Tapeh Qal‘eh-ye-Sarsakhti is located between the Central Iranian Plateau and the Zagros Mountains, specifically in the entrance threshold to the Central Iranian Plateau from the eastern part of Central Zagros. It is a rich site including several periods: late Neolithic, Middle and Late Chalcolithic, Early and Middle Bronze Age, Parthian and eventually the Seljuk era. According to surveys conducted in the Central Zagros and in the Central Iranian Plateau, Tapeh Qal‘eh-ye-Sarsakhti appears to be one of the southeastern-most extensions of the Kura-Araxes and the eastern sphere of Dalma Culture influence in the Central Iranian Plateau and East Central Zagros. Here, we trace the nature of the arrival of these cultures to the East Central Zagros and Central Iranian Plateau, as well as the role this area played in transferring of these cultures from east to west, north to south and vice versa.

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The purpose of this article is to introduce the large prehistoric site of Hajjiabad-Varamin, its changes in time and the first discoveries made there, in the specific literature on the early Bronze Age of the south-eastern Iranian Plateau. The first part of the article describes the site, its present damaged conditions, the periodisation we adopted and the complex topographic shifts and changes of functions through time. The second part focuses on the settlement of the 3rd millennium BC and discusses a major craft activity area found east of the main elevation of the site, in which were manufactured vessels in various stones (white alabaster, grey limestones with white fossil inclusions, and probably chlorite). Collections include large drill-heads in volcanic rocks used on the interior of the stone pots, and standardised beads of a green and red-banded calcite broken while being drilled. While the stone vessels find abundant comparisons and were certainly in demand for long-distance trade, the beads type is not known in other contexts and were presumably made for a local demand. We also present the unusual find of a hoard of copper objects which helps framing the 3rd millennium BC centre in terms of cultural links and chronology.