Excavations at Tall-e Ghazir (1948 and 1949)
Abbas Alizadeh

This grant will be for publication of the final descriptive and analytical report of two seasons of extensive excavations at Tall-e Ghazir, excavated in 1948 and 1949 by Donald E. McCown and Joseph Caldwell on behalf of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. The final results will be published in the Oriental Institute Publications series (OIP).

Tall-e Ghazir is located in the eastern frontier of lowland Susiana in the Ram Hormuz region, an area where both ethnically and archaeologically can be considered a buffer zone between the highland and lowland polities of the 5th and 4th millennia BC. At an elevation of about 250 m above sea level, the Ram Hormuz area is the next large fertile region southeast of Susa and contains sites of all major prehistoric and historical periods.

Flanked by the Zagros Mountains on one side and the vast alluvial plains of lowland Susiana on the other, Tall-e Ghazir is strategically located on the trade routes that link both lowland Mesopotamia and Susiana to the highlands and points east. The geographic position of Tall-e Ghazir is remarkably reflected in its ceramics that combine both the highland and lowland traditions.

The site is the largest population center in this pivotal region. It consists of two main complexes, each adjacent to a modern-day village. Excavations at the site revealed an uninterrupted sequence of archaeological materials ranging from the 5th to the middle of 3rd millennia BC, as well as an Old Elamite fortification . The archaeological materials from Ghazir, therefore, will be of great importance in addressing socio-economic relationships between the lowlands and highlands on the one hand and the development of proto-Elamite civilization on the other.

The proposed publication will draw heavily on the pottery analysis that was prepared in the 1960s by Joseph Caldwell by remains unpublished. In addition to the various chapters dealing with pottery, small finds, administrative technology, bones and flint industry, an analytical chapter will be devoted to the position of Tall-e Ghazir in the context of inter-regional socio-economic development in southwestern Asia from the 5th to the end of the 4th millennia BC.