Abstract
The Neolithic process and the extension of the Neolithic lifestyle have been one of the issues raised in recent decades in archeology, and archaeologists have come up with a variety of approaches to explain why and how this event occurred in human life. The Neolithic period can be considered an important milestone in the history and life of mankind. Archaeological studies show that several regions in the Near East experienced Neolithization, and Azerbaijan was a regional marginal area that expanded and reflected the Neolithic centers. In the late Neolithic stage, for the first, non-indigenous groups settled in the plains around Lake Urmia as the center of the area and then this center became the center spread to the outskirts in over time. Despite extensive research carried out in various parts of northwestern Iran, there is little and disproportionate evidence of the Neolithic period in the eastern part of Azerbaijan, and the settlements of the late Neolithic period in the eastern part of Azerbaijan are far less well known and there is a fundamental questions relation with the archaeological situation, chronology, the nature of culture and regional and trans-regional interactions in the eastern parts of Lake Urmia during this period. Since this area is considered to be the bridge between East and West in the northwest of Iran, it can play an important role in defining the sixth millennium BC. Today, there are new archaeological evidence of the existence of the late Neolithic settlements in the area, which is also in the horizon with Haji-Firuz. In the present article, it is attempted to present a new interpretation of the late Neolithic period in the region based on descriptive-analytical methods based on the archaeological findings obtained from Horand region in comparison with the traces of Haji-Firuz and also by reviewing previous studies.
Keywords: East Azarbaijan, Horand Region, Urmia Lake Area, Neolithic Period.

Introduction
The clarification of the archaeological situation and the sequence of the settlements of different cultural-geographical regions and its introduction into the archaeological community is indispensable. Northwest of Iran has a sequence of prehistoric to Islamic periods due to its proper situation and its specific situation. This area of the Paleolithic period later, even in historical and Islamic periods, has been the only short-lived interruptions in the area. The study of the cultural courses of the region and its comparison with its archaeological area with the neighboring regions with the aim of examining the settlements patterns and examination of bilateral and multilateral regional and trans-regional relations in each period, include the most basic stages of explaining the evolution of past societies in the ancient Prehistoric history. Investigating the role and position of Northwest of Iran during the Neolithic period and its causes, comparing the cultural values of northwest of Iran with adjacent cultural areas and examining regional and trans-regional obstacles and the role of these interactions in shaping the settlement of each period and presenting of the general framework of regional are the goals and necessities of this research which the present research questions have been presented in these frameworks. It seems that Northwest of Iran during this period has been able to establish its strong ties with geographical and natural status. The most important questions and hypotheses related to the Neolithic sites of Horand region include:
1. Is the material culture of this area in the Neolithic period, especially with the emphasis on the pottery has local characteristics? It seems that the tradition of pottery in this area has been affected by the lake Urmia.
2. What are the characteristic of sites of the Neolithic period?  these sites are usually located near or in the same place as the nomads.

Results and Discussion 
Horand region consists of three districts of Chahardangeh, Dodangeh and Dikleh that are located in the east of northwest of Iran and due to geographical conditions and suitable environmental capacities, it has been the basis for creating human settlements in different periods. During the survey of Horand, a large number of prehistory sites were identified, including three sites in the Dikleh that relate to the Neolithic period. The reasons for this - the shortage of settlements in the Neolithic period and before that – whatever, the geographical and environmental conditions of these high valleys, played a fundamental role in this situation. Some people say that the main reason for this is the extreme cold weather and believed that elevations above 1500 meters above sea level have been effective in this process and others have referred to the poor conditions of fertile soil for agriculture. Along with such factors, it should be noted that the eastern part of the Urmia Lake has a wealth of pasture resources that has continued the form of livestock-based livelihood until now. Horand region is one of the most eastern parts of Azerbaijan, which can be considered as one of the intersectional centers in the cultural interactions with the Urmia Lake in the west, the Ardebil plain in the east and the Abharrood region in the south, from the same period of the late Neolithic, it has provided a framework for the formation of its native cultures. Based on the types of pottery of Neolithic period that collected from this region, and the association of these types of pottery with the periphery, we found that the Neolithic pottery of this area is influenced by the culture of Haji Firuz. In fact, residents of the Neolithic period in Horand were people familiar with the cultures around Urmia Lake.

Conclusion
Horand region is one of the most eastern parts of Azerbaijan, which has grown from various periods in the Neolithic period and has formed the basis of the early Iranian villages with a mountainous character. The villages that remain intact and unchanged in terms of land use, housing, tools and agricultural equipment over time. The Neolithic sites in Horand region are located in the valleys and highlands, and have all the morphological features of modern settlement nomads. Although the cultural material studied in this paper is derived from archaeological studies, it can be partly used to clarify the various dimensions of the archaeological of the Neolithic period in Hornad region, although the results are relative. Understanding the pattern of settlement and the impact of environmental and biological factors on the formation of sites have a fundamental role. Horand region due to a combination of economy based on agriculture and animal husbandry and the lifestyle continuum from pre-history to the present is very important. Based on the Neolithic pottery collected from the sites of Horand and the association of these pottery with the periphery, we found that the Neolithic pottery of this area is influenced by the culture of Haji Firuz. Archaeological evidence from the northwest of Iran shows that the Urmia lake is the source of the expansion of the Neolithic to other parts of Azerbaijan. Based on archaeological evidence, the hypothesis of demographic pressure (due to the increasing number of settlements in the Urmia lake) and the cultural spread around Urmia Lake, it is concluded that groups of seasonal nomads in the Urmia lake region are searching for areas susceptible, enter to Horand during the late Neolithic period. the culture of Neolithic in Horand in the east of Azerbaijan is the continuation of the late Neolithic of Urmia lake.

Abstract
Beginning in 1948, archaeological surveys and excavations in northwest Iran brought to light evidence of cultural developments related to the movements of people who colonized vast parts of the Near East from northeast Anatolia to southern Levant in the late 4th and early 3rd millennium B.C., prompted by environmental changes, population boom or shortage of biological resources in their homeland. The period is best known in the archaeological literature as the Early Trans-Caucasian (ETC) or Kura-Araxes culture, and is distinguished, by a disparate black burnished pottery with incised decorations. Here is published for the time a sample of decorative patterns on the related pottery from Yanik Tepe. The main question of the study was: To what extent did the newcomer potters communicated on this pottery the artistic traditions they had brought with themselves from their homeland? Data gathered through museum and library enquiries were used to carry out a comparative study. Data analysis was of qualitative nature, and the study represented one of culture-historical. 
Keywords: Azarbaijan, Yanik Tepe, Early Bronze Age, Pottery, National Museum of Iran.

Introduction
The question central to this study is: Does the Kura-Araxian pottery tradition at Yanik Tepe reflect traits induced by indigenous experimentations, or it was simply developed via foreign inspirations and cultural interactions? 
As stated, the pottery assemblages from Yanik Tepe had remained intact since their initial movement to National Museum of Iran after the close of excavation. Preparatory work was therefore required before deciding on or attempting any sort of study. Accordingly, the whole collection was recorded and washed before the decorated sherds were singled out and sorted into such groups as geometric motifs, animal motifs, plain, and miscellaneous. This was followed by the documentation process that involved photographing, drawing and registering the entire formal and technical attributes of individual pieces. Attempts were made to exclude from the final sample the patterns that were identical to those already published by Burney in various places. Also to meet the diversity criterion, pieces were selected from as varied excavated exposures as Areas or Trenches H, HX, K, L, M, P and different Levels, viz. YT.HX3, YT161HX, YTHX4, YT.HX1, YTK3, YT.HH1, YTH5, YT.HH1A, YT.C5, YT.P2, YT.LIA, YT.HH10, YT.HX1, YT.L3PRMII, YT.P2, YT.39C, and YT.RH13.

Yanik Tepe
A key site in the archaeology of the eastern Urmia Lake Basin, Yanik Tepe is 30 km southwest of Tabriz and 6 km from Khosrowshahr, within the village of Tazeh Kand on the Talkheh Rud. Burney excavated the site in 1960, 1961 and 1962, shortly after its identification in 1958-9. Yanik Tepe consists of a high mound and a low mound, rising 16.5 m and 1.50 m from the surrounding lands, respectively. With an original total area of about 6 hectares, it represents a type-site of the Kura-Araxes culture in Azerbaijan (Burney 1963, 138). Large parts of the site are now destroyed. Typical of the culture that flourished at Yanik Tepe were round and rectilinear houses and a distinct pottery tradition. Most intriguing are those types that resemble the material from the vast cultural horizon of eastern Anatolia and the early Trans-Caucasia of the mid-3rd millennium BC. 
Building on the results of his excavations at Yanik Tepe, Burney divided the whole Kura-Araxes (or the ETC) sequence to the three discrete periods of ETC I, ETC II, and ETC III, where the earliest period marks the birth of the culture in its motherland, the second is associated with round structures and decorated pottery, and the latest sees the predominance of rectilinear architecture and virtual disappearance of decorations on pottery (Summers 2004, 619-620). For a more recent and detailed discussions on the chronology and dates as well as the stratigraphy of Yanik Tepe, the reader is referred to Summers 2013; 2014, 157-159. 
An idiosyncrasy of the Early Bronze Age at Yanik Tepe is the handmade, black or gray burnished pottery with incised patterns. The technique is reminiscent of woodcarving and was presumably inspired by the densely forested landscape of the homeland of bearers of the culture who came to the rather sparsely wooded regions of northwest and west Iran. The technique was widely applied to pottery along with excised patterns, filled with white and occasionally ocher pastes. 
Designs like birds and highly stylized rams or ibexes with curled horns, and bands of geometric motifs were carved on bowls, jars and footed pedestal vessels and small cups, the pottery forms common to the period. 
The Middle Bronze period marks a shift in architectural styles as the related houses were built in a rectilinear plan using mud bricks. The thick walls spoke of two-storied buildings. The use of decorations diminishes, and the so-called graphite burnished technique emerges on a few examples of cups. Vessels are relatively finer, and burnishing is more frequent. Pottery forms show no considerable differences between the two periods (Burney 1962). However, the so-called Nakhichevan lugs, common to the latter period, occur now only in a vestigial form. 

Kura-Araxes Pottery of Yanik Tepe
This section gives a description of the pottery with a special focus on decorations, along with a series of so far unpublished illustrations, which besides enriching the existing literature on the pottery history, are intended to improve the current picture of the evolution of pottery styles through the long Kura-Araxian horizon at Yanik Tepe. It is notable that, as stated earlier, the pieces and decorations published here have not been introduced in any earlier publications and have been selected from various trenches and levels to ensure a representative sample to the possible extent. 
The Kura-Araxian pottery, coming in disparate wares and decorations, represent a new style that newcomer artisans had brought with themselves to northwest Iran. It is characterized by dark gray or shiny black or light brown color; vessels are handmade, contain mineral tempers, and show a burnished surface bearing an assortment of motifs such as spirals, “ram horns” and concentric circles or “eyes” (Burney and Lang 1971). In the Kura-Araxes Period I, rail rims were common, the Nakhichevan lugs were not yet emerged, and some Chalcolithic forms and decorative techniques persisted (Glumac and Anthony 1992). Related material occurs at most sites in Caucasia, the eastern fringes of Anatolia, and Geoy Tepe K1 (Sagona 2000).
The Period II is distinguished by the abundance of elbow handles and advent of semi-circular Nakhichevan lugs; the rail rims are utterly absent (Seyedov 2000). Notable in the assemblages is the ubiquitous concentric circles or “eyes” and incised triangles or chevrons. The pottery with its distinctive incised decorations shows influences from neighboring spheres. Various motifs are discernible. Animals, birds and fish occur in abundance. Birds appear as stylized representations on jars and bowls with decorations always reserved for the base or close to it. Also present are very simple geometric designs, bands raging from plain examples of undulating lines to those of a very intricate combination of nested designs, horizontal grooves or hatches, zigzags and doted patterns, rows of geometric motifs like lozenges with adjoining triangles filled with a various combinations of incised dots in diverse arrangements, swastikas, small lozenges and slanting motifs. Spirals and concentric circles were applied in incised form and evolved into an excised form with the related patterns filled with a white paste or lime. A frequent motif is the sharply angled triangles evoking the mountain motif as is the incised patterns imitating cuneiform signs. They are much finer compared with the ordinary handmade pieces. The Kura-Arax II material from Yanik Tepe find parallels in Geoy K1, Yakhvali, Ravaz (Kohna Shahar), Baruj, Haftavan VII and Godin IV (Burney 1961, 1962; Kleiss and Kroll 1979; Asurov 2000).
Typical to the Kura-Araxes III assemblages are the incised spirals and loop handles attached to the rim. The concentric circles occur in a higher frequency (Burney and Lang 1971, 67; Seyedov 2000, 19). Nakhichevan lugs show a gradual decline. Related pottery is known from Geoy K3, Godin IV, Shengavit IV, Kul Tepe of Nakhichevan, Kvatskhelebi in Georgia and sites in the Koban area of East Anatolia (Burney 1961, 1962; Burney and Lang 1971; Sagona 2000).