Human-Environment Interactions and Socio-Political Change in Southwest Iran, 4500-3500 BC

University Of Chicago, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

With the support of National Science Foundation, Drs. Abbas Alizadeh, Nicholas Kouchoukos, and Tony Wilkinson as well as Iranian and international colleagues will conduct a series of archaeological excavations and geomorphological/landscape surveys in lowland Khuzestan (ancient Susiana), southwestern Iran. The expedition consists of archaeologists, geomorphologists, landscape archaeologists, and a zooarchaeologist and a palaeobotanist, from U.S.A., England, France, and Iran. Present understanding of cultural development in lowland Susiana is the product of numerous excavations and, especially regional surface surveys. While settlement patterns revealed by archaeological surveys provide considerable information about how settlements positioned themselves spatially, there has never been a systematic effort to understand the effects of geomorphological features and the changing landscape as major variables in the location and distribution of sites. This is particularly important in the transitional period from the late prehistoric phases to the emergence of urban centers (4500-3500 BC), when subsistence economy was changing and irrigation agriculture was presumably a major development associated with the rise of urban centers in both lowland Susiana and southern Mesopotamia. Therefore, an understanding of the use of land, the effect of the regimes of Susiana's 3 major rivers, and the adaptive responses of the local cultures to geomorphological and landscape features is crucial to the interpretation of urban development in the region. Canal irrigation agriculture is considered a major adaptive response to both environmental and demographic variables in southwestern Iran and southern Mesopotamia. Some scholars consider the emphasis on cultivation of barley and raising sheep, both more tolerant to heat and salt than goats and wheat, in the early 4th millennium BC as a reflection the perceived salinization in these regions that was caused by climatic changes and over-irrigation. One of the goals of this project is to test this assumption by collecting and analyzing sedimentary deposits, faunal, floral, and phytolith (fossilized plant cells) samples, as well as finding traces of ancient irrigation canals and farm lands. Precise chronology is another problem associated with the interpretation of the evidence concerning the nature of the transition from a basically subsistence economy of prehistoric times to one based on large-scale irrigation agriculture and a network of regional trade controlled by urban organizations. This research is designed to collect physical evidence of such developments to ultimately reach a deeper understanding of geomorphology of the region and patterns of land-use (almost completely lacking) that are crucial in the reconstruction and interpretation of the crucial millennium that led to the rise of urban centers and transformation of subsistence economy.