Abstract
The western Lut desert is well-known in the archaeology of Southwest Asia because of the existence of an early urban center (Shahdad) that dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. The site of Shahdad, as one of the major urban centers of the Bronze Age of Southeastern Iran, plays an important role in the Near Eastern archaeological studies. After half a century of Shahdad excavations, it is time to have a new look at Shahdad and its objects in light of our present knowledge from the archeology of southeast Iran. Here is an assessment of Shahdad data obtained from Shahdad excavations such as seals, metal and clay objects. In another article, we discussed the rest of finds of Shahdad. In this study we tried to present a revised chronology for Shahdad. This article also provides information on the status of the regional and trans-regional cultural interactions of Shahdad.
Keywords: Shahdad, Chronology, Metal Objects, Seals, Cultural Interactions.

Introduction
The site of Shahdad is located at the base of an alluvial fan where it was in antiquity surrounded by the Shahdad River and a number of streams flowing east from their origin in the western mountains. In 1968, during a general geographical reconnaissance of the Lut depression, the Early Bronze Age site of Shahdad was identified. Excavations lead by Ali Hakemi of the Archaeological Service of Iran began in the following year and continued until 1978. The work concentered on a necropolis in which 383 graves were cleared including many with spectacular grave goods, including impressive human statuettes, elaborate metal objects such as a bronze standard, numerous stone and ceramic containers and ornamental finds. Hakemi also did some excavations in the east of the site, Operation D, which he identified as an industrial area of the urban center of Shahdad. Overall, excavations in necropolis and industrial area provided evidence for local craft activities and cross-regional contact. This article reevaluates the results of Shahdad excavations conducted by Hakemi.

Chronology, Seals, Metal and Clay Objects
The comparative study of the metal artifacts of Shahdad with those of the sites of Southwestern Asia revealed some results. First, the interactions of Shahdad with long-distance areas such as Indus valley, Central Asia, East, West and southwest of Iran were identified, then the evidence of the existence of a very homogenous style in metal objects in a wide geographical area was revealed and third, Shahdad was a metal production center with its own characteristics. Due to the comparative chronology, Shahdad metal artifacts date back from the mid third millennium BC to the early second millennium BC.
According to the comparative studies, Shahdad seals share some similarities and characteristic with those of Early Bronze Age sites such as Shahr-e Sokhta, Jiroft, Tepe Yahya and the remote areas such as Central Asia and the Indo-Iranian borderlands. It was also revealed that most of Shahdad seals are not comparable with those found from other regions and they had their own local characteristics. One-cylinder seal was also uncovered from workshop D that is not yet published. Due to erosion, its motif is not very clear. It seems to represent a winged goddess.
Two unique artifacts were found from Shahdad; one human statues and one house models. In total, 24 human clay statues were discovered from Shahdad cemetery which had ritual functions. The clay house models were uncovered from 33 graves of the cemetery of Shahdad. They are cubical and 20-30 centimeters long. Some researchers take them as a 3D example of house motifs on chlorite vessels. Hakemi called them shrines.
The comparative analysis of the funerary goods reveals that the cemetery A of Shahdad dates to the mid third millennium BC and lasts until the late third millennium BC (2500-2000). This dating is based on the comparative studies on pottery, chlorite and marble vessels, bronze objects and seals of Shahdad with the contemporaneous areas of southeastern Iran and neighboring regions such as Shahr-i Sokhta, Jiroft, Bampur, Tepe Yahya, Mundigak, Umm-al Nar, Susa and the sites of the central Asia. Also, the dating of the second half of the third millennium BC was proposed for the artisans ‘area (area D), the residential areas excavated by Kaboli and, in general, the entire area of the city of Shahdad. In other words, the flourishing period of this city is the second half of the third millennium BC. Furthermore, the early 2nd millennium BC was proposed for the culture after the collapse of the urbanization of Shahdad (cemeteries B and C).

Conclusion
The revision of Shahdad data yielded some new information. Shahdad had been inhabited for a long period from the middle third millennium BC to the early second millennium BC and it was flourished during the second half of the third millennium BC. By studying cultural materials found from Shahdad area, one can find cultural interactions of Shahdad with other regions. The impact of Shahdad on Central Asia through the Bronze and chlorite materials can be easily observed. Despite all the cultural interactions with all these regions, the local and regional cultural traditions dominated in Shahdad and it has all the characteristics of a city with local cultural character in 3rd millennium BC. In general, the similarity and harmony between the cultural materials of Shahdad and different parts of the Southwest Asia, from Mesopotamia and Southwest Iran to Central Asia, the Indus valley and the south of the Persian Gulf indicate the existence of a cultural interaction sphere in the west of Asia during the early and middle Bronze Age.

Abstract
Although seals are considered in more studies of art history, they can be an essential source for studying the socio-economic situation of ancient societies. The seal studied in this article was found during the Authors survey Gohargoosh Tepe with one of the local guides from the village of Fattahabad, Delfan County, Lorestan province, in the soil from looter digging part of the Tepe. Stylistically, the cylinder seals comparable to this seal were previously found in various areas in the western part and even in central Iran. This article attempts to answer questions concerning chronology and stylistics by studying and comparing the stylistics and iconography of the Gohargoosh seal with comparable samples. The other goal is to investigate the role of Ellipi in the first half of the first millennium BCE in Pish-i kuh and the potential relevance between their appearance in the region and the Assyrian seal case study in this article. By studying the Gohargoosh seal from various aspects, this seal likely belongs to the Iron Age II and from the ninth to the seventh centuries BCE, and its style is related to the Neo-Assyrian era, which can reflect the increased interaction between Iran and Mesopotamia after a dark and obscure period in the Iron Age I. 
Keywords: Pish-i Kuh, Ellipi, Assyrian Seals, Cylinder Seal, Gohargoosh Tepe.

Introduction
Relations between Iran and the Assyrian Empire increase sharply in the 9th to 7th centuries BCE. At this time, the Assyrians annexed large parts of western Iran to their empire. If we do not consider account of the cuneiform texts regarding the presence and domination of the Assyrians in western Iran, only a small number of archaeological finds can be pointed to long-term relations or the presence of Assyrians in the region. (Reade, 1995; Curtis, 2002; Radner, 2003; Alibaigi 2019). Recently, during a visit to Gohargoosh Delfan hill in Lorestan province and the Central Zagros, an Assyrian-style cylindrical seal was founded, which may lead to the relations between the Central Zagros and the Assyrian territory.

Gohargoosh Tepe
We know many settlements of the first millennium BCE in the Nurabad region that Gohargoosh is one of the largest. Considering that many Iranian Iron Age specialists recognize this region as part of the Ellipse realm and Assyrian written sources discuss the connections between Assyria and Ellipse (Medvedskaya, 1999; Grayson et al. 2014: 334; Grayson and Kirk, 1996), the study of the findings that provide clues to these connections can be exciting. This Tepe is located at the perimeter of Khaveh plain, 1.5 ha wide and 18 meters high (long 47.93932696 and lat 33.97512114, elevation 1700 ASL). Gohargoosh has been identified for the first time by Clare Goff, and according to the genre of Lorestan pottery, she has suggested the date of Iron Age II and III to occupation in this site (Goff, 1968: 107). In the survey of 1999, Garajian has pointed to the remains of Neolithic, Iron Age I, II and III, Parthian and fifth and sixth centuries AH in this site (Garajian et al., 2005: 47). In the Authors’ field inspection in 2021, the cylindrical seal investigated in this paper is found in the soil of one of the dig pits of Gohargoosh Tepe.

Cylindrical Seal
This seal is 2.3 cm high and 9 mm in diameter.  It is made of faience, with a hole in the center of its length to pass the string.  The seal impression represents two birds with open legs and wings and open-ended beaks that convey a state of conflict between two birds. The legs, body, neck, beak, tail, and wings are engraved by lines with feathers attached to them, and in some cases, by pressure. The front legs of the birds are separated, and the back legs are close to the frame line at the bottom of the design, and at the top of the left bird is a semicircular form close to the frame line (Figure 2). The birds have the exact similarities, and petty differences are symmetrically engraved opposite each other.

Stylistics and Dating
An executed design of great and probably monster birds on the seals of the eighth and ninth centuries BCE has been typical since dating to Shalmaneser III (858-823 BCE). For example, seal No. 1 in Figure 3, from Nimrud’s excavations, representing a group of great monster-like birds (Parker, 1955: 104). This seal, comparable to the Gohargoosh seal impression, comes from the North-west palace of Nimrud, probably Sargan II (722-705 BC) level, and Parker dating it to the Sargon II reign (Ibid). Another seal impression comparable to the Gohargoosh seal is a seal from Palestine, Level IX Baisan (Beth Shan), made of faience and represents a procession of birds, strutting, with wings raised (Figure 3: 2) (Parker, 1949: 31). A cylindrical seal in a personal collection in Los Angeles (Figure 3: 3), closely paralleled to Gohargoosh seal, showing the quarrel between two birds. The style of this seal is also Assyrian and dating to the 9th to 8th BCE.
Furthermore, in some sites excavated in Iran, such as the Surkh Dom-e Lori (Schmidt et al., 1989: 413), many cylindrical seals comparable to the Gohargoosh seal have been found. Schmidt seals No. 4, and 5 figure 3 of Surkh Dom-e Lori have been classified in Neo-Assyrian linear-style cylinder seals from the 9th-7th centuries BCE (Ibid, 416). From phase 7 and layer D of Goran in Hulailan valley, a seal impression on potsherd founded above floor level from the top of the T2 wall. The scene shows two complete figures and parts of two more (figure 3).  This seal impression referred by Thrane to Neo-Assyrian linear-style cylinder seals and dated to about 800 BCE (Thrane, 2001: 87). Moreover, there are several comparable seals to the Gohargoosh seal in the ancient Iranian Museum (Figure 3. No. 6, 7, 8, 9). These seals, attributed to the Qazvin region along the Silk Road, dated to the Iron Age III and are considered local seals influenced by the Assyrian style (Saed Mucheshi, 2015).

Conclusion
According to analogies of Stylistics, iconography, and chronology, the Gohargoosh seal is closely comparable to seals of Mesopotamia, western Iran, especially Pish-i Kuh Lorestan, and even the central plateau of Iran. This seal has a Neo-Assyrian style from the 9th-7th centuries BCE (the end of the Iron Age II and III). Unlike stagnation in both writing and archaeological evidence Iron Age I, regional and trans-regional interactions increased in the Iron Age II, especially with the Mesopotamian. Gohargoosh seal, an Assyrian-style seal, could have found its way to the region through trade, war booty, or population movements in such a context that we are witnessing an increase in Central Zagros interactions with neighboring areas. In addition to the importance of the Gohargoosh seal in art history and stylistics, it represents a socio-economic organization and presumably of regional and even trans-regional controlling economic and commercial management system in the late Iron Age II and Iron Age III. The development of such an economic system can consequence of the rise of the Ellipis power in Lorestan Pish-i Kuh.

Acknowledgment
We are very grateful to Mr. Kiyomarth Kohzadi from Fattahabad village who accompanied the authors during survey of Gohargoosh Tepe and found a cylindrical seal.

Observation Contribution
The percentage of authors’ participation to writing and conducting this article has been the same. 

Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest in this article.

Fars Province has been the cradle of two great Persian empires—the Achaemenid and the Sasanian—throughout Iranian history. The presence of significant historical monuments from these two periods clearly demonstrates the importance of this province. One such region within Fars is Darab, which was home to the city of Darabgerd during the Sasanian period. Despite the historical and archaeological significance of this area within Iran, the amount of research conducted there remains limited. Given the importance of this city in the Sasanian era, this article seeks to clarify the position of the city and the khurrah (or kūra, “administrative district”) of Darabgerd and to reconstruct its defensive structure. Based on recent archaeological surveys in the Darab Plain, the study aims to determine the role Darabgerd played within the Sasanian administrative and political structure and to assess the duration of its importance. Furthermore, considering the fortresses and military fortifications surrounding the city of Darabgerd, the study examines how the defensive and monitoring system of the city and the Darab Plain functioned. At first glance, the ruins of Darabgerd—which testify to its former grandeur—along with the presence of a rock relief, a large and significant mint that remained active beyond the Sasanian period into the early Islamic centuries, and the discovery of seals and clay sealings, all attest to the importance of this geographical area during the Sasanian and early Islamic periods. For this reason, the existence of a coherent defensive structure for both the city of Darabgerd and the Darab Plain was essential. Based on the identification of fourteen fortresses during archaeological surveys of the Darab Plain, this research adopts a descriptive–analytical approach, integrating archaeological evidence with historical sources in order to provide a clearer understanding of the defensive structure of the Darab Plain during the Sasanian period. The results indicate that the geography of the Darab Plain played a decisive role in the formation of the city of Darabgerd and its defensive system.