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IX/1/2018
InterdIscIplInarIa archaeologIca
natural scIences In archaeology
homepage: http://www.iansa.eu
Book Reviews
Volume IX ● Issue 1/2018 ● Pages 99–100
Ancient Iran & Its Neighbours:
Local
developments and long-range interactions
in the fourth millennium BC, 1
th
Edition,
Cameron A. Petrie, Oxbow Books 2013,
ISBN 978-1-78297-227-3, 400 pages
(hardcover).
thirty-three international authors regarding
all aspects of archaeological research and
the history of the territory belonging to
ancient Iran during the fourth millennium
BC. Scholars, mostly from European,
American, Iranian and other universities,
deal with fundamental topics, including the
environment, landscape, sites, technologies,
synthesis, etc
.
The publication by Oxbow
Books (2013) was given the subtitle: “Local
developments and long-range interactions
in the fourth millennium BC” and edited
by Cameron A. Petrie (Department of
Archaeology and Anthropology at the
University of Cambridge). The book came
about under the patronage of The British
Institute of Persian Studies, which is a
self-governing charity bringing together
distinguished scholars and others with an
interest in Iranian and Persian studies.
The layout of the volume is not
chronologically structured. After the
introduction (by the editor Cameron A.
Petrie), the second and third chapters
provide an overview of the environment,
ecology, landscape and subsistence in
Iran (by Matthew Jones
et al.
, Kristine
Hopper and T.J. Wilkinson). The next ten
contributions explore sites and regions
of chosen archaeological research. There
are parts with really interesting chapters,
including a wide spectrum of themes
written by various authors. Further chapters,
numbered from ffteen to eighteen, discuss
the technologies of craft and administration
(by Lloyd Weeks, Holly Pittman, Roger
Matthews, Jacob Dahl
et al
.). The last two
studies present a synthesis and discussion
(by Susan Pollock, Cameron A. Petrie).
There are many chapters to analyze
and discuss in more detail. “The
Late
Chalcolithic
and
Early Bronze
Age
in the
Qazvin and Tehran Plains” (p. 107, chap
7), written by the Iranian authors Hasan
Fazeli Nashli, Hamid Reza Valipour and
Mohammed Hossein Azizi Kharanaghi,
has a lot of visual utilities, tables, charts
and other tools, which are of great help in
this particular era. And the paper written
by Jacob Dahl, Cameron A. Petrie and D.
T. Potts “
Chronological parameters of the
earliest writing system in Iran
” (p. 353,
chap. 18) should be a really helpful study
material for university students.
But there is one contribution that
impressed me the most: Lloyd Weeks
(Department of Archeology, University of
Nottingham, United Kingdom) has written
a chapter with the title “
Iranian metallurgy
of the fourth millennium BC in its wider
technological and cultural contexts
” (p.
277, chap. 15). In its introduction, this author
shows the importance of the development
of the following metal metallurgy: copper,
lead, gold and silver. From a metallurgical
perspective this Iranian evidence is critical
for understanding and characterizing the
development of early metallurgy. The
most signifcant archaeological sites are
mentioned – Ghabristan, Tepe Hissar,
Zagros, Tal-i Iblis, Arisman and many
others. The following pages talk about
the expansion of evidence from the fourth
millennium, which witnesses the wide
dispersion of metal processing. The majority
of the found remains are connected almost
exclusively (as was mentioned above) with
lead, silver, gold and copper. The same
chapter continues with a text passage on
which I became really focused on, from
the moment I frst opened this book –
mining. However, as I supposed, there is
a very limited amount of evidence from
this research time period (4
th
millennium
BC). This is due to the limited amount of
feld research regarding mining. The next
section deals with the technological context
of metallurgy, technological transfer and its
mechanisms.
Another paper I have to mention is
titled “
A bridge between worlds: south-
western Iran during the fourth millennium
BC
” (p. 51, chap. 4) by Henry T. Wright
(Department of Anthropology, University
of Michigan, USA). This particular study
belongs to that of “must read” for everyone
interested in the ancient history of Iran
or any other feld of research connected
with this topic. Wright describes how the
locality of Susa (Shushan, Shush) afected
the whole region, not just for present-day
Iran, but also for all its neighbours. Susa
As an archaeological site of ancient history,
Iran belongs to the most signifcant, if
not to the most important, regions in
the Middle East. Incredible realms and
empires arose, prospered, declined and
disappeared, but their legacy survived and
new kingdoms could be created on their
remains. The archeology of the Near East
points to the origin of world-changing
discoveries and cultures from a very exact
location – Ancient Iran and its neighbours.
But the historical research of the area of
ancient Iran concentrates on the legacy
of the Elamits, Medes or Achaemenids,
and the fourth millennium BC quite often
remains on the edge of interest. However,
this reviewed book covers in detail those
“
critical periods of socio-economic and
political transformation
.”
Ancient Iran & Its Neighbours
is a
collection of twenty contributions from
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IANSA 2018 ● IX/1 ● 99–100
Book Reviews
100
is one of the oldest cities in the world.
Excavations have established the existence
of urban structures of about 4000 BC. Susa
used to be the centre of a highly-organized
province famous for their handicraft, which
is proven by its rich sites of ceramics, mostly
jars, decorated by symbolic motives. The
ceramics found in the
Terminal Susa Plain
can be compared to the very well-known
and beautifully-decorated ceramics from
the
Early Uruk
era. The city became the
capital of Elam and was able to challenge
the Sumerian and Akkadian towns in
southern Iraq. The thing I really miss in this
study is the lack of information concerning
methods of decoration.
The locality of Susa from the previous
chapter is a great link to the paper from
Holly Pittman (History of Art, University
of Pennsylvania, USA) “
Imagery in
administrative context: Susiana and the
west in the fourth millennium BC
” (p. 293,
chap. 15). In this early age, the potters of
Susa produced ceramics of an unsurpassed
quality, decorated with many kinds of birds,
mountain goats, and other designs displaying
animals. The bow and arrow are the symbol
of sovereignty and government. The sun
– the heavenly deity, is the highest (there
is a very interesting thing for all scholars
studying cloisonné, where the sign for the
sun is a star). There are many more symbols
of gods and divinities in Susiana mythology.
In early Susiana symbolism, it is possible
to fnd references to entities of the world of
invisibility, not just the world of humanity.
Ancient Iran & its Neighbours: Local
developments and long-range interactions
in the fourth millennium BC
is a collection
of valuable contributions and studies given
together by scholars and researchers from
all over the world. In summary, Petrie’s
book provides an excellent introduction to
the process of the substantial and much-
researched part of prehistoric Iran and of the
evidence that pertains to the growing social
complexity in all its political, economic
and religious dimensions. As a whole, this
book demonstrates a wide variability of
approaches. This is a truly impressive work
of scholarship that will have a very long
shelf life.
Slavomír Haberajter