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This article presents results of new instrumental neutron activation analysis of ceramics from Tepe Yahya (southeastern Iran) dating to Periods IVC and IVB and their implications for our understanding of the dynamics of ceramic production and distribution in southeastern Iran during the early Bronze Age period. This analysis was conducted as part of the National Science Foundation funded project Coordinated , Regional Trace-Element Studies at the OSU-RC Archaeometry Lab , focused on a re-evaluation of the Uruk expansion and interregional ceramic exchange in the late fourth millennium BC. Period IVC corresponds to the Proto-Elamite occupation at Tepe Yahya dating to ca. 3000 BCE, and Period IVB follows Period IVC in the third millennium BCE after a chronological hiatus. Through this analysis we show that the ceramic assemblage recovered in Period IVC Proto-Elamite occupation resulted from a complex system that included local production as well as intraregional and interregional exchange. We suggest that the community that settled at Tepe Yahya built most of its typical Proto-Elamite ceramic vessels using clays available locally in the valley surrounding the site. Surprisingly, Burnished ware, a ceramic style well-represented at the site but usually more common in northern Iran, was also built using local clays. In the same period, additional, different styles of painted ceramics were present at the site. We suggest that these ceramics were made using clays available elsewhere in Kerman and Seistan-and-Balochistan provinces. Comparisons with compositions of materials from Period IVB revealed that changes occurred in ceramic production during this period. Beyond ceramic production, broader implications are derived from these results for the understanding of the Proto-Elamite Culture, interactions in southeastern Iran around 3000 BCE, and the Proto-Elamite legacy in this area.

The nature of the economy in the Bronze Age of the Near East has been long debated. Various models are reviewed, as is the role of merchants, the structure and extent of 'international trade', and the nature of the market-economy. The diversity of co-occuring structures are seen as characteristic of the ancient economy.

From 1967 to 1975 a team of archaeologists excavated the site of Tepe Yahya in southeastern Iran under the direction of C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky. Although there are two forthcoming “final reports” (Hiebert (in progress), and Magee (in press); see also Lamberg-Karlovsky & Potts, 2001), analysis of the materials continues as opportunities allow. Metal artefacts, most especially those made of copper and its alloys, are found at this site from the late Neolithic through the Iron Age. Archaeometallurgical analysis, radiocarbon chronologies, and archaeological interpretation allow one to state when and how a type of metal or a style of object was invented, its use as a trade item, and its function and value to an ancient community. In the hopes of establishing a framework for future archaeometallurgical studies, most of the metal artefacts from Tepe Yahya, Iran, stored in the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, were analysed for elemental composition to complement stylistic and metallographic data.

This review of recent archaeological work in Central Asia and Eurasia attempts to trace and date the movements of the IndoIraniansspeakers of languages of the eastern branch of ProtoIndoEuropean th...

Etude de deux plateformes de briques du site de Tepe Yahya. La premiere des deux fut construite sur les vestiges d'un village de l'Âge du Fer (periode III) qui consistait en au moins deux bâtiments approximativement carres, l'un d'entre eux comportant en son centre un pilier. La plateforme la plus ancienne recouvre quant a elle les fondations de cette meme structure de l'Âge du Fer dans leur partie septentrionale. L'auteur se propose plus particulierement de presenter une vue complete de la culture materielle de l'Âge du Fer a Tepe Yahya.

We present a critique of a paper written by two economists, Quamrul Ashraf and Oded Galor, which is forthcoming in the American Economic Review and which was uncritically highlighted in Science magazine. Their paper claims there is a causal effect of genetic diversity on economic success, positing that too much or too little genetic diversity constrains development. In particular, they argue that “the high degree of diversity among African populations and the low degree of diversity among Native American populations have been a detrimental force in the development of these regions.” We demonstrate that their argument is seriously flawed on both factual and methodological grounds. As economists and other social scientists begin exploring newly available genetic data, it is crucial to remember that nonexperts broadcasting bold claims on the basis of weak data and methods can have profoundly detrimental social and political effects.

La Civilización del Oxus, también conocida como la Civilización de Bactria-Margiana, está centrada en el oasis de Murghab, Turkmenistán, y datada entre el 2200-1700 AC. Descubierta por Victor Sarianidi en la década de 1970, continua sus excavaciones en el poblado de +20 hectáreas de Gonur depe. La Civilización del Oxus tiene una arquitectura única, una cultura material excepcionalmente rica, y contactos con Mesopotamia, el Valle del Indo y la llanura iraní., The Oxus Civilization, also known as the Bactrian-Margina Civilization, is centere in the Murghab Oasis, Turkmenistan, and dated to 2200-1700 BC. Discovered by Victor Sarianidi in the 1970s, he continues his excavations on the +20 hectare site of Gonur depe. The Oxus Civilization has unique architecture, an exceptionally rich material culture, and contacts with Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and the Iranian Plateau.

L'article traite de l'organisation politique et sociale de la civilisation de l'Oxus d'apres ses structures architecturales et son mobilier en comparant les modeles a ceux de l'âge du Fer, de la periode medievale, et de l'ethnographie contemporaine

Ancient Mesopotamia: The Eden That Never Was. Susan Pollock. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.259 pp.

Raw materials recovered from archaeological excavations in the Indus Valley, the Persian Gulf, Mesopotamia, Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean reflect the existence of long-distance trading during the Bronze Age, which united these regions into networks of commercial exchange. As each region relied on a different set of weights for trading, a straightforward conversion system must have been in operation. Here we describe a simple and universal conversion system that could have provided an economic key to the trade networks of the Old World between 2500 and 1000 bc.

The volume under review contains a much needed synthesis of the major industries and technologies of the ancient Near East. Although the geographical emphasis is on Mesopotamia, the author's range extends from Anatolia to the Indus Valley and from central Asia to the Arabian Peninsula. The chronological focus is on the Bronze and Iron Ages within the above regions. The book is an indispensable guide to the archaeological discoveries, physico-chemical analysis, and textual references pertaining to the crafts of pottery, metal, glass, faience, and stone working, and to the role of bricks, mortar, and plaster in architectural construction.

IN 1861 Sir Henry Rawlinson first identified the island of Bahrain as the land of Dilmun mentioned in Sumerian and Babylonian texts. Since then, archaeological excavations have been undertaken on Bahrain by E. L. Dunnand (1880); T. Bent (1889); M. Jouannin (1903); Col. F. B. Prideaux (1906-8); E. MacKay (1924); P. B. Cornwall (1940-41); G. Bibby (1954-), and most recently by I. Moawiyah (1977-78).' The cuneiform references to Dilmun, recovered from Mesopotamia, fall into two distinct categories: (1) commercial, dedicatory, and astrological inscriptions, and (2) Sumerian literary compositions. From the inscriptions of the former there can be little doubt that Dilmun was a specific geographical locality involved in international trade.2 Dilmun's commercial enterprise has occupied the principal attention of scholars attempting to understand the economic relations that brought Dilmun, Mesopotamia, and the Indus Civilization into contact.3 There can be little doubt that Dilmun was of importance to Mesopotamian commerce or that ancient Dilmun is correctly identified as modern Bahrain. It is not my purpose here to rehash these already established facts. This paper concentrates on specific Sumerian literary compositions that refer to Dilmun as a fabulous land, as a land of paradise and as an antechamber to the spirit world, in light of the tens of thousands of tumuli-tombs on Bahrain. From the earliest period of archaeological exploration on Bahrain, it was noted that the island contained an almost inestimable number of burial tumuli.4 Literally hundreds of these have been excavated, though we still lack a comprehensive publication of them. G. Bibby estimated that in 20 square miles there existed 100,000 tumuli ranging from one meter to 12 meters in height.5 The most recent excavator of these tumuli, Ibrahim Moawiyah, estimates that over 150,000 tumuli exist on Bahrain

My aim in assembling this review is to make recent archaeological research in the Old World accessible to readers of this journal. Three issues are emphasized–current research concerns, major recent discoveries, and readily available literature on the subjects treated. The regions covered are Europe, the Near East, and China. A review article concerned with Africa will appear in a later issue. I wish to thank Peter Bogucki and Richard Meadow for helpful advice in this review's preparation. PSW

Recent discussion of the effects on society of long-distance exchange has brought the once generally accepted view of early Mesopotamian society as "statist" under heavy fire. There is now broad consensus that by Early Dynastic III there were widespread exchange systems in which the production of commodities played an important role and that by that time individuals were engaging in exchange for personal gain. These important new insights have had the effect of pushing into the conceptual background the role of the central societal institutions. Despite their import, however, it is inappropriate to single out any one factor in attempting to delineate the transformative forces of a social formation. Early Mesopotamian exchange should be approached as part of the changing complex of social relations of production that characterized Mesopotamian society. I suggest that the modes of production characterizing Mesopotamia were quite different from the modern capitalist mode; that centralized production with pub...

During the Proto-Elamite period, 3300-2800 B.C., a political and economic hegemony seems to have arisen in the southwestern highlands of Iran. The power of this hegemony was derived from its control over the major trade routes between the Iranian plateau and Mesopotamia; its extent is defined by shared styles in ceramics, art, and architecture and by the use of a distincitive system of writing and recording. Proto-Elamite influence grew rapidly during the last centuries of the 4th millennium B.C. and declined equally rapidly when maritime trade through the Persian Gulf was established several centuries later. This reconstruction is supported by independent evidence-the ratios of imported to exported materials-from Farukhabad, a site outside the Proto-Elamite sphere of influence in lowland western Iran. This paper emphasizes the role that long-distance trade can play in the rise and decline of prehistoric complex societies. Proto-Elamite hegemony was a political and social phenomenon but was based on explo...

Typologie et catalogue des objets de chlorite de Tepe Yahya. La fonction aussi bien que la signification symbolique de l'iconographie des bols de chlorite sculptes restent inconnues. Le motif du serpent est bien represente. Un premier appendice donne la liste de la vaisselle de chlorite de divers sites du Proche-Orient, le deuxieme, la vaisselle de Tepe Yahya. Pres de 69,9 % de ces objets appartiennent aux periodes IV B 1-4

Recent excavations of the Bronze Age site of Sarazm (35W2000 B.C., uncalibrated) were undertaken by a collaborative team of archaeologists from the U.S.S.R. and U.S.A. The site is located in the Zeraoshan Valley in Tadjikistan SSR. A series of radiocarbon dates are presented as well as the analysis of 8 metallurgical samples. This Bronze Age site represents the easternmost extension in central Asia of an urban community with a rich metallurgical inventory.

Trade frequently is considered an important and distinct subsystem that is integrated within a prehistoric cultural system. This paper rejects this interpretation and attempts a structural analysis of a specific trading network that existed in southwestern Asia in the mid-3d millennium B.C. in order to uncover the motivational factors and contradictions operative in trading relationships. An ideal dichotomy between sparsely populated, resource-rich highland centers and densely settled lowland cities is proposed, and the evolutionary significance of the relationship that developed between these areas is discussed.

Recent research in India and Pakistan has greatly increased our knowledge of the Indus Civilization. Geographically the most widely distributed of Old World prehistoric civilizations, its origin and decline are, nevertheless, still little understood. The earliest metallurgical technology, represented in the chalcolithic cultures of Afghanistan and Baluchistan, points to an early connection with Iran. With the later inception of the Indus Civilization, metallurgy, derived apparently from the west, is technically an accomplished craft. Technological processes and typological occurrences of metal objects are discussed. The metal “hoards” of the Ganges-Jumna are without parallel and are seen as a separate metallurgical tradition within India.