Defining Dalma: an Incipient Mountain Identity?

New Radiocarbon Dates for the Middle Chalcolithic Period of the Central Zagros, Iran

“…So far, Dalma Bichrome, which thought to be a variant of Dalma Monochrome (Henrickson and Vitali 1987:38), is found in excavations at only two sites, Seh Gabi (Level 7) and Nad Ali Beig; in the latter it comprises just 0.1% of the whole assemblage 2 . It is possible that Dalma Bichrome imitated the polychrome painted J Ware in the Mahidasht to the west which has related to the Late Halaf ceramic of northern Mesopotamia (Renette 2022). Dalma Streaky has also a limited geographical distribution and low frequencies and is mostly confined to a few sites, including Seh Gabi, in the Central Zagros.…”

“…Therefore, the existence of Dalma Impressed alone in a ceramic assemblage does not necessarily indicate that the assemblage belongs to the Dalma period (cf. Renette 2022). In other word, a given ceramic assemblage could be considered as Dalma, providing Dalma Impressed coexists with Dalma Monochrome as the characteristic components, along with Dalma Red Slip and Dalma Plain which usually comprise the bulk of a Dalma ceramic assemblage.…”

“…Dalma Red-Slipped ware has an even longer duration than that of Dalma Impressed in archaeological contexts of the Central Zagros. It starts in the late 7th millennium BCE contexts of the Neolithic, such as Guran (e.g., Mortensen 2014) to at least the mid-fourth millennium contexts of the Late Chalcolithic (Voigt and Dyson 1992; Henrickson 1983:171; see also Renette 2022:133).…”

“…The second factor for identifying a certain ceramic assemblage as Dalma is the frequency of occurrences of the foregoing classic Dalma ceramic types in it. Recently, Renette rightfully pointed out that a Dalma archaeological assemblage should consist of at least 90% classic Dalma pottery and other aspects of Dalma material culture (Renette 2022:144). Considering these two factors, several sites outside the “core area” of the Dalma culture that have been ascribed to this period should be overruled.…”

“…With these considerations in mind, we would be able to define to some extent the cultural zone occupied by Dalma culture, as represented by sites with full assemblages of characteristic Dalma ceramics. It seems likely that Dalma culture did not extend in the western piedmonts of Zagros; neither of sites in the Hamrin and “Trans-Tigridian areas” provided full and prevailed assemblages of Dalma ceramics (Renette 2022). To the south, the full Dalma ceramic assemblages are present in the Kangavar Valley; further south, in Lorestan, no certain Dalma assemblage, except sporadic Dalma Impressed-related and Red Slip sherds, is reported (Goff 1971).…”