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Document Details :

Title: The Late Chalcolithic Settlement of Gird-i Ashoan in the Zab Basin, Northwest Iran
Author(s): SHARIFI, Mahnaz
Journal: Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Volume: 59    Date: 2022   
Pages: 55-81
DOI: 10.2143/ANES.59.0.3291189

Abstract :
Gird-i Ashoan is a prehistoric mound in the Zab River basin in Piranshahr, West Azerbaijan. The existence of an 8m-deep Late Chalcolithic deposit at the site seems to suggest that it was the place of the principal regional centre in the Late Chalcolithic (Hasanlu Period VIII). The site was excavated with the aim of delving into the cultural circumstances of the Zab basin during this period. After the Late Chalcolithic, Gird-i Ashoan was abandoned and would be reused only in the early Islamic era, as a cemetery. In this paper, an attempt is made to explain the cultural relations of the Zab basin with other regions by presenting a detailed stratigraphy, and an analysis of the recovered architectural remains and small finds. A distinctive characteristic of the Late Chalcolithic of northwestern Iran is Chaff-Faced Ware, a pottery tradition which appears over a vast geographical area due to exchanges between the eastern highlands and the western lowlands, especially during the Late Chalcolithic. The relative chronology and results of the excavation point towards cultural links between the Zab basin and Caucasia, Anatolia and Mesopotamia.

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