A typo-technological analysis of chipped stone assemblage from the Mesolithic site of Altappeh, Mazandaran, Iran (the archive of the National Museum of Iran)
https://doi.org/10.25205/2499-9997-2021-2-49-57
Abstract
This paper presents a typo-technological analysis of the lithic assemblage from the excavation of Mesolithic site of Altappeh (southeast of the Caspian Sea). The site was excavated by C. McBurney and the archaeological materials from the excavation were divided between the University of Cambridge and the National Museum of Iran. This research is based on the chipped stones stored in the National Museum of Iran. The assemblage, consisting mostly of flake tools including various scrapers and notchdenticulate tools, presents characteristics which reflect “Caspian Mesolithic” chipped stone industry, previously detected from cave sites of Kamarband, Hotu and Komishan in the same region. The Mesolithic chipped stone industry of the south and southeast of the Caspian Sea had been introduced as “Trialetian” during 1990s, but the recent research emphasizes the differences between chipped stone assemblages entitled “Trialetian” with “Caspian Mesolithic”. These differences are mostly reflected in raw material procurement strategies and tool types which are not similar in the assemblages from southeast and west of the Caspian Sea.
About the Author
M. Jayez
University of Tehran, Department of Archaeology
Islamic Republic of Iran
Islamic Republic of Iran
Mozhgan Jayez, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Enghelab Av.
Tehran
References
1. Coon C. S. Cave Explorations in Iran, 1949. Philadelphia: Te University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, 1951. 95 p.
2. Coon C. S. Excavations in Hotu, Iran, 1951: A Preliminary Report. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1952, Vol. 96, P. 231–249.
3. Harris D. Origins of Agriculture in Western Central Asia: An Environmental-Archaeological Study. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2010. 328 p.
4. Heydari S. Stone Raw Material Sources in Iran, Some Case Studies // Persien Antike Pracht: Bergbau, Hadwerk, archeolgie (Katalog der Ausstellung des Bochum: Deustsches Bergbau-Museums Bochum von 28. November 2004 bis 29 Mai 2005) / T. Stollner, R. Slotta, A. Vatandoust (eds.). Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau Museum, 2004. P. 124–129.
5. Jayez M., Vahdati Nasab H. A separation: Caspian Mesolithic VS Trialetian lithic industry: A research on the excavated site of Komishan, southeast of the Caspian Sea, Iran. Paléorient, 2016, Vol. 42, No. 1, P. 81–100.
6. Kozłowski S.K. Chipped Neolithic Industries at the Eastern Wing of the Fertile Crescent (Synthesis Contribution) // Neolithic Chippes Stone Industries of the Fertile Crescent / H.G. Gebel, S.K. Kozłowski (eds.). Berlin: Ex Orient, 1994. P. 143–172.
7. Kozłowski S.K. Te Eastern Wing of the Fertile Crescent: Late Prehistory of Greater Mesopotamian Lithic Industries. Oxford: Archaeopress, 1999. 194 p.
8. Kufin B.A., Field H. Prehistoric Culture Sequence in Transcaucasia.
9. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, 1946, Vol. 2, No. 3, P. 340–360.
10. Kushnareva K.K. Te Southern Caucasus in Prehistory: Stages of Cultural and Socioeconomic Development from the Eighth to the SecondMillennium B.C. Philadelphia: Te University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997. 296 p.
11. Markov G.E. Grot Dam Dam Cheshme II v vostochnom Prikaspii (DamDam Cheshme cave 2 East of Caspian Sea) // Sovietskaia Arkheologia. 1966. Vol. 2. P. 104–125.
12. Markov G.E. Pamiatnik piervobitnosti v vostochnom Prikaspii: grot Dam Dam Cheshme 1 (A Prehistoric Site East of the Caspian: Dam Dam Cheshme cave 1) // Vestnik MGU. 1981. Vol. 8. No. 3. P. 41–55.
13. McBurney C.B.M. Te Cave of Ali Tappeh and the Epipalaeolithic in N.E. Iran. Proceedings of Te Prehistoric Society, 1969, Vol. 34, P. 385–413.
14. Meshveliani T., Bar-Oz G., Bar-Yosef O., Belfer-Cohen A., Boaretto E., Jakeli N., Koridze I., Matskevich Z. Mesolithic Hunters at Kotias Klde, Western Georgia. Preliminary Results. Paléorient, 2007, Vol. 32, No. 2, P. 47–58.
15. Okladnikov A.P. Peshchera Djebel: pamiatnik drevnei kulturi Prikaspiskikh Turkmenii (Te Jebel cave-site of the Ancient Culture of the Caspian tribes of Turkmenia) // Trudi YuTAKE. 1956. Vol. 7. P. 11–219.
16. Vahdati Nasab H., Nikzad M., Jayez M., Hashemi M., Knapp Z., Sykes N., Zareh Khalili M., Ilkhani Moghaddam H., Bakhtiari Nasab F., Olszewski D.I. Komishan Cave: A Mesolithic and Later Settlement on the Southeastern Shore of the Caspian Sea, IRAN. Ancient Near Eastern Studies, 2020, Vol. 57, P. 97–125.
Review
For citations:
Jayez M. A typo-technological analysis of chipped stone assemblage from the Mesolithic site of Altappeh, Mazandaran, Iran (the archive of the National Museum of Iran). Universum Humanitarium. 2021;(2):49-57. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.25205/2499-9997-2021-2-49-57
Views:
268
Email this article 