Sang-i Chakmak
Semnan Province | |
Coordinates | 36°29′59″N 55°00′02″E / 36.49972°N 55.00056°E |
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Type | Neolithic archaeological site |
Site notes | |
Excavation dates | 1969 |
Archaeologists | Seiichi Masuda |
Sang-i Chakmak (Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq, Sange Chaxmaq, Chakhmagh) is a
Excavations
The site was discovered in 1969 by Seiichi Masuda. It includes several
Another related site is Deh Kheyr, Semnan, located only 4 km (2.5 mi) from Sang-i Chakmak.
Western settlement
The western settlement is an approximately 3 m high mound with a diameter of about 80 m, and contains five cultural layers.
Levels 2-5 represent the aceramic Neolithic phase. There's also some imported obsidian. There are many zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figurines.[2]
Large mud-brick houses with plastered floors were built. Some of them are made of lime plaster. The buildings were rectangular and consisted of rooms with dimensions of 6x4 m. Two different types of buildings are found. Some had a square hearth on the north side and partly blackened walls; others had no hearth and the rooms were comparatively small, but with carefully designed floors. In one of these small rooms without hearth in layer II some highly stylized clay figurines were found.[3]
In addition, the excavations found small bone fibulae and bone needles, flint cuttings,
Eastern settlement
The eastern settlement is located about 150 m from the west and has an extension of 100 m in the north–south direction and 150 m in east–west direction. Layers VI-III contained multi-dimensional rectangular dwellings with outbuildings, often with a small work area and an oven. The buildings have different sizes, have an average size of 5 x 8 meters and have an entrance hall or courtyard. They are made of clay blocks of 70 by 20 cm, in the same technique as the Jeitun culture in Turkmenistan.[5]
Unlike the western settlement, no carefully executed floors were observed in the east. Characteristic is the use of cigar-shaped mud bricks. In layer III many kilns have been discovered.
In the uppermost layers II and I, the building plans differ from the above-described lower ones. The rooms are square with a hearth on the northern side. In addition, the main rooms are not divided into smaller areas, instead small rectangular rooms have been added.[6]
In the top layer were three tombs containing the burials of women and children. A skull of a young woman was also found; it was covered with a decorated pot of a type known from the site of Tepe Sialk.
In contrast to the western settlement, a large amount of pottery has been found in the eastern one. Most of the decorated pottery displays geometric patterns such as crossed lines, and the horizontal and vertical parallel lines drawn in red or dark brown against a creamy or reddish background. The ceramics of the upper, younger layers show animal motifs. There are also conical clay objects, spindles, animal statuettes made of clay or stone, bone needles, polished stone axes, flint cuttings and microliths. Particularly interesting are wooden sickle handles with animal motifs from layers IV and V.
The objects found generally show similarities to the lowest layer of Yarim Tepe (Iran) and, above all, to the Jeitun culture.[7]
Cultural sequence
The uppermost layer I of the western settlement is older than the lowest layer VI of the eastern settlement. The small amount of pottery shards at the western hill, in contrast to the large amount at the east, indicates a higher age of the western settlement. Thus the site represents a transitional cultural period to the ceramic phase.
These indications have been confirmed by the studies of Toshio Nakamura from the Center for Chronological Research of
Relative chronology
See also
Notes
- ^ Akira Tsuneki, The site of Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq. In: The First Farming Village in Northeast Iran and Turan: Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq and Beyond. Symposium held on 10–11 February 2014, Tsukuba 2014, p. 5–6
- ^ Christopher P. Thornton (2010), SANG-E CHAKHMAQ iranicaonline.org
- ^ V. Sarianidi: Food-producing and other Neolithic communities in Khorasan and Transoxania: eastern Iran, Soviet Central Asia and Afghanistan. In: A. H. Dani, V. M. Masson (Hrsg.): History of civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. 1. 1992, p. 109–121
- ^ Akira Tsuneki, Pottery and Other Objects from Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq. In: The First Farming Village in Northeast Iran and Turan: Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq and Beyond. Symposium held on 10–11 February 2014, Tsukuba 2014, p. 13
- ^ Akira Tsuneki, The site of Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq. In: The First Farming Village in Northeast Iran and Turan: Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq and Beyond. Symposium held on 10–11 February 2014, Tsukuba 2014, p. 6–7
- ^ Akira Tsuneki, The site of Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq. In: The First Farming Village in Northeast Iran and Turan: Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq and Beyond. Symposium held on 10–11 February 2014, Tsukuba 2014, p. 7-8
- ^ V. Sarianidi: Food-producing and other Neolithic communities in Khorasan and Transoxania: eastern Iran, Soviet Central Asia and Afghanistan. In: A. H. Dani, V. M. Masson (Hrsg.): History of civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. 1. 1992, p. 114–115
- ^ R. H. Dyson Jr. and C. P. Thornton, “Shir-i Shian and the fifth millennium sequence of Northern Iran,” Iran 47, 2009, pp. 1–22
- ^ Toshio Nakamura: Radiocarbon dating of charcoal remains excavated from Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq. In: The First Farming Village in Northeast Iran and Turan: Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq and Beyond. Tsukuba 2014, p. 9–12
Literature
- Akira Tsuneki, The site of Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq. In: The First Farming Village in Northeast Iran and Turan: Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq and Beyond. Symposium held on 10–11 February 2014, Tsukuba 2014, p. 5–8
- Akira Tsuneki, Pottery and Other Objects from Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq. In: The First Farming Village in Northeast Iran and Turan: Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq and Beyond. Symposium held on 10–11 February 2014, Tsukuba 2014, p. 13–18
External links
- Christopher P. Thornton (2010), SANG-E CHAKHMAQ iranicaonline.org
- Frank Hole (2004), NEOLITHIC AGE IN IRAN iranicaonline.org
- The First Farming Village in Northeast Iran and Turan: Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq and Beyond. Symposium held on 10–11 February 2014 at the University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 2014. 58 pages (PDF)