 Western
archaeologists often think archaeological research in Iran has all
but stopped. Yet Iranian archaeologists have continued excavations
throughout the country, exploring periods stretching from the Palaeolithic
to Islamic times, at major sites such as Susa, Tappeh Sialk and the
Masjid-e-Jomieh in Esfahan. Foreign archaeologists have become involved
in these efforts, working at such sites as Chogha Zanbil and the recently
discovered mining settlement of Arisman.In May and June of 2003, the
authors began excavations at Toll-e-Bashi, a prehistoric settlement
in the Marv Dasht Plain northwest of Persepolis, first identified
in the surveys of Vanden Berghe (1954), Gotch (1968, 1969) and Sumner
(1972). At almost eight hectares in size, Toll-e-Bashi was assumed
to be one of the major Bakun period sites (5th millennium BC) in the
region. However, our excavations focused on the smaller occupation
of the Late Neolithic levels (late 7th to early 6th millennia BC).
Due to recent archaeological activity at Toll-e-Bashi, these early
levels were easy to access. In the brief first season, five units
were opened in which two distinct chronological phases were identified.
The later of them can be equated with the Jari B period of the Marv
Dasht, known so far only from excavations at Tall-i-Jari itself, Tall-i-Mushki
and from surface finds.The earlier phase is probably transitional
between the Neolithic Mushki period (named after the type site Tall-i-Mushki)
and the Jari B period. Carbon samples are being run using Accelerator
Mass Spectrometry techniques in order to establish for the first time
a sense of the absolute dates of these periods. Excavations at Toll-e-Bashi
are exploring the enigmatic Neolithic period of the Marv Dasht region.
So far, archaeological investigations have revealed no evidence for
human occupation in the region between the Epipalaeolithic and the
Late Neolithic periods.
Was there a hiatus in settlement, and if so, from where and when did
Neolithic settlers enter the plain? This occupational gap is suspect
as other studies have identified evidence for the period in the Western
Zagros and in the Kachi Plain (in western Pakistan, near Quetta),
located on either side of the Marv Dasht region. Are there areas in
between, in Baluchistan and southern Iran for instance, where Neolithization
occurred, extending the “fertile crescent” much further to the east
than previously thought? Although we were unable to address such questions
of a large geographical scale this year, we hope to contribute to
them in future seasons. Investigations at Toll-e-Bashi will potentially
challenge traditional accounts of Neolithization that understand this
economic transition as an almost irreversible process. Were there
no alternatives to agricultural development? Was there never a change
“back” to greater reliance on gathering or hunting? Was change in
subsistence interlocked with changes in perceptions of the environment?
Prelimininary impressions from excavated data suggest hunting, gathering,
herding, and agriculture were not the only alternative modes of subsistence
for the people at Bashi. They also used aquatic resources such as
fish and crabs to a significant extent. This is surprising as the
site was inhabited at a time when we presume increasing specialization
on a few resources. Judging by the limited data available, built space
in the settlement decreased over time.
In the early phases, at least one multi-room house was found, whereas
the later layers contain mostly carefully treated exterior surfaces
and multiple ovens. Again, ideas about Neolithization mostly include
the expectation of the opposite development from open settlement plans
to tightly packed villages. A shift from hunting and gathering to
an active manipulation of animals and plants likely brought with it
new ways of perceiving “nature.” According to ethnographers, modern-day
hunters and gatherers often believe hunted game possess their own
will; a successful hunt is a sign that the animal wanted to “give”
itself to the hunter(s). Intentionality of this kind may also be bestowed
upon other natural phenomena; i.e. plants, wind, stones, etc. Nature,
in the words of Bird-David (1990), is seen as a “parent.” When moving
toward more intensified agricultural practices, societies likely undergo
changes in worldview characterized by a shift from a partnership with
to a domination over nature in both daily praxis and ideology. Similar
changes in Neolithic societies’ perceptions of the environment may
be reflected in one type of item excavated at Bashi and elsewhere,
occurring mostly in pre-Jari B levels. These small clay objects with
flat, circular bases occur in several distinct shapes and have often
been called “ear spools” or “lip plugs,” neither of which is a likely
function in light of their many shapes and large numbers. Instead,
as proposed by Schmandt-Besserat (1992), the objects may have been
memory tools, signifying a quantity or quality of some object or animal.
If so, what is it that the inhabitants of Toll-e-Bashi needed to remember?
This question cannot be answered definitively.
However, there are a few possibilities. A group undergoing a fundamental
change in relations to its natural environment is likely to be preoccupied
with such a process. The idea of memorizing something in nature means
that the inhabitants at Bashi had “cut out” and categorized a category
of natural species or objects. They made them countable. If so, it
is likely that Bashi’s inhabitants characterized their relationship
with the natural environment partly as one of domination and manipulation.
Surprisingly, these memory tools, found in Bashi’s earlier phase,
all but disappear in the Jari B phase. People at Bashi may also have
begun to imitate nature. The painted ceramics of the earlier Mushki/Bashi-phase
are almost completely focused on one major motif. On hilly slopes,
excavation members found a wild plant which, when bearing fruit, strikingly
resembles these motifs. In addition, the strong focus on one motif
may have served a social function, unifying members of the community
and setting them apart from neighboring ones.
The team at Toll-e-Bashi consisted of 15 Iranians and four foreigners
from the United States, Canada, and Germany. While English was the
language of documentation, daily communication was almost entirely
in Farsi. After an exciting first season, there are hopes to be able
to return to Iran in the spring of 2004 to further explore Toll-e-Bashi.
Source: Daily
Star |
