Tepe Yahya

Tapeh Yahya (Persian: تپه یحیی) is an archaeological site in Kermān Province, Iran, some 220 kilometres (140 mi) south of Kerman city, 90 kilometres (56 mi) south of Baft city and 90 km south-west of Jiroft. The easternmost occupation of the Proto-Elamite culture was found there.

Tepe Yahya
Tepe Yahya is located in Iran
Tepe Yahya
Shown within Iran
LocationKermān Province, Iran
Coordinates28°19′51″N 56°52′03″E
Typesettlement
History
Founded4th - 3rd millennium BC
PeriodsBronze Age,
CulturesProto-Elamite, Halil Rud, Sassanian
Site notes
Excavation dates1968-1971, 1973, 1975
ArchaeologistsC. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky
ConditionRuined
OwnershipPublic
Public accessYes

History
Chlorite vessel from Kerman Province, Iran. 3rd millennium BC - National Museum of Iran

Habitation spans the 6th to 2nd millennia BC and the 10th to 4th centuries BC.

In the middle of the 2nd millennium BC, the city was a production center of chlorite stone ware; these carved dark stone vessels have been found in ancient Mesopotamian temples.[1]

Steatite was also very common at this site. Nearby, a steatite mine has been discovered. Over a thousand steatite pieces belonging to Period IVB were found, indicating local manufacturing.[2]

The distribution of these vessels was very wide. They were found not only in Mesopotamia, but also in Bampur IV, and in Shahr-i Sokhta. They were also found in the lower levels at Mohenjodaro. Steatite bowls with similar motifs are also found on Tarut island, and copies have been found at Umm-an Nar in the Persian Gulf.[3]

Archaeology
Stone plate with engraved eagle. Copper Age. Ca. 4300 BC. Yahya VC Period.

The site is a circular mound, around 20 meters in height and around 187 meters in diameter. [4] It was excavated in six seasons (1968-1971, 1973, 1975) by the American School of Prehistoric Research of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of Harvard University in a joint operation with what is now the Shiraz University. The expedition was under the direction of C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] Jane Britton was one of the excavators on the dig in 1968.[10]

Periodization is as follows:

Period I Sasanian pre: 200 BC-400 AD
Period II Achaemenian: 275-500 BC
Period III Iron Age: 500-1000 BC
Abandonment
Period IV A Shahdad/Kaftari - late 3rd to early 2nd millennium BC
Period IV B Halil Rud Civilization - 2nd half of 3rd millennium BC
Abandonment
Period IV C Proto-Elamite: circa 3000 BC
Abandonment
Period V Yahya Culture: 3400-3800 BC
Period VI Coarse Ware-Neolithic: 3800-4500 BC
Period VII Neolithic 4500-5500 BC

In the Neolithic period VII strata an extremely detailed green soapstone female figurine, of a phallic nature, was found. It featured eight individually drilled orifices. An associated charcoal sample was submitted for radiocarbon dating.[11]

In the late 4th millennium BC IV C period strata (comparable with levels 14-16 at Susa) a large Proto-Elamite monumental building, occupied for less than a century ,was constructed which covered most of the top of the mound. The design was similar to other Proto-Elamite sites and to the Uruk site at Habuba Kabira in Syria. Construction used a standardized 48 centimeter long by 24 centimeter wide by 8 centimeter thick brick throughout the complex. About 500 square meters of the complex have been excavated. The buildings were designed and constructed from the outside in using a base measure of 72 centimeters. The researcher noted this is close to the "large cubit" measure used throughout the ancient Near East. The first Proto-Elamite tablets were found on the floors.[12]

Among the discoveries were two Iron Age platforms from the Achaemenid period.[13]

Metallurgy

Three metal artifacts were found at the site, a copper shaft-hole axe from layer IVB5, a copper/lead theriomorphic figurine (listed as being found in IVB), and copper spearhead from layer IVC2. The 10.6% lead content of the figurine shows that it was actually from the Late Uruk period.[14][15]

A related site is Tal-i Iblis, where early metallurgy has also been attested.[2]

Early writing
Proto-Elamite tablet found at Tepe Yahya

To Period IVC belong twenty seven proto-Elamite tablets that have been recovered.[16] Also, eighty-four tablet blanks indicate that writing was being practiced at Yahya. These finds are similar to the discoveries at Susa Cb and Sialk IV.[2][17][18][19]

See also

References
  1. Andrew Lawler, The World in Between Volume 64 Number 6, November/December 2011 archaeology.org
  2. C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, The Early Bronze Age of Iran as seen from Tepe Yahya. (with Philip Kohl) Expedition, Vol. 13, Nos. 3-4, pp. 14-22, 1971
  3. Potts, Daniel T., "Tepe Yahya, Tell Abraq and the chronology of the Bampur sequence", Iranica Antiqua 38, pp. 1-24, 2003
  4. D. Potts, The Potter's Marks of Tepe Yahya, Paléorient, vol. 7, iss. 7-1, pp. 107-122, 1981
  5. C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Excavations at Tepe Yahya Iran 1967-1969: progress report 1, American School of Prehistoric Research Bulletin. no. 27, 1970
  6. C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Tepe Yahya 1971: Mesopotamia and the Indo-Iranian Borderlands, Iran, vol. 10, pp. 89-100, 1972
  7. C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Urban interaction on the Iranian plateau: Excavations at Tepe Yahya 1967-1973, Oxford University Press, 1974, ISBN 0-19-725703-8
  8. Clifford C. Lamberg-Karlovsky and Thomas Wight Beale, "Excavations at Tepe Yahya, Iran, 1967–1975, The early periods", Cambridge, Massachusetts 1986, ISBN 0-87365-541-9
  9. Clifford C. Lamberg-Karlovsky and D. T. Potts, "Excavations at Tepe Yahya, Iran, 1967–1975, The third millennium", Cambridge, Massachusetts 2001 ISBN 0-87365-549-4
  10. "Archaeological Unit From Harvard Unearths Lost Fortress in Persia". Harvard Crimson. Cambridge, Massachusetts. November 12, 1968. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  11. Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C., and Richard H. Meadow, "A Unique Female Figurine: The Neolithic at Tepe Yahya", Archaeology, vol. 23, no. 1, 1970, pp. 12–17, 1970
  12. Beale, Thomas W., and Sarah M. Carter, "On the track of the Yahya large kuš: evidence for architectural planning in the Period IVC complex at Tepe Yahya", Paléorient, pp. 81-88, 1983
  13. Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C., and P. Magee, "The Iron Age platforms at Tepe Yahya", Iranica antiqua 34, pp. 41-52, 1999
  14. Meier, David Mathias Philip, "Preliminary archaeometallurgical investigations of Bronze Age metal finds from Shahdad and Tepe Yahya", Iranian Journal of Archaeological Studies 1.2, pp. 25-34, 2011
  15. Heskel, D.& C.C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, "An alternative sequence for the development of metallurgy: Tepe Yahya, Iran" In T. A Wertime & J. D. Muhly (eds.) The coming of the age of Iron, pp. 229-266, 1980
  16. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Clifford Charles, "Proto-Elamite account tablets from Tepe Yahya, Iran", Kadmos 10, pp. 97-9, 1971
  17. C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, The Proto-Elamite Settlement at Tepe Yahya, Iran, vol. 9, pp. 87-96, 1971
  18. Mutin, Benjamin, "The Proto-Elamite Settlement and its Neighbors: Tepe Yahya Period IVC", ed. C.C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Oxbow Books / American School of Prehistoric Research Publications, 2013 ISBN 978-1-78297-419-2
  19. Peter Damerow and Robert K. Englund, "The Proto-Elamite Texts from Tepe Yahya", The American School of Prehistoric Research Bulletin 39, Cambridge, MA, 1989 ISBN 0-87365-542-7

Further reading
  • Amiran, Ruth. "More about the Chalcolithic culture of Palestine and Tepe Yahya." Israel Exploration Journal, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 157–162, 1976
  • Burney, Charles, "Tepe Yahya: its implications for Near Eastern archaeology", Antiquity 49.195, pp. 191–196, 1975
  • Lamberg-Karlovsky, Carl C., and Maurizio Tosi, "The Proto-Elamite community at Tepe Yahya: Tools of administration and social order", South Asian Archaeology 4, pp. 104–114, 1985
  • Kamilli, Diana C., and C. C. Lamberg‐Karlovsky, "Petrographic and electron microprobe analysis of ceramics from Tepe Yahya, Iran", Archaeometry 21.1, pp. 47–59, 1979
  • Peter Magee: Excavations at Tepe Yahya, Iran, 1967-1975: The Iron Age Settlement, ISBN 0-87365-550-8
  • Piperno, Marcello, "The Lithic Industry of Tepe Yahya A Preliminary Typological Analysis", East and West 23.1/2, pp. 59–74, 1973
  • D. T. Potts, "The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State", Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-521-56496-4
  • Shafiee, Mojgan, et al., "The Absolute and Relative Chronology of Tepe Vakilabad: A Reappraisal of the Chronology of the Chalcolithic Period of Tepe Yahya in SE Iran", Journal of Research on Archaeometry 5.1, pp. 81–94, 2019
  • Thornton, Christopher P., et al., "On pins and needles: tracing the evolution of copper-base alloying at Tepe Yahya, Iran, via ICP-MS analysis of common-place items", Journal of Archaeological Science 29.12, pp. 1451–1460, 2002
  • M. L., Eda Vidali and C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, "Prehistoric Settlement Patterns around Tepe Yahya: A Quantitative Analysis", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 237–250, 1976
  • Yazdani, Sahar, and Rouhollah Yousefi Zoshk, "Tribute or Taxation; New Evidence of the Structure of Iran's Political Economy in the Proto-Elamite Period Based on a Proto-Elamite Tablet from Tepe Yahya: TY. 11, Kept in National Museum of Iran", Journal of Iran National Museum 1.1, pp. 83–92, 2020 (in farsi?)

28°19′51″N 56°52′03″E

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