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Amirani Pour M, Amirhajloo S, Saghaee S. (2018). Study of Painted and Unglazed Ware (Pseudo Prehistoric) in Sites of Islamic Period of Narmashir Plain in Kerman. Parseh J. Archaeol. Stud.. 2(3), 149-165. doi:10.30699/PJAS.2.3.149
URL: http://journal.richt.ir/mbp/article-1-64-en.html

Abstract
Narmashir plain at Kerman, has many settlements from Neolithic to Qajar era, But it has not considered by researchers. The pseudo-prehistoric ware is one of the pottery types of Islamic period that is identified in the archaeological surveys in Narmashir. This type, has also reported from South and South-West Iran in previous years, and it has identified recently in other regions of Iran. The Pseudo-Prehistoric wares don’t have the glaze, but they are painted with brown, ochre, red or orange geometric patterns. These types of wares are like prehistoric ones, but their clay, color, and motifs are different from prehistoric painted wares. Furthermore, they distribute along with glazed wares from Islamic sites in the most parts of Iran, and for this reason, they introduced as the Islamic Potteries. The aim of this article is to introduce and study and comparison of this type of pottery with the other samples of Iran. This helps to better understanding the Islamic cultures of South-East Iran and the communities of Lut desert margins.  The question is “what are the characteristics of pseudo-prehistoric wares of Narmashir in comparison with the other sites?” In this article, pseudo-prehistoric wares are introduced and studied. Then they have compared with other sites. The data have collected in documentary and field methods. The research method in this study is “descriptive-analytical”. Accordingly, in the old city of Narmashir, Jalal Abad and Rafi Abad, the pseudo-prehistoric wares with brown-red ornaments found from the context that contained the cultural material from Islamic middle ages. These samples have many similarities with the samples of south, south-eastern, northeastern, north and center of Iran. But the pseudo-prehistoric wares from Narmashir do not belong to the nomad communities, but they belong to the urban and sedentary settlements, unlike the samples of south and south-eastern Iran.
Keywords: Narmashir, unglazed painted wares, pseudo-prehistoric pottery, the historical sites of Islamic period.

Introduction
Narmashir plain at Kerman, has many settlements from Neolithic to Qajar era, But it has not considered by researchers. The old city of Narmashir (Choghook Abad site) has been introduced as one of the five main cities of Kerman, the center for agricultural and industrial products, the mediation center of Goods, and the serving location for the caravans, in the Islamic sources. This city was located along the road of India, Oman, and Sistan to the center of Iran. For this reason, it played an important role in the development of southeast Iran in early and middle Islamic era. The pieces of wares from early Islamic period to the 12th AH has identified on the surface of the Islamic sites of Narmashir, in the authors archaeological surveys. One of these wares is the unglazed painted ware (pseudo-prehistoric ware), which was reported by Sumner and Whitcomb for the first time in south and southwest Iran (Sumner & Whitcomb, 1999). But, several sites in Iran were introduced as the sites containing pseudo-prehistoric wares, after recent studies. The Pseudo-Prehistoric wares don’t have the glaze, but they are painted with brown, ochre, red or orange geometric patterns. These types of wares are like prehistoric ones, but their clay, color, and motifs are different from prehistoric painted wares. Furthermore, they distribute along with glazed wares from Islamic sites in the most parts of Iran, and for this reason, they introduced as the Islamic Potteries. The question is “what are the characteristics of pseudo-prehistoric wares of Narmashir in comparison with the other sites?” The aim of this article is to introduce and study and comparison of this type of pottery with the other samples of Iran. This helps to better understanding the Islamic cultures of South-East Iran and the communities of Lut desert margins. 

Data and analysis
The unglazed painted wares of south and southwest of Iran are very simple. They are painted in dark red or dark brown. The ornaments have appeared on the outer surface, upper part and around of their rims and handle. This motifs include simple, primitive, and careless lines, such as horizontal or vertical bands, curved and wavy lines, and zigzag designs. (Sedighian & Gholami, 2012: 135). They belong to the middle and late Islamic period (Ibid: 134). These wares have found in the old city of Narmashir, Jalal Abad and Rafi Abad. The pseudo-prehistoric wares of Narmashir, are similar to those one from southwest, center, north, and northeast of Iran. They have red or orange clay, buff slip, and mineral temper. Most of them have produced with the wheel. Their ornaments have painted in brown, red or orange. The samples of the old city of Narmashir are similar to the “Mad Abad” wares (see. Sumner & Whitcomb, 1999:320-321). The pieces of Jalal Abad and Rafi Abad are similar to those one from Atigh square of Isfahan and Samiran of Manjil (see. Sedighian & Gholami, 2012: 138). The technique of production of them is similar to the samples have reported from Bishapoor, which have painted by simple and curvy designs in red or black (see. Amiri et all. 2012: 13). Also, the samples of Kompos Bonari in Kohgiluiyeh (see. Qezelbash & Parviz, 2013: 123-124) and Qal’eh Dokhtar and Shahdezh in south Khorasan from 5th -7th AH (see. Sedighian & Gholami, 2012: 137) are similar to Narmashir wares. But, the samples of Narmashir are different from those one of Sistan and Bluchestan. The wares of Sistan and Baluchestan have the orange or red background and dark-brown motifs (see. Mousavi Haji et all. 2013: 127). The pseudo-prehistoric wares of Narmashir belong to the 5th – 8th century AH, based on similar samples found in the south of Khorasan, and center and southwest of Iran. The samples of Narmashir do not belong to the nomad communities, but they belong to the urban and sedentary settlements, unlike the samples of south and south-eastern Iran.

Conclusion
In the old city of Narmashir, Jalal Abad and Rafi Abad, the pseudo-prehistoric wares with brown-red ornaments found from the context that contained the material from Islamic middle ages. These samples have many similarities with the samples of south, south-eastern, northeastern, north and center of Iran. But the pseudo-prehistoric wares from Narmashir do not belong to the nomad communities, and they belong to the urban and sedentary settlements, unlike the samples of south and south-eastern Iran. Furthermore, the samples of Narmashir are different from pseudo-prehistoric wares in Sistan and Baluchestan, because the Sistan and Bluchestan samples have the red background and dark-brown ornaments.