Chogha Mish
Location | Khuzestan province, Iran |
---|---|
Coordinates | 32°12′33″N 48°32′46″E / 32.20917°N 48.54611°E |
Type | Settlement |
Site notes | |
Excavation dates | 1961-1978 |
Archaeologists | Pinhas Delougaz, Helene J. Kantor |
Condition | In ruins |
Choghā Mīsh (also Chogā Mīsh)(
Archaeology
The site consists of a cone-shaped mound with a large terrace to the south. The mound is about 200 by 150 meters in area and rises to a height of about 27 meters above the plain. The terraces is about 400 meters by 300 meters in area with four small peaks.[1]
Excavations were conducted at the site between 1961 and 1978, for a total of 11 seasons by the
Pottery kiln were found at Chogha Mish dating from the Middle
Clay tokens were an early predecessor to writing. These were enclosed in hollow spheres of clay, envelopes, called bullae. About 135 of these tokens were found at Chogha Mish. They were of various shapes including small cones, spheres and discs. These tokens were common across the ancient Middle East in the early Uruk period c 3500-3200 BC. At least 28 envelopes, with seal impressions, were also found. Tokens and bullae were ephemeral in nature and almost always found in a secondary context as they were disposed of after use. Those found at Chogha Mish are contemporary with Uruk IV and the equivalent layer st Susa.[11][12][13] One "numerical tablet" of the Uruk V period was also found.[14]
The excavation's dig house at Qaleh Khalil was destroyed during the Iranian Revolution so many finds and records were either lost or destroyed.[15]
History
The site was lightly occupied beginning in the Archaic Susiana period, roughly the middle of the 6th millennium BC and into the following Middle Susiana period. It grew into its maximum size of 17 hectares in the Late Susiana period, roughly at the beginning of the 5th millennium BC. In the early half of the fifth millennium BC, the Chogha Mish main monumental building was destroyed. This became known as the 'Burnt Building'. This destruction of Chogha Mish also coincided with the abandonment of some other sites on the eastern part of the Susiana plain. The settlements of the subsequent period shifted more to the west, especially with the founding and rise of the city of
Chogha Mish provides important evidence for early connections between Susiana and Mesopotamia. The discoveries at Chogha Mish show that the Early Susiana period was contemporary with the Ubaid 1 period of southern Mesopotamia and the Samarra period of central Mesopotamia.
The Close-Line ware of Archaic Susiana 3 phase was contemporary with the Ubaid O phase, which antedates the previously known Ubaid sequence of southern Mesopotamia.[21] The painted pottery of the Samarra period (contemporary with the Ubaid 1 = Eridu period in the south) in central Mesopotamia came later. According to archaeologists:
"Prior to the fifth millennium B.C., Chogha Mish, with about 17 ha of occupation area, was the largest population center. Oriental Institute archaeological investigations at the site from 1969 to 1979 also showed increasing social and economic complexity until it was temporarily abandoned sometime in the early fifth millennium B.C., perhaps ca. 4800 BC."[22]
Gallery
See also
- Cities of the ancient Near East
- Proto-cuneiform
- Proto-Elamite
- Tall-i Bakun
References
- ^ [1] Alizadeh, Abbas, "Ancient Mound of Chogha Mish", Persian Antike Pracht Vol. 1. 1., pp. 178-193, 2004
- ISBN 1-885923-01-5
- ISBN 1-885923-01-5
- ISBN 1-885923-52-X
- ISBN 978-1501511738
- ISBN 978-0292728455
- ISBN 9781614519133
- ^ Mayyas, A., et al., "Beeswax Preserved in a Late Chalcolithic Bevelled-Rim Bowl from the Tehran Plain, Iran", Iran, vol. 50, pp. 13–25, 2012
- ^ Helene J. Kantor, "The Elamite Cup from Chogha Mish", Iran, vol. 15, pp. 11–14, 1977
- ^ Abbas Alizadeh, "A Protoliterate Pottery Kiln from Chogha Mish, Iran", vol. 23, pp. 39–50, 1985 DOI: 10.2307/4299752
- ^ Overmann, Karenleigh A., "The Neolithic Clay Tokens", The Material Origin of Numbers: Insights from the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Piscataway, NJ, USA: Gorgias Press, pp. 157-178, 2019
- ^ 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, 1994, pp. 477-502
- ^ Schmandt-Besserat, Denise, "The Envelopes That Bear the First Writing", Technology and Culture, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 357–85, 1980
- ^ Overmann, Karenleigh A., "Data Tables", The Material Origin of Numbers: Insights from the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Piscataway, NJ, USA: Gorgias Press, pp. 245-256, 2019
- ISBN 1-885923-23-6
- ^ Alizadeh, Abbas, "The Rise of the Highland Elamite State in Southwestern Iran: ‘Enclosed’ or Enclosing Nomadism?", Current Anthropology, vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 353–83, 2010
- ISBN 978-1931745505
- ^ Hole, Frank, "The Organization of Susiana Society. Periodization of Site Distributions", Paléorient, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 21–24, 1985
- ^ Algaze, Guillermo, et al., "The Uruk Expansion: Cross-Cultural Exchange in Early Mesopotamian Civilization [with Comments and Reply]", Current Anthropology, vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 571–608, 1989
- ^ Carter, Elizabeth, "Notes on Archaeology and the Social and Economic History of Susiana", Paléorient, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 41–48, 1985
- ^ [6] Y. Calvet, "The New Deep Sounding X 36 at Tell el ʿOueili", Sumer 44, pp. 67-87, 1985-86
- ^ [7] Abbas Alizadeh and Ali Mahfroozi, "Preliminary Report on the Joint ICHTO-Oriental Institute Excavations at KS-004 and KS-108 in Lowland Susiana, Southwestern Iran", Iranian Prehistoric Project, pp. 56-69, Oriental Institute 2004-2005 Annual Report
Further reading
- [8] Atici, Levent, Sarah Kansa, Justin Lev-Tov, and Eric Kansa, "Other People's Data: A Demonstration of the Imperative of Publishing Primary Data", Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 1(3), pp. 1–19, 2013
- Levent Atici, Sarah W. Kansa, Justin SE Lev-Tov, "Chogha Mish Fauna", in Levent Atici, Sarah W. Kansa, Justin SE. Lev-Tov (Eds.), 2010 DOI: https://doi.org/10.6078/M7M906K5
- Kantor, H. J., "The Prehistoric Cultures of Chogha Mish and Boneh Fazili", in M. Y.Kiani (ed.). The Memorial Volume to the VIth International Congress of Iranian Art and Archaeology Teheran: Iranian Centre for Archaeological Research, pp. 177–193, 1976
- [9] Helene J. Kantor, "Chogha Mish", The Oriental Institute 1984–1985 Annual Report, Chicago: Chicago University, pp. 34–39, 1985
- Lev-Tov, Justin, Sarah W. Kansa, Levent Atici, and Jane C. Wheeler, "New Light on Faunal Remain from Chogha Mish, Iran", in J. Lev-Tov, P. Hesse, and A. Gilbert (eds.), The Wide Lense in Archaeology: Honoring Brian Hesse's Contributions to Anthropological Archaeology. Atlanta, GA: Lockwood Press, pp. 443–475, 2017
- [10] Woods, Christopher (2012), "Early Writing and Administrative Practice in the Ancient Near East. New Technology and the Study of Clay Envelopes from Choga Mish", in: The Oriental Institute News & Notes 215, pp. 3–9, 2012
External links
- Zooarchaeological observations from Prehistoric and Achaemenid levels at Chogha Mish, Iran. Project Chogha Mish Fauna