Zagros Archaeological Researches

Zagros Archaeological Researches

Disappear of painted ceramic at the end of the fifth millennium BC.

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Bonayad Iranshenasi Kordestan
Abstract
In the large areas of ancient west Asia at the end of the fifth millennium BC, the painted ceramic style went out entirely. It was replaced by plain ceramic in the fourth millennium BC. Because of the overlapping of this event with the urbanization process in Mesopotamia, it was discussed and studied completely there, but Iran pays little attention to archaeologists and many questions remain in this regard. So to answer this question and also to investigate the reasons for the disappearance of painted ceramic at the end of the fifth millennium BC, the prehistoric ceramic cultures of many regions particularly in the second half of the fifth millennium BC was analyzed. In the end, it became clear that the same as Mesopotamia in the areas like Lake Urmia basin in the north-west, the central Zagros highlands in the west, Deh Luran, Susa in the south-west and southern Zagros in Iran, the painted ceramic went out entirely at the end of the fifth millennium BC and was replaced by the fourth millennium BC plain ceramic. But in the remains areas of Iran like the central plateau, northeast, east, and southeast of Iran the situation is completely different. In these regions, the painted ceramic cultures continued at the end of the fifth and throughout the fourth millennium BC. Also in all the mentioned regions of Iran, just in Khuzistan, the disappearance of painted ceramic at the end of the fifth millennium BC overlapped with basic changes in society the same as in Mesopotamia. What have been results in this article challenge the proposed hypothesis until now. We understand from this study that the western part of Iran has proximity to Mesopotamian cultures and many similarities can be seen in this regard, but inside Iran, we see the intact Iranian prehistoric cultures during the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods.
Keywords
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  • Receive Date 14 December 2023
  • Revise Date 13 February 2024
  • Accept Date 25 February 2024