Mahtoutabad III (Province of Kerman, Iran): An “Uruk-Related” Material Assemblage in Eastern Iran

Abstract

During recent excavations in the third-millennium BC plundered graveyard of Mahtoutabad, next to Konar Sandal (Kerman, Iran), the authors excavated layers with Uruk-related ceramics. The types include bevel-rim bowls, flowerpots, low-sided trays, nose-lugged jars and other types previously encountered at several other contemporary sites in highland Iran. This new material is presented here with some preliminary comments on the general picture of the Uruk-related sites and pottery assemblages across the Iranian plateau of the midand late fourth millennium BC. We suggest that the related elements of the material culture of these contexts should be considered as open single questions, rather than as part of a monolithic cultural pattern awash with demanding historical or even ethnic implications. KeywordsMahtoutabad site; Konar Sandal; Halil Rud culture; Uruk phenomenon on the Iranian plateau; ancient ceramic technology 65 The same defect is clearly recognised in some BRBs from Godin Tepe (e.g. Badler 2002: fig. 13, B1 479 no. 1 and B1 479 no. 5).

Indus Components in the Iconography of a White Marble Cylinder Seal from Konar Sandal South (Kerman, Iran)

“…6 A later settlement dating to the last centuries of the fourth millennium BC consumed large amounts of bevelled rim bowls, flowerpots, nose-lugged jars, elongated jars with downwards-flected spouts, and other ceramic types closely comparable with the ceramics assemblages of Susiana (Susa, Acropolis, level XVIIa), Choga Mish, and other sites of the central and south-western Iranian Plateau. 7 The main mound of Konar Sandal South was originally a citadel enclosed at the base by a monumental wall of large mud-bricks, reinforced by semi-pillars regularly spaced to create architectural motifs, perhaps similar to the ones represented on some famous chlorite vessels carved in the local Halil Rud style. The citadel included an administrative unit in use between 2500 and 2200 BC, as testified by some radiocarbon dates and by the hundreds of clay sealings found inside one of the rooms.…”