East Chia Sabz is a PPN site located in the Seimareh Valley, western Iran. 14C dating results indicated that the site was occupied from the early 9th millennium to the early 7th millennium BC. As we have very little information about early Neolithic sites in Iran in comparison with the other regions of the Near and Middle East, the site of East Chia Sabz will provide a new benchmark for investigating the Neolithisation process in Iran. It is important to note that further investigation of Chia Sabz will certainly provide more secure information about how and when the Epipaleolithic transition to the Neolithic started in the region. This paper will present the recent excavations at the site, and then, based on the 14C dates, will discuss the site’s importance in western Iran.

During the excavations of the graveyard at the site of Deh Dumen in south-western Iran, 15 graves from the Early/Middle Bronze Age were uncovered that contained a variety of metallic artefacts. This paper reports on the analysis of nine metal artefacts, including eight broken vessels and a decorative strip that covered the handle of a dagger. The ICP-MS results showed that the bodies of the vessels are made of tin bronze alloy with variable amounts of tin, while the internal piece of the base of one vessel is made from an arsenical copper alloy. Further, the metallic strip is a thin sheet manufactured with partially pure silver. Microanalytical and microstructural information yielded by SEM-EDS revealed elongated Cu-S inclusions and lead globules as various phases formed in bronze solid solution. This study presents some information about the transition from arsenical copper to bronze metallurgy in the third millennium BC in south-western Iran.

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Late Bronze Age multiple human burials from Deh Dumen, Iran, were uncovered in the Zagros Mountains. Using cross‐sectional geometry and histology, a sample (n = 23) of fragmented femora from these burials was examined to test for possible adaptation to transhumant pastoralism. Midshaft femur remodelling and modelling characteristics examined across males, females and age‐at‐death groups partly indicated sex‐specific pastoralist behaviours and possible experiences of walking on rugged terrain in this small sample. We discuss the value of combining histology and cross‐sectional geometry techniques when attempting to reconstruct past human behaviours in multiple burial contexts.

A collection of pottery vessels uncovered during the first season of excavations in the Deh Dumen Bronze Age graveyard (the second half of the third millennium BC) located in south-western Iran were studied by using chemical, mineralogical and physical techniques, with the aim to identify the pottery manufacturing process in this region. The site is located in a region of the Zagros fold and thrust belt that includes carbonate rocks and alluvial deposits. The pottery vessels found in the site present two different fabric types in their fresh surface: bright yellowish hue fabric (TYPE-1) and sandwich-like or black core fabric (TYPE-2) showing presumably different production techniques or workshops. Twenty-four samples from pottery sherds were selected and analysed by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), polarized light microscopy (PLM), and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). Hydric tests were also performed. Samples were different according to their chemistry having distinguished calcium-rich and calcium-poor ceramics. Al2O3 and Fe2O3 were detected as the other main components of samples besides SiO2 and CaO. The mineralogical and textural characterisation revealed a fine-grained clayey matrix with quartz and feldspar grains in TYPE-1 potteries and large and small calcitic and clayey lumps inclusions in TYPE-2 potteries. Imprints of straw or other plants can be responsible for the higher porosity of some of the potteries. It was found that most of the potteries from the Deh Dumen graveyard were produced by means of a local and traditional pottery manufacturing technique, whilst others may have been produced in different places and transported to the graveyard as ritual offerings.