Sang-i Chakmak

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Coordinates: 36 ° 29 ′ 59 ″  N , 55 ° 0 ′ 2 ″  E

Map: Iran
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Sang-i Chakmak​
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Iran

Sang-i Chakmak (also Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq; Chakhmaq for flint ) is an archaeological site from the transition from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic about 1 km north of the village of Bastam in the northern Iranian province of Semnan on the southeastern flank of the Elburs Mountains .

The site was discovered in 1969 by Sei-ichi Masuda. It includes several settlement mounds, two of which were excavated in 1971, 1973, 1975 and 1977 by a team from the Tokyo University of Education (now Tsukuba University ).

Western settlement

The western settlement shows itself as a settlement hill about 3 m high with a diameter of about 80 m and contains five cultural layers. Floors of former buildings were found in all layers. Some of the floors are made of lime plaster, some with red stains, or even-tamped earth. The buildings were rectangular and consisted of one room measuring 6 by 3–4 m. Two different building types could be identified. Some had a square hearth on the north side and some walls blackened with soot; others did not have a fireplace and the rooms were comparatively small but had carefully finished floors. In one of these small rooms without a fireplace in Layer II there were strongly stylized clay figurines.

The excavations also revealed finds of small bone fibulae and bone needles , flint fragments , microliths and cores as well as blades made of obsidian . It is noteworthy that only three pottery shards were found. Two come from the surface and one from Layer III, from which 300 m² have been excavated. In Akira Tsuneki's work, four shards are shown.

Eastern settlement

The eastern settlement is about 150 m from the west and extends 100 m in north-south direction and 150 m in east-west direction. Layers VI – III consisted of multi-room, rectangular houses with outbuildings, often with a small work area and a stove. The buildings vary in size, have an average size of 5 by 8 m and have an anteroom or courtyard. They are made from clay blocks measuring 70 by 20 cm, using the same technique as in the Jeitun culture in Turkmenistan .

In contrast to the western settlement, no carefully executed floors were observed in the eastern one. The use of cigar-shaped clay bricks is also characteristic. A noticeably high number of kilns was discovered in Layer III.

In the uppermost layers II and I, the building floor plans differ from those of the lower layers described above. The rooms are square with a hearth on the northern side. In addition, the main rooms are not divided into smaller areas, instead small rectangular rooms have been added.

The top layer contained three graves with the bodies of women and children. Another skull of a young woman was covered with a decorated pot, the type of which is known from the Tappe Sialk II site .

In contrast to the western settlement, a large amount of pottery has been found in the eastern one. The majority of the decorated pottery shows geometric patterns such as crossed lines, parallel lines running horizontally and vertically, drawn in red or dark brown against a cream or reddish background. The ceramics of the upper, younger layers show animal motifs. The spectrum of finds also shows objects that are referred to as "personal items" and are made of bone or stone. There are also conical clay objects, spindles , animal statuettes made of clay or stone, bone needles, polished stone axes, flint cuts and microliths. Wooden sickle handles with animal motifs from layers IV and V are particularly interesting.

The entirety of the finds shows similarities to the lowest layer of Yarim Tepe and especially to the Jeitun culture.

Comparison and dating of the settlements

The top layer I of the western settlement is older than the bottom layer VI of the eastern one. The small amount of only four ceramic shards in the western hill in contrast to the large amount in the eastern one speaks for a higher age of the western one, which is why the site should represent a transition period to the productive way of life.

This assumption was confirmed by research by Toshio Nakamura from the Center for Chronological Research at Nagoya University in 2014. In this investigation, 40 charcoal samples taken during excavations in the 1970s were examined using the AMS method. Of the 40 samples, 37 were usable. For the western settlement there was an occupancy period of 7200 to 6600 cal BC and for the eastern one an occupancy period of 6300 to 5200 cal BC. Note the hiatus of 300 years between the two settlements.

literature

  • V. Sarianidi: Food-producing and other Neolithic communities in Khorasan and Transoxania: eastern Iran, Soviet Central Asia and Afghanistan . In: AH Dani, VM Masson (ed.): History of civilizations of Central Asia , Vol. 1, 1992, pp. 109-126. [1]
  • Toshio Nakamura: Radiocarbon dating of charcoal remains excavated from Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq . In: The First Farming Village in Northeast Iran and Turan: Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq and Beyond . Symposium from 10. – 11. February 2014, Tsukuba 2014, pp. 9-12. [2]
  • Akira Tsuneki: The site of Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq . In: The First Farming Village in Northeast Iran and Turan: Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq and Beyond . Symposium from 10. – 11. February 2014, Tsukuba 2014, pp. 5–8. [3]
  • Akira Tsuneki: Pottery and Other Objects from Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq . In: The First Farming Village in Northeast Iran and Turan: Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq and Beyond . Symposium from 10. – 11. February 2014, Tsukuba 2014, pp. 13-18. [4]

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Akira Tsuneki: The site of Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq . In: The First Farming Village in Northeast Iran and Turan: Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq and Beyond . Symposium from 10. – 11. February 2014, Tsukuba 2014, pp. 5-6
  2. ↑ a b Akira Tsuneki: The site of Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq . In: The First Farming Village in Northeast Iran and Turan: Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq and Beyond . Symposium from 10. – 11. February 2014, Tsukuba 2014, p. 6
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Sarianidi, 1992, p. 114
  4. ↑ a b c Akira Tsuneki: The site of Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq . In: The First Farming Village in Northeast Iran and Turan: Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq and Beyond . Symposium from 10. – 11. February 2014, Tsukuba 2014, p. 7
  5. ↑ Akira Tsuneki: Pottery and Other Objects from Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq . In: The First Farming Village in Northeast Iran and Turan: Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq and Beyond . Symposium from 10. – 11. February 2014, Tsukuba 2014, p. 13
  6. ↑ Akira Tsuneki: The site of Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq . In: The First Farming Village in Northeast Iran and Turan: Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq and Beyond . Symposium from 10. – 11. February 2014, Tsukuba 2014, pp. 6-7
  7. ↑ Akira Tsuneki: The site of Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq . In: The First Farming Village in Northeast Iran and Turan: Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq and Beyond . Symposium from 10. – 11. February 2014, Tsukuba 2014, pp. 7–8
  8. ↑ It is unclear whether Tappe Sialk II is identical to the excavation area Tappe Sialk B or means layer II
  9. ↑ Sarianidi, 1992, pp. 114-115
  10. ↑ Sarianidi, 1992, p. 115
  11. ↑ Nakamura, 2014, pp. 9-12

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