Journal of Archaeological Research in West Asia (JARWA)

Abstract  Isolated rams or a couple of rams beside a central tree represented the most popular subject on Sasanian sphragistics. This animal could have been a religious symbol in Sasanian art especially when embellished with ribbons or a necklace. By focusing on contemporary parallels in Sogdian art and much earlier specimens in Mesopotamian art, this paper argues that the ram could be the symbolic animal of a deity associated with the planet Venus among ancient Iranian peoples. The best candidate in Sasanian Persia seems to be Anahita, the Zoroastrian goddess of water and fertility whose name is still connected to the planet Venus in modern Iran.

Abstract Glass finds from the archaeological excavation of the city of Istakhr in the Fars province was subjected for the first time to archaeometrical investigations. Based on their archaeological context, these pieces were dated back to early Islamic period, the last period of growth and prosperity of the city, before its final decline in the tenth century AD. The interdisciplinary investigations on glass pieces from Istakhr confirm an essential scientific approach due to the chemical composition of the most important antique glass workshops in the Iranian plateau based on their material characteristics and cultural evidence. Glass fragments have been analytically studied by WXRF, optical microscopy and ESEM-EDS in order to evaluate their chemical composition, micro-structure and for textural characterization. the clustering of the objects was of interest, due to discriminate between the glass finds in this region. Based on the chemical analysis, the investigated objects are therefore categorized as high “Potash-Calc”.

Abstract Estimating the age of death has always been a challenging subject in bioarchaeology . Various methods of age estimating based on bone and dental indicators have been devised. Pulp/tooth area ratio has been employed as a method of age estimation. With aging pulp volume reduces due to the deposition of secondary dentine. Although this method has been tested and validated by researchers, it has not been investigated in ancient human remains . The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of age estimation method on human remains by assessing pulp/tooth area ratio, especially in cases where other age estimation indicators (pelvis and skull) are not useful. In this study, 21 canines from 9 buried individuals in the eastern cemetery of Iron Age II and III of Qareh Tape of Sagzabad , were selected for age estimation; The age of human skeletons were estimated using four different methods such as closure of skull sutures in two different ways, dental wear and eruption of third molars. Based on the obtained data and comparing them with each other, the method of calculating pulp/tooth area ratio should be used cautiously during the period of third molar eruption .

Abstract The study area is located in Central-western of Zagros, in the upper basin of the Karun River. The work presented here focused on the plain of Izeh and the surrounding mountains, in north-eastern Khuzestan. The plain of Izeh is rich in important archaeological occurrence, such as the sites of Kul-e Farah and Shikaft-e Salman, and has been densely settled almost continuously from the prehistoric period to modern times. The adjacent mountains are giving back several testimonies of the human presence in the area as well, such as the sanctuary of Shami. The way of conducting a remote-sensing analysis in archaeology clearly depends on the characteristics of the landscape. Archaeological landscape studies focused in the past mainly on plain areas, while few researches regarded highlands. Our research area is characterized by different natural features, such as mountain slopes, valleys, highlands, and intermountain plains having a spatial close relationship. This study tries to highlight peculiarities and similarities of how the archaeological features are detectable on satellite imagery for different kind of landscapes. New studies on landscape archaeology are stressing the economic, political, strategical and cultural importance of apparently marginal areas too. A ‘holistic’ study of the territory evaluating the different ecological niches allow to better understand how man occupied a specific ancient territory and exploited its natural resources. The study is based on the interpretation of different kinds of imagery, such as cartography, satellite images and digital elevation models as well as on published and unpublished surveys and excavation data.

Abstract The Dalma pottery of Seh Gabi Tepe, dating to the early Middle Chalcolithic, has been examined by means of experimental archaeology to see how it was decorated and how useful the experimental archaeology could be in studying the technology of pottery decoration. In the current paper, this experiment is viewed from a different angle to address questions about uniformity and diversity of decoration technology among the Dalma monochrome and bichrome ceramics. As technology has a social and cultural aspect, its analysis can help us to better understand the cultural setting of the society in which this type of pottery was produced. In the experiment, we focused on the brush strokes and method of applying paint to see if similar motifs were depicted with the same or different techniques, with various types of pigments and tools (e.g. type of brush) remaining to be investigated. The results indicate that the majority of the similar motifs were created with the same decoration techniques. However, some variations in the decoration of some ceramics could be observed.

Abstract During the 5th millennium BCE in southern Iran, black-on-buff painted pottery spread from the Susiana Plain to the Zagros Mountains. Some researchers argued that the expansion of the painted pottery was due to the specialist potter's migration from the Susiana Plain to the Zagros mountains. However, others also considered potteresses' movement due to interregional marriage and exchange of the pottery as another mechanism for expanding the painted pottery. This presentation approaches the expansion process of the black-on-buff pottery using social network analysis to understand this mechanism's dynamics. This paper uses published/unpublished drawings of exterior-painted black-on-buff ceramics reported in archaeological sites ranging from Luristan to Kerman for this analysis. These materials were roughly subdivided into three phases (the Early, Middle, Late phases) of the 5th millennium BCE to reveal diachronic changes of network patterns. One of the pottery attributes, horizontal design structures, was used to reconstruct networks based on the Brainerd-Robinson coefficient of similarity, thereby allowing for visualization of two different kinds of networks. This paper presents a preliminary result of network analyses and discusses the potentials and limits of this approach.