year 9, Issue 33 (12-2025)
Parseh J. Archaeol. Stud. 2025, 9(33): 83-113 |
Back to browse issues page
Download citation:
BibTeX | RIS | EndNote | Medlars | ProCite | Reference Manager | RefWorks
Send citation to:
BibTeX | RIS | EndNote | Medlars | ProCite | Reference Manager | RefWorks
Send citation to:
Entezarian M, Ghamari Fatideh M. (2025). Shahdad and Tepe Yahya: Dual Perspectives on Trade and Cultural Interaction in the Third Millennium BCE in Eastern Iran; A Study of Economic and Cultural Structures Based on Archaeological Evidence. Parseh J. Archaeol. Stud.. 9(33), 83-113. doi:10.61882/PJAS.414.1175
URL: http://journal.richt.ir/mbp/article-1-1175-en.html
URL: http://journal.richt.ir/mbp/article-1-1175-en.html
1- PhD Student, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Art and Architecture, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran.
2- Assistant Professor, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Art and Architecture, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran (Corresponding Author). ,m.ghamari@umz.ac.ir
2- Assistant Professor, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Art and Architecture, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran (Corresponding Author). ,
Abstract: (517 Views)
The study of cultural and economic interactions in the southeastern part of the Iranian Plateau during the third millennium BCE is a key issue for understanding the processes underlying the formation of interregional exchange networks and the emergence of early urban societies. The two major archaeological sites of Shahdad, located in the Takab Plain, and Tepe Yahya, in the Soghan Plain, occupied strategically significant positions along the communication routes linking Central Asia, the Indus Valley, and Mesopotamia, and therefore played distinct yet complementary roles within these networks. The main objective of this research is to examine the economic and cultural status of each site within the Bronze Age exchange system and to analyze the nature of their relationships with neighboring regions. The study aims to provide a comparative analytical approach to archaeological data in order to identify patterns of production, distribution, and transmission of cultural elements across southeastern Iran. The central research question focuses on how differences in communication routes affected the economic organization, production technologies, and cultural expressions of the two sites. The working hypothesis suggests that Shahdad, through its direct connections with the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), functioned as an intermediary center between Central Asia and the Iranian Plateau. In contrast, Tepe Yahya, with its extensive chlorite vessel production and administrative evidence, such as Proto-Elamite tablets and Persian Gulf , type seals, served as a major industrial and commercial hub along the southern trade corridor. The methodology relies on a comparative and interdisciplinary analysis of archaeological data from both sites and their contemporaneous neighboring regions. The results indicate that the cultural and material differences between Shahdad and Tepe Yahya reflect their participation in two distinct yet interconnected exchange systems. Consequently, Shahdad embodies the direct influence of Central Asian cultural elements, while Tepe Yahya retained structural ties with the Elamite, Mesopotamian, and Indus worlds. These findings demonstrate that southeastern Iran during the third millennium BCE was a dynamic intersection of independent yet interconnected cultural systems.
Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Special Archeology
Received: 2025/04/29 | Accepted: 2025/07/12 | Published: 2025/12/22
Received: 2025/04/29 | Accepted: 2025/07/12 | Published: 2025/12/22
References
1. - Abdi, K., (1992). “Persian Gulf Seals: Description, Classification, and Chronology”. Majalle-ye Muzeha [Museum Journal], 12: 29–56. (In Persian).
2. - Alizadeh, A., (2012). “The Process of Social and Political Complexity in the Elamite World”. Payam-e Bastanshenas [Archaeology Message], 9 (17): 87–102. (In Persian). https://journals.iau.ir/article_703807.html
3. - Alizadeh, A., (2021). “Susiana in the 4th Millennium BC: Who Was in Charge?”. In: Margarete van Ess (Ed.), Uruk – Altorientalische Metropole und Kulturzentrum. Beiträge zum 8. Internationalen Colloquium der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, 25. und 26. April 2013, Berlin (Colloquien der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, Bd. 8), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag: 1-26.
4. - Al-Sindi, K., (1999). Dilmun Seals. Manama: Ministry of Cabinet Affairs & Information, State of Bahrain.
5. - Amiet, P., (1986). L’art d’Agadé au musée du Louvre. Éditions du Louvre.
6. - Amiet, P., (1988). “The Jiroft Civilization: Archaeological Discoveries in Iran”. Iranica Antiqua, 23: 123–148.
7. - Amiet, P., (1993). “The Period of Irano-Mesopotamian Contracts 3500-1600 B.C.”. In: J. Curtis (ed.), Early Mesopotamia and Iran: Contact and Conflict c. 3500-1600 B.C., London: British Museum Press: 23-30.
8. - Ascalone, E., (2006a). Archeologia dell’Iran antico: interazioni, integrazioni e discontinuità nell’Iran del III millennio B.C. Volume 14 of Nisaba (Messina), DiScAM, ISBN 888268010X, 9788882680107 (In Persian).
9. - Ascalone, E., (2006b). Mesopotamia and the Indus: A Study of Trade and Cultural Exchange in the 3rd Millennium BCE. L’Erma di Bretschneider.
10. - Ascalone, E., (2016). “The Trade Networks of the Iranian Plateau During the 3rd Millennium BCE”. In: F. Valentini (Ed.), Archaeology of Iran (pp. 59–76). Firenze University Press.
11. - Basafa, H., (2009-2012). “Preliminary Report of the first season of archaeological excavations in Shahrak Firuzeh, Neyshabur”. [2009] Unpublished manuscript, Archive of Iran Cultural Heritage, Handcrafts and Turism.
12. - Basafa, H., (2014). “Burial practices of the Late Bronze Age in the Nishapur plain (Northeast Iran)”. In: M. H. Azizi Kharanqi, R. Naseri, & M. Khani-Pour (Eds.), Proceedings of the 4th International Conference of Young Archaeologists (pp. 257–266). Tehran: University of Tehran. (In Persian).
13. - Basafa, H., (2024a). Bāstānshenāsī-ye Khorāsān dar Dowreh-ye Mofraġ: Dowreh-ye Shahrneshīnī [Archaeology of Khorasan in the Bronze Age: The Urban Period]. Mashhad: Ferdowsi University of Mashhad Press. (in Persian).
14. - Beale, T. W., (1986). “The Iranian Plateau and the Mesopotamian World: Interregional Relations in the 3rd Millennium B.C.”. Paléorient, 12(2): 45–52.
15. - Brumfiel, E. & Earle, T., (1987). “Specialization, exchange and complex societies: an introduction”. in: Brumfiel E. and T. Earle. (Eds.). Specialization, Exchange and Complex Societies, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 1-21.
16. - Dubova, N., (2020). “Polychrome inlayed and painted mosaoce from Gonur Depe (Turkemnistan)”. The World of the Oxus Civilization (1st ed.). Routledge: 367-386. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315193359-14
17. - Earle, T., (1997). How Chiefs Comes to Power. Stanford University Press, Stanford California. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503616349
18. - Edens, C., (1992). “Dynamics of Trade in the Ancient Near East: Exchange Systems in the Third Millennium B.C.”. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 288: 1–17.
19. - Eskandari Damne, N., (2021). “A Landscape Archaeology in Shahdad Plain (Dasht-e Lut) from the 5th to the 2nd Millennium BC. Archaeology and Prehistory”. Université de Lyon; University of Teheran.
20. - Eskandari, N., (2019). “A Reappraisal of Shahdad: Chronology, Seals, Metal and Clay Objects”. Parseh J. Archaeol Stud., 2(6): 53-68 (In Persian). https://doi.org/10.30699/PJAS.2.6.53, URL: http://journal.richt.ir/mbp/article-1-124-en.html
21. - Frenez, D., (2017). “Manufacturing and trade of Asian elephant ivory in Bronze Age middle Asia”. Evidence from Gonur Depe (Margiana, Tuekmenistan). Archaeological Research in Asia: 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2017.08.002
22. - Ghamari-Fatideh, M., (2017). An Environmental-Geographical Perspective on the Northern Slopes of Iran as an Ancient but Overlooked Passage in Iranian Archaeological Studies, with Emphasis on Third Millennium BCE Findings. Tehran: Proceedings of the Third National and First International Conference on Quaternary Studies of Iran. (In Persian).
23. - Ghamri Fatideh, M. & Sheykhi, S., (2010). “Kerman as a Center of Trade and Goods Transit during the Fourth and Third Millennia BCE”. Proceedings of the National Conference on Islamic and Iranian Culture: “Kerman Studies” Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman. (In Persian).
24. - Hakemi, A., (2006). Series of archaeological reports (13): Report of eight seasons of survey and excavation at Shahr-i Shadad (Dasht-e Lut), 1968–1975. Edited by M. Mousavi. Tehran: Research Institute of Archaeology. (In Persian).
25. - Heskel, D. & Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C., (1980). “The Metal Sources of the Bronze Age in the Near East”. Expedition, 22(2): 24–33.
26. - Hiebert, F. T. & Lamberg-Karlovsky, C.C., (2007). “Central Asia and the Indo-Iranian Borderlands”. Bâstân̄-pazhūhī, 15: 1-24. (In Persian). https://doi.org/10.2307/4299865
27. - Joodaki Azizi, A., (2014). “A survey and identification of the water pipeline route from Nesa Dam to the cities of Bam and Boruat”. In: K. Roostaei & M. Gholami (Eds.), Proceedings of the 12th Annual Symposium of Iranian Archaeology Tehran: Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism: 118–122. (In Persian).
28. - Kenoyer, J. M. & Miller, H. M.-L., (1999). “Metal Technologies of the Indus Valley Tradition”. In: V. C. Pigott (Ed.), The Archaeometallurgy of the Asian Old World (pp. 107–151). University of Pennsylvania Museum.
29. - Kohl, P. L., (1971). “The Early Bronze Age of Iran as seen form Tepe Yahya”. Expedition, 13: 14-21.
30. - Kohl, P. L., (1978). “The Balance of Trade in Southwestern Asia in the Mid-Third Millennium B.C.”. Current Anthropology, 19(3): 463–492. https://doi.org/10.1086/202108
31. - Kohl, P. L., (2001). “Reflections on the Production of Chlorite at Tepe Yahya: 25 Years Later”. in: D.T. Potts (ed.), Excavations at Tepe Yahya, Iran, 1967-1975: Periods IVC and IVB (3000-2000 BC), Cambridge: 209-230.
32. - Kohl, P. L., (2007). The Making of Bronze Age Eurasia. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511618932
33. - Kohl, P. L., (2015). Archaeology of Central Asia: From the Paleolithic to the Iron Age. Translated by: Hossein Ramazanpour and Ma’soumeh Moradian. Tehran: Samira Publishing.
34. - Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C., (2001). “Tepe Yahya: The Chronology and Cultural Context”. In: P. L. Kohl (Ed.), The Bronze Age World System (pp. 135–150). University of Chicago Press.
35. - Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C. & Tosi, M., (1973). “Shahr-i Sokhta and Tepe Yahya: Interaction in the Early Bronze Age Iran”. Iran, 11: 1–17. https://doi.org/10.2307/4300441
36. - Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C. & Beale, T., (1986). Excavations at Tepe Yahya, iran, 1967-1975: the early periods. American school of prehistoric research Bulltein 38, Cambridge.
37. - Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C. & Hiebert, F., (1992). “The Relation of the Finds from Shahdad to Those of Sites in Central Asia”. Janes, 21: 135-140.
38. - Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C., (1970). Excavations at Tepe Yahya, Iran 1967-1969. Progress Report I, Cambridge.
39. - Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C., (1971). “The Protoelamite Settlement at Tepe Yahya”. Iran, 9: 87-95. https://doi.org/10.2307/4300440
40. - Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C., (1972). “Tepe Yahya 1971: Mesopotamia and the IndoIranian Borderlands”. Iran, 10: 89-100. https://doi.org/10.2307/4300467
41. - Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C., (1973). “Urban interaction in the Iranian Plateau: Excavation at Tepe Yahya, 1967-1973”. Proceedings of the British Academy, 59: 1–43.
42. - Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C., (1976). “Tepe Yahya Project”. Iran, 14: 172.
43. - Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C., (1978). “The Proto-Elamites on the Iranian Plateau”. Antiquity, 52: 114-120. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00071933
44. - Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C., (1988). “The Intercultural style carved vessels”. Iranica Antiqua, XXIII: 46-95. https://doi.org/10.2143/IA.23.0.2014046
45. - Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C., (2001). “Afterward: excavation at tepe yahya: reconstructing the past, past”. in: D.T. Potts (ed.) excavation at tepe yahya, iran,1967-1975: periods IVC and IVB (3000-2000 bc), cambridge: 269-280.
46. - Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C., (2013). “The Oxus civilization”. Cuadernos de Prehistoria y Arqueología. 39. https://doi.org/10.15366/cupauam2013.39.002
47. - Laursen, S. T., (2010). “The westward transmission of Indus Valley sealing technology: Origin and development of the ‘Gulf Type’ seal and other administrative technologies in Early Dilmun, c. 2100–2000 BC”. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 29(2): 190-205. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0471.2010.00329.x
48. - Mackay, E. J. H., (1943). Chanhu-daro excavations 1935–36. New Haven, Conn.: American School of Indic and Iranian Studies ⁄ Boston: Museum of Fine Arts. https://ia802909.us.archive.org/21/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.105167/2015.105167.Chanhu-Daro-Excavations-1935-36.pdf
49. - Majidzadeh, Y., (1989). Iran at the Beginning of Urbanization. Tehran: University Publishing Center. (In Persian).
50. - Majidzadeh, Y., (2013). The Treasures of Jiroft Collection. Under the supervision of D. Akbarzadeh; edited by S. Piran. Tehran: National Museum of Iran. (In Persian).
51. - Masson, V., (1988). Altyn-depe. Translated by: henry n.m: chal. The university museum. University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia.
52. - Miroschedji, P. de., (1973). “Le “Nouveau Style” de Yahya et les Relations entre l’Iran du Sud-Est et les Civilisations Mésopotamiennes”. Paléorient, 1(1): 43–56.
53. - Mitchell, T. G., (1986). “Indus and Gulf type seals from Ur”. Pages 278–285 In: Al-Khalifah, H. & Rice, M. (eds.), Bahrain through the ages: the archaeology (London, Kegan Paul International Ltd).
54. - Pigott, V. C., (2004). “The Development of Metal Production on the Iranian Plateau: An Archaeometallurgical Perspective”. In: J. Curtis, B. Simpson, & N. Tallis (Eds.), The Archaeometallurgy of the Ancient Near East (pp. 27–44). Archetype Publications.
55. - Piran, S. & Hessari, M., (2005). Marginal culture of Halil Rod and Jiraft. National Museum of Iran. (in Persian)
56. - Porada, E., (1971). “Remarks on seals found in the Gulf States”. Artibus Asiae, XXXIII, 4: 331–338
57. - Potts, D. T., (1980). “Tepe Yahya: The Iron Age Settlement”. In: C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky (Ed.), Excavations at Tepe Yahya, Iran, 1967–1975: The Third Millennium B.C. (pp. 553–592). Peabody Museum Press.
58. - Potts, D. T., (1981). “Echoes of Mesopotamian Divinity on a Cylinder Seal from South-eastern Iran”. Revue d’Assyriologie et d’Archéologie Orientale, 75: 135-142.
59. - Potts, D. T., (1999). The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511489617
60. - Potts, D. T., (2001). Excavations at Tepe Yahya, Iran, 1967-1975: Periods IVC and IVB (3000- 2000 BC). Cambridge.
61. - Rahbar, M., (2017). “Excavations at Rajab: Cemetery No. 14 and Its Relation to the BMAC Culture”. Iranian Journal of Archaeology and History, 31(2): 45–68. (In Persian).
62. - Sajjadi, S. M. S., (2010a). The first cities of the Iranian plateau (3rd ed.). Tehran: SAMT Publications. (In Persian).
63. - Sajjadi, S. M. S., (2010b). “Archaeological Studies in the Bampur Valley, Southeastern Iran”. Iranian Archaeology, 1(2): 197–215.
64. - Salvatori, S., (2008). “Unpublished Stamp-seals from the North-western Murghab Delta”. In: S. Salvatori and M. Tosi (Eds), The Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in the Margiana Lowlands: Facts and Methodological Proposal for a Redefinition of the Research Strategies. Oxford, 99–109. https://doi.org/10.30861/9781407302935
65. - Sarianidi, V., (1998). Margiana and protozoroastrism. Athens. capon.
66. - Sarianidi, V., (2005). Gonur-Depe. City of Kings and Gods. Miras, Aşgabat.
67. - Sarianidi, V., (2007). Necropolis of Gonur. Kapon.
68. - Sarianidi, V., (2008). Margush Mystery and Truth of the Great Culture. Türkmen döwlet habarlary, Aşgabat.
69. - Seyed Sajjadi, S. M., (2010a). The first cities of the Iranian plateau (3rd ed.). Tehran: SAMT Publications. (In Persian).
70. - Stein, A., (1937). Archaeological Reconnaissances in North-Western India and South-Eastern Iran. Macmillan.
71. - Sumner, W. M., (1974). “Excavations at Tall-i Malyan 1971-1972”. Iran, 12: 155-180. https://doi.org/10.2307/4300508
72. - Tahmasbi Zaveh, H., (2019). “Tracing the Origin of the Bactria–Margiana Culture and Its Expansion in Eastern Iran”. PhD dissertation, Archaeology, Prehistoric Studies, Isfahan University of Art, Faculty of Conservation and Restoration, Department of Archaeology. (Unpublished). (In Persian).
73. - Talai, H., (2009). The Bronze Age of the Central Zagros: A Comparative Study of Godin and Giyan. Tehran University Press. (In Persian).
74. - Talai, H., (2019). Seals in Iran from the Beginning to the Rise of Islam. Tehran: SAMT Publications. (In Persian).
75. - Thornton, C. P. & Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C., (2004). “A Reassessment of the Metallurgical Evidence from Shahr-i Sokhta, Tepe Yahya, and Central Asia”. Iran, 42(1): 67–92. https://doi.org/10.2307/4300662
76. - Tosi, M., (1970). “Excavations at Damin, a Protohistoric Settlement in Makran”. Pakistan. East and West, 20(1–2): 9–66.
77. - Vahdati Nasab, H., Clark, G. A. & Turkamandi, S., (2013). “Late Pleistocene Dispersal Corridors across the Iranian Plateau: A Case Study from Mirak, a Middle Paleolithic Site on the Northern Edge of the Iranian Central Desert (Dasht-e Kavir)”. Quaternary International, 300: 267-281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2012.11.028
78. - Vahdati-Nasab, H. & Ariamnesh, S., (2015). Archaeology of Paleolithic Iran: From the beginning to the dawn of village life. Tehran: Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism. (In Persian).
79. - Winkelmann, S., (1999). “Ein Stempelsiegel mit alt-elamischer Strichschrift”. Archaologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan, 31: 22–32.
80. - Wright, H. T. & Johnson, G. A., (1975). “Population, exchange and early state formation in southwestern Iran”. American Anthropologist, 77: 267–89. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1975.77.2.02a00020
Send email to the article author
| Rights and permissions | |
 |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |