Tepe Yahya Collections Overview

Benjamin Mutin

This proposal is to enable study and publication of some of the archaeological materials which were collected at Tepe Yahya. This site is located in the Soghun Valley in the South-Eastern Iranian province of Kerman (Map). It was excavated under the direction of C.C. Lamberg-Karlovsky during the late 1960s and 1970s. The materials proposed to be studied include ceramics and associated small finds dating to the Period IVC of the site, which embraces the late 4th millennium and the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC (3100-2800 BC). At that time, the site was characterized by a large building in which Proto-Elamite materials associated with local tradition’s materials were found.

The so-called “Proto-Elamite Civilization” was defined from inscribed tablets, seals and some specific types of ceramics such as the Bevelled Rim Bowls and Polychrome jars found on numerous sites in Iran. But the definition of this phenomenon still requires to be supplemented. It began at about 3300 BC and ended during the first centuries of the 3rd millennium, probably at about 2800 BC. Materials and contexts related to the Proto-Elamite Civilization are mostly found in Western Iran, broadly from the provinces of Fars and Khuzistan to the province of Tehran. Its origin is probably to be found in Fars where Tal-i Malyan is considered as one of the main sites of this “civilization”. An important occupation related to the Proto-Elamite Civilization was also found at Susa in the province of Khuzistan. But materials with Proto-Elamite characteristics were also recovered eastward at Tepe Yahya and Tal-i Iblis in the province of Kerman; at Shahr-i Sokhta in the province of Seistan; and at Miri Qalat in Pakistani Makran (South-Western Pakistani Balochistan). But with the exception of Tepe Yahya where the architecture dating to the Period IVC resembles to that of Tal-i Malyan, the other evidences related to the Proto-Elamite Civilization in the Eastern Iranian Plateau were found in contexts different from those recovered westward. Also, at Tal-i Iblis, Tepe Yahya, Shahr-i Sokhta and Miri Qalat, they were found associated with materials related to the local traditions. Thus, while the definition of the Proto-Elamite phenomenon still need to be supplemented, especially its origin and its dating which are still discussed, and the writing signs which are not fully deciphered, the processes involved in its expansion across the Iranian Plateau are far from being well understood. On this point, a proper understanding of the relation of this phenomenon to the local cultures of the Eastern Iranian Plateau is fundamental.

On this point, the levels dating to the Period IVC excavated at Tepe Yahya provided almost unique data because they gave evidence for an important Proto-Elamite occupation which doesn’t have parallels farther to the east. Indeed, no building such as the one found on this site at this period was identified elsewhere in the eastern Iranian provinces. The Proto-Elamite materials found inside are associated with materials rooted in the previous local Period V and connected also with some of the cultures located eastward. Thus, the levels dating to the Period IVC at Tepe Yahya very likely represent the best archaeological context to understand the relation of the Proto-Elamite phenomenon to the local cultures and to the interactions sphere of the Eastern Iranian Plateau, and also to appraise the expansion of this phenomenon in this area in comparison with the Proto-Elamite occupations located in Western Iran, for example at Tal-i Malyan and Susa, a time just before the urban Indus Civilization to the east and the Old Elamite Civilization in Iran developed toward the middle of the 3rd millennium BC.