Investigating ceramic production during the Proto-Elamite period at Tepe Yahya, southeastern Iran: Results of instrumental neutron activation analysis of periods IVC and IVB ceramics

Manufacturing and trade of Asian elephant ivory in Bronze Age Middle Asia. Evidence from Gonur Depe (Margiana, Turkmenistan)

“…Helms (1993: 13-15), skilled crafting, distinguished from the everyday domestic or ordinary productions, is "usually reserved for, controlled by, or associated with persons of influence, and required high technical skills, a considerable knowledge of the symbolism expressed by design and style, and differs in several important respects from crafts associated with more mundane spheres of life; skilled crafting is political and ideological rather than economic in nature". The intrinsic value of elephant ivory objects, mainly when exhibited in a region when elephant was not endemic, was probably even higher than its presumed extraordinary economic value and might have therefore led to the creation of specific socioeconomic structures for its manufacturing and trade, comparable to those adopted in the same period for the distribution across the region of other skilled productions (Kenoyer, 2008;Frenez et al, 2016;Mutin et al, 2016;Méry et al, 2017).…”

The pottery production from the Deh Dumen Bronze Age graveyard (South-Western Iran): a chemical, mineralogical and physical study

“…Studies of vessels from late Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites such as Sialk (central Iran) [15], Rahmatabad (southwestern Iran) [16], various archaeological sites from Fars (south-central Iran) [17], Tehran Plain (north-central Iran) [18] and from Tappeh Zagheh in Qazvin Plain [19] show relatively similar compositions and homogeneous microstructures as well as significantly high firing temperatures. Furthermore, researches carried out on potteries from later periods such as those from Tappeh Yahya (north-central Iran) [20,21], Tol-e Kamin and Malyan (south-central Iran) [22,23], Sistan region and Shahr-i Sokhta (eastern Iran) [24][25][26], Godin Tepe and Kolyaei plain (western Iran) [27,28], the ceramics from the middle Elamite sites (second millennium BC) of Haft Tappeh and Chogha Zanbil [29,30], as well as Middle Chalcolithic ceramics from Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari province (5th -4th millennium BC) [31] show the use of local raw materials and the preservation of traditional ceramic production, even though evidences of ceramic trades are also visible. These studies revealed some interesting aspects of pottery production in prehistoric Iran, regarding for example the choice of raw materials, the additives and the conditions of the firing process.…”