Like most of the prehistoric cultures of the Iranian Plateau, the Dalma Culture has been understood mostly by its ceramic assemblages. After being introduced for the first time in Dalma Tepe, the Dalma Ceramic tradition was characterized by ceramic collections from Mound B at Seh Gabi and Godin (Trench XYZ) in Central Western Zagros. The most striking aspect of Dalma pottery is its homogeneity throughout the Central and Northern Zagros, which indicates cultural ties between the communities of these parts during the 5 th Millennium BC. During the last two decades several fieldworks have been conducted on Dalma period sites in the Zagros which, on one hand, emphasizes the general ceramic homogeneity among these sites, and, one other hand can be handled with scrutiny to define several cultural sub-regions in the Dalma sphere. Excavations at Nadali Beig provided more evidence on intra-regional differences and similarities amongst the Dalma collections in the Zagros. The importance of Nadali Beig is in the fact that based on seven 14C dates available for the excavated sequence, we may provide for the first time an absolute chronology for different types of the Dalma ceramics. Based on these dates we may suggest the time of appearance and disappearance of certain types of Dalma pottery which can be anchored to define the approximate date of similar collections in the Zagros. Based on our analysis of Dalma Painted Monochrome, we could identify and define four sub-regions in the Central and Northern Zagros: South of Lake Urmia, Kurdestan, Bijar and Kangavar. Moreover, based on the absolute chronological column of Nadali Beig we have proposed the time-range of Dalma Painted Monochrome in these sub-regions.

As one of the most extensive prehistoric entities of western Iran, Dalma culture belonging to the Zagros Chalcolithic, flourished in vast areas of the Central Zagros and Northwest Region of the country. This culture is defined essentially by its characteristic ceramic assemblages that show a marked uniformity in terms of technology, vessel forms, and painted designs throughout its territory. One of the main issues regarding this culture is its chronology, which was largely based on comparative studies, a few radiocarbon (14C) dates analyzed in the 1960s–1970s, or a few confusing thermoluminescence dates. In this paper, a series of 15 charcoal samples from a recent salvage excavation at Nad Ali Beig, a single-period site dated to Dalma period, is presented that provide the first reliable absolute dates for a part of the Middle Chalcolithic period of the Central Zagros region. Based on these new dates we may suggest that Dalma culture flourished between ca. 5200/5100–4600 BCE. Furthermore, based on these dates it is now possible to determine the order of appearance of different types of the Dalma culture ceramic assemblage, including the Ubaid-related painted buff ceramics.