EXCAVATION OF REZVAN TEPE IN NORTHEASTERN IRAN, AN IRON AGE I-II CEMETERY (original) (raw)

Abstract Tepe Rezvan located in Hosseinabbad Kalpoush in northeastern of the semnan province. Kalpoush area at an altitude of 1379 meters above sea level located in the north eastern part of Miami and 210 kilometers distance from the Shahroud. This area is restricted Golestan forest from the north, jajarm area in Khorasan province from the east, Minoodasht town in Golestan province from the west and eastern Kalate part of the Miami from the south. Big east Khorasan road that would connect the east world to west is located on this highway. evidence from several ancient hills indicated that this area was on the part of business and economic way road to Gorgan and Khorasan and connected 3 provinces of Semnan, Golestan and Khorasan together. There are several ancient hills in Kalpoush, one of which is Tepe Rezvan was being explored. In addition of saving excavation project was defined for instruction of dam Kalpoush, the importance of the hill is related to being a suitable reign for detection and study of the cultural status. The study aimed to explore the history and transformation of settlement, survey and identification of the Iron Age I cemeteries, structure of graves, burial methods and also to save some remnant of damage. in This article, structural date obtained of this hill will be studied. Compared to the other regions, northwest Iran has not received as much attention in the history of archeological studies despite, decent geographical condition and critical geopolitical location, it has been a home to huge human settlements from the prehistoric period up till now. The Iron Age cultures appeared in a very short time and the on Iranian cultural structure is imposed by the Iranian immigrants in the mid the second millennium. The Iron Age is categorized based on the typology of the pottery in this age. Young offers three categories for this age based on the pottery: old gray pottery (pottery horizon 1), late gray pottery (pottery horizon 2), and buff pottery (pottery horizon 3). The pottery of the Iron Age III is plain and in some cases painted having replaced the gray pottery of the Iron Age I and II. Some samples are found in Hassanlu III and Zivieh (Young,1965:53-58). Dyson categorizes the Iron Age into 3 periods: the Iron Age I (1450-1200), Iron Age II (1200-800) and the Iron Age III (800-500). But Danti, based on his carbon 14 tests, provides a new categorization: the Iron Age I (1250-1050), the Iron Age (1050-800), and the Iron Age III (800-550 BC)(Danti 2013). Generally speaking, the studies on the Iron Age are performed in the northwest more than any other part in Iran of which we can name the studies on the basin of Uromiyeh Lake (Kroll 2005), Dyson explorations in Hassanlu (Dyson 1989), Dinkhah Tape (Muscarella 1974), Haftvan Tape (Burney 1969) and Guy Tape (Burton 1984). The regions in north and northeast of Iran are of the significant historical places in Iran belonging to the Iron Age of which one can name Amlash, khaloraz, Marlik, Talesh and khorvin.