of the funeral, as well as some immaterial implications hidden behind the material evidence.
Study of Iron Age Burials Ceramics at Khanghah Gilvan Cemetery in Northwestern Iran
The International Journal of Humanities, 2014
Chronology of northwestern Iran is principally based on archeological excavations of the area located around Urmia Lake. Although plain and filled with water, and the outcomes of these excavations are extended to the whole northwestern region. However, northwestern Iran despite having geographical diversities with mountainous plains and low stretches, systematic and comprehensive studies have been lacking until today. Khanghah cemetery in the province of Ardebil has been one of the important archeological enclosures in Iran from where graves of the Middle Bronze Age, Iron Age, and the Parthian period have been unearthed. The excavated Iron Age graves in this cemetery are of pit grave with generally individual form of burial, but in some cases, double burials are also seen there. It seems that direction was not observed in the burials.
Perspectives on the Structural Typology of The Late Bronze-Iron age Graves in Iranian Azerbaijan
Türkiye Bilimler Akademisi Arkeoloji Dergisi, 2021
The Bronze and Iron periods mark a move towards further deepening of social and cultural complexities, which eventually would culminate in the rise of early states in northwest Iran. The advent in this period of the extramural cemeteries also gives rise to speculations over the types of communities, convictions, and religious orientations of the contemporary populations. In these cemeteries, the structure of the graves and their burial goods convey concepts and symbols that can help shed some light on part of the questions regarding the culture of the associated populations. Architectural data are available from dozens of burial grounds thus far investigated in Iranian Azerbaijan. Excavations at these places have identified a wide range of similarities and dissimilarities in their placement as well as the structure, construction materials, and burial goods of their graves. Drawing on the excavated data, the present paper is an attempt to appraise the mortuary customs with a special focus on the types of structures of graves in the late Bronze-Iron period. The results reveal a great variability in the form and structure of the burials, to the extent that occasionally two or three different grave types occur at a single cemetery. The exact determining factors for these discrepancies and their scope still elude us as no conclusive evidence exist at present to advance any tenable hypothesis, and one can simply offer some conjectures in this regard. Yet, geography, belief systems, social, economic and political statuses of the buried, and ethnicity were in all probability some of the key factors at work in the emergence of such varied grave architectures.
Late Bronze Age cemetery in Faia Petra, east of the Middle Strymon valley
A small part of a Late Bronze Age cemetery, which lies in a terrace near the small village of Faia Petra, was excavated during the summer of 2000 and 2002. It is located in the semi-mountainous passage between the mountain ranges of Aggistro and Vrontu, in the east of the Strymon valley and close to the Greek and Bulgarian borders. It consists of rectangular stone enclosures, usually careless in construction, and covered either by stones and earth, or compact stone mounds. There are no tumuli and the enclosures are not visible on the surface. A part of the cemetery -maybe the largest-has collapsed in the deep ravine, which forms the east boundary of the site. Five enclosures -two intact and parts of the other three -and a stone mound, maybe the remaining part of a sixth, have been excavated. The cemetery seems to have been a well-organised space with a uniform appearance and orientation.
Iranica Antiqua, 2017
We present the excavation of a grave at Mahtoutabad, near Konar Sandal South, Kerman, Iran, one of the protohistoric cemeteries plundered in the Jiroft area since 2001. This grave, at present, is the only scientifically excavated and published burial of the Bronze Age urban civilization of the Halil Rud valley, famous for the outstanding quality of its looted chlorite artefacts. Among the furnishings of the grave were animal bones and food offerings, ceramics, and stone and copper items. The objects set the grave in a coherent cultural and chronological framework, around 2400-2200 BC. Micro-stratigraphic recording provided information on the funerary practices. These latter included notably the consumption of the meat of an ovicaprine. As different parts of the animal were found in different locations of the stratified mortuary structure, the feast can be synchronized with different steps of the funeral and burial processes. A reopening of the grave, for shifting part of the skeleton to a different, secondary burial, remains unexplained. Considering the effects of a wide range of post-depositional processes, we explore possible symbolic implications of the grave's spatial patterns.
In summer 2015, during the preliminary survey to identify the tombs of Gahvāre district, about ten cemeteries were recorded including Mar Khāmūsh, Gawraǰūb, Berya Khāni, Safar Shāh, and Chenār. Structurally the tombs of these cemeteries have similar features. In their constructions, large stone slabs had been used in four sides. After putting the dead body, the cap stone was placed on it and then it was covered with a pile of small and large stones. Most of the tombs were plundered which makes them difficult to date. Therefore on the basis of few pottery found from Mar Khāmūsh cemetery as well as comparative studies with other graves of central Zagros, the date of Iron Age II and III is suggested. The aim of this paper is to increase our knowledge about the Iron Age's graves in the central Zagros. Furthermore, some potsherds from Gawraǰūb cemetery have been found which were comparable with Parthian pottery based on forms and technical features. It seems that the pottery is likely to be intrusive or its presence suggests reuse of the graves in the Parthian period. The archaeological excavations are needed to clarify this chronology and to achieve more precise results.
Newly-found Evidence of Sasanian Simple Pit Burial at Qaleh Iraj, Pishva, Iran
One of the most important and, at the same time, the most uncertain subjects related to the Sasanian period is the recognition of common burial customs. Despite great attempts on the part of Zoroastrian religious texts to represent a uniform burial tradition across the whole Sasanian Irānšahr, archaeological findings reflect a great deal of variety in burial customs, of which some are as follows: towers of silence (Dakhma) and ossuaries (astōdān), coffin burial, jar burial, cavity interment, and simple pit burial. Out of these, simple pit burials are the most challenging, given the fact that they apparently stand against Zoroastrian teachings. According to Sasanian religious texts, the burial of the dead in the ground and infecting the soil, a sacred element in the Zoroastrian worldview, is repeatedly condemned and considered as an inexcusable guilt that should be prevented. However, mounting evidence indicates that simple pit burials are frequently observed from all over the Sasanian Irānšahr. How could this contradiction be explained? These burials have long been neglected because of being eccentric and divergent from Sasanian common burial traditions. Repeated discoveries of simple pit burials make the reasonable supposition that this phenomenon was not an exception and unusual practice, but a normal and probably common method. One of the instances of such burial is recorded in Qaleh Iraj, in which the corpse is in the crouched position. In the present paper, having investigated some examples of Sasanian-period simple pit burials, the authors describe the Qaleh Iraj case. Finally, the mentioned burial custom during the Sasanian period will be inspected closely. The results indicate that the burial of Qaleh Iraj is one of the lesser-known burial practices associated with architectural space previously reported only from Qumis and Gyaur Kala. In addition, according to the context, the burial of Qaleh Iraj is related to the final settlement phase of the southeastern (SE) gate and, thus, attributable to the late Sasanian period.