On the High Road: The History of Godin Tepe, Iran
Hilary Gopnik

The site of Godin Tepe is located in the southeastern corner of the Kangavar valley (48° 4 ´ E and 34° 31 ´ N) in central western Iran, at the western end of the Silk Road. The site was excavated by the late T. Cuyler Young Jr. under the auspices of the Royal Ontario Museum and the University of Toronto from 1965 to 1973. Godin provides the longest continuous sequence of occupation of any archaeological site in central western Iran, and is, indeed, one of the few scientifically excavated sites in the entire region. On the High Road: The History of Godin Tepe, Iran will trace the 4000-year history of this uniquely important settlement and demonstrate how, at each successive phase of occupation, the people of Godin exploited their home's position at the crossroads of cultures.

The site of Godin was formed by five main occupation phases spanning a period from c.4500 BCE to 500 BCE: phase VII (c.4500-3500 BCE), a chalcolithic settlement of some small houses with mud-packed walls; phase VI (c.3500-3200 BCE), a village overlain by an impressive walled oval complex that contained southern Uruk-related artifacts; phase IV (c.3000-2400 BCE) a village associated with the Early Transcaucasian Culture migrations, containing an industrial area and some circular installations that may have been ritual in nature; phase III, (c.2600-1400 BCE) a large town complete with centralized pottery production, butcher shops, and organized long-distance trade; and Phase II (c.750-500 BCE) an Iron Age heavily fortified palace with columned reception halls, storage rooms, and a large kitchen.

On the High Road will provide the first major publication of the material remains from Godin, the artifacts from which have been exhibited or stored at the Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto, Canada) since their excavation over thirty years ago. The material includes over ten thousand pottery sherds; about seven hundred unique stone, ceramic, bone, and metal objects; an important corpus of clay tablets and seals; and hundreds of samples of organic material and animal bone. The publication of this material will be an invaluable contribution to the understanding of the archaeology of Iran and will serve as a crucial reference for generations of future scholars.