*Caldwell, J., “Tal-i-Iblis” Iran 5, pp. 44-46, 1967
*Caldwell, J., “Tal-i-Iblis” Iran 5, pp. 44-46, 1967
*[https://scholar.archive.org/work/ohsi2eo2trdxpihit2k5r7odse/access/wayback/http://www.ganino.com/games/Science/science%20magazine%201966-1967/root/data/Science%201966-1967/pdf/1966_v153_n3739/1719357.pdf]Dougherty, Ralph C., and Joseph R. Caldwell, “Evidence of early pyrometallurgy in the Kerman Range in Iran”, Science 153.3739, pp. 984-985, 1966
*[https://scholar.archive.org/work/ohsi2eo2trdxpihit2k5r7odse/access/wayback/http://www.ganino.com/games/Science/science%20magazine%201966-1967/root/data/Science%201966-1967/pdf/1966_v153_n3739/1719357.pdf]Dougherty, Ralph C., and Joseph R. Caldwell, “Evidence of early pyrometallurgy in the Kerman Range in Iran”, Science 153.3739, pp. 984-985, 1966
*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
*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
*[https://hal.science/hal-03856131v1/file/Mutin_Garazhian_2019_ICAR.pdf]Mutin, Benjamin, and Omran Garazhian, “Iranian-French Archaeological Mission in Bam, Kerman. Summary of Field-Seasons 2016-2017”, Archaeology 2.2, pp. 93-106, 2019
*[https://hal.science/hal-03856131v1/file/Mutin_Garazhian_2019_ICAR.pdf]Mutin, Benjamin, and Omran Garazhian, “Iranian-French Archaeological Mission in Bam, Kerman. Summary of Field-Seasons 2016-2017”, Archaeology 2.2, pp. 93-106, 2019
*Sajjadi, S. Mansur S., “Prehistoric Settlements in the Bardsir Plain, South-Eastern Iran”, East and West, vol. 37, no. 1/4, pp. 11–129, 1987
*Sajjadi, S. Mansur S., “Prehistoric Settlements in the Bardsir Plain, South-Eastern Iran”, East and West, vol. 37, no. 1/4, pp. 11–129, 1987
*Thorton, Christopher P., “The rise of arsenical copper in southeastern Iran”, Iranica Antiqua 45, pp. 31-50, 2010
*Thorton, Christopher P., “The rise of arsenical copper in southeastern Iran”, Iranica Antiqua 45, pp. 31-50, 2010
*Voigt, M. M. and Dyson, R. H., “Chronology of iran, ca. 8000–2000 B.C.”, in Ehrich, R. W. (ed.), Chronologies of Old World Archaeology, Vol. 1, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 122–78, 1992
*Voigt, M. M. and Dyson, R. H., “Chronology of iran, ca. 8000–2000 B.C.”, in Ehrich, R. W. (ed.), Chronologies of Old World Archaeology, Vol. 1, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 122–78, 1992
Archaeological site in Iran
The site of Tal-i-Iblis (also Tal-i Iblis and Tell-i Iblis), known locally as “the devil’ s mound”, lying in the Kerman province about 80 kilometers southwest of Kerman, 170 kilometers north/northwest of Tepe Yahya, was mostly destroyed by local peasants stealing soil to replenish the agriculture land depleted by their agricultural practices
before it could be excavated by archaeologists. Enough was left to provide some important insights into the settlement history.
The site was occupied primarily in the 4th millennium BC.
Archaeology
The site was visited in 1931 by archaeologist Sir Aurel Stein during a reconnaissance of the area. He
was prevented from examining or sketching the site by a local military official. He described the site, at that time, as having an oval shape, 118 meters by 100 meters, and around 11 meters high with pottery indicating the presence of a lower town.[1] Tal-i-Iblis was excavated in 1966 by an Illinois State Museum team led by Joseph Caldwell.[2][3] A notable discovery was one of the earliest
copper smelting workshops in the Old World dated to the early fifth millennium
BC.[4]
[5][6]
Finds included beveled rim bowls, in Periods IV through VI, which are diagnostic pottery for
the Uruk culture.[7][8] A few small conic clay tokens were also found.[9]
History
Excavators defined the stratigraphy as having six periods:[10]
- Period 0 – tentative earlier occupation level
- Periods I-II – c. 4000 BC. Equivalent to Ubaid 5, Susa I and Yahya VA-VC.
- Periods III-V – c. 3500 BC. Equivalent to Uruk period.
- Period VI – c. 3000 BC. Equivalent to Jemdet Nasr,Proto-Elamite, and Yahya IVC
Some radiocarbon dates were obtained. Several from the Period I to Period II transition – 4400-4200 BC, one for Period III – 3792 BC +/- 60, one for Early Period IV – 3643 BC +/- 59, and one for Period IV – 2869 BC +/- 57. Note that these are early pre-AMS dates and publications do not specify calibration method.[11][12]
- Iblis 0: 3927 BC ± 70
- Iblis I: 4091 BC ± 74
- Iblis 2: 4083 BC ± 75
- Iblis 3: 3792 BC ± 60
- Iblis 4: 3645 BC ± 59
- Iblis 5: 2869 BC ± 57
See also
References
- ^ Stein, Aurel, “Archaeological Reconnaissances in Southern Persia”, The Geographical Journal, vol. 83, no. 2, pp. 119–34, 1934
- ^ C. L. Goff, et al, “Survey of Excavations in Iran during 1965-66”, Iran, vol. 5, pp. 133–49, 1967
- ^ Caldwell, J. R., “Excavations at Tal-i Iblis.” Illinois State Museum, Preliminary Reports 9, 1967
- ^ [1]Caldwell, J. R., and S. M. Shahmirzadi, “Tal-i-Iblis, The Kerman Range and the Beginnings of Smelting”, Springfield, Illinois State Museum, 1966
- ^ Caldwell, Joseph R., “Tal-i-Iblis and the Beginning of Copper Metallurgy at the Fifth Millenium”, Baluchistan, pp. 1445-150, 1968
- ^ Pigott, Vincent, and Heather Lechtman, “Chalcolithic copper-based metallurgy on the Iranian plateau: a new look at old evidence from Tal-i Iblis”, Culture through objects: Ancient Near Eastern studies in honour of PRS Moorey, pp. 291-312, 2003
- ^ [2]Abbasnejad Seresti, Rahmat, and Roghayyeh Sattari Galoogahi, “Beveled rim bowls of the eastern half of the iranian plateau: examination and analysis”, Journal of Sistan and Baluchistan Studies 2.2, pp. 25-34, 2022
- ^ Potts, Daniel, “Bevel-rim bowls and bakeries: evidence and explanations from Iran and the Indo-Iranian borderlands”, Journal of Cuneiform Studies 61.1, pp. 1-23, 2009
- ^ Friberg, Jöran, “Preliterate counting and accounting in the Middle East: A constructively critical review of Schmandt-Besserat’s Before Writing”, Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, vol. 89, no. 5-6, pp. 477-502, 1994
- ^ Mutin, Benjamin, “Ceramic traditions and interactions on the south-eastern Iranian Plateau during the fourth millennium BC”, Ancient Iran and Its Neighbours. Local Development and Long-Range Interactions in the Fourth Millennium BC, pp. 253-275, 2013
- ^ Caldwell, Joseph R., “Pottery and Cultural History on the Iranian Plateau”, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 178–83, 1968
- ^ Dyson, Robert H., “Annotations and Corrections of the Relative Chronology of Iran, 1968”, American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 72, no. 4, pp. 308–13, 1968
Further reading
- Caldwell, J., “Tal-i-Iblis” Iran 5, pp. 44-46, 1967
- [3]Dougherty, Ralph C., and Joseph R. Caldwell, “Evidence of early pyrometallurgy in the Kerman Range in Iran”, Science 153.3739, pp. 984-985, 1966
- 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
- [4]Lechtman, Heather, and Lesley Leslie Diana Frame, “Investigations at Tal-i Iblis: evidence for copper smelting during the Chalcolithic period. Dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2004
- [5]Mutin, Benjamin, and Omran Garazhian, “Iranian-French Archaeological Mission in Bam, Kerman. Summary of Field-Seasons 2016-2017”, Archaeology 2.2, pp. 93-106, 2019
- Sajjadi, S. Mansur S., “Prehistoric Settlements in the Bardsir Plain, South-Eastern Iran”, East and West, vol. 37, no. 1/4, pp. 11–129, 1987
- Sarraf, M. R., “Die Keramik von Tell-i Iblis und Ihre zeitliche und raümliche Beziehungen zu den anderen iranischen und mesopotamischen Kuulturen”, ami, Verlag, 1981
- Shaffer, Jim G., “The prehistory of Baluchistan: Some interpretative problems”, Arctic Anthropology, pp. 224-235, 1974
- Thorton, Christopher P., “The rise of arsenical copper in southeastern Iran”, Iranica Antiqua 45, pp. 31-50, 2010
- Voigt, M. M. and Dyson, R. H., “Chronology of iran, ca. 8000–2000 B.C.”, in Ehrich, R. W. (ed.), Chronologies of Old World Archaeology, Vol. 1, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 122–78, 1992
