Journal of Archaeological Studies

Abstract The large areas of the lands of Proto-Elamite period from the west to the east of Iranian plateau indicates the importance of that period and requires a special attention to the Proto-Elamite expansions. Although according to some information and data such as the Proto-Elamite contexts, a number of researchers consider the sudden break of the Proto-Elamite era and regard the evolutionary trends up to the old Elamite era as a vague question but some of the important areas of the Proto-Elamite period such as Susa, Malian, Yahya, Shahr-i Soukhteh, and Hessar, that all have the main Proto-Elamite period sign, i.e. the inscriptions, have subsequent trends in the expansion, continued up to the old Elamite era and even later. It has been tried in this study to consider the state of the transformation trends by analyzing the data in the Post-Proto-Elamite areas with the required subsequences such as pottery and seals. In order to present the answers for the questions regarding the state of cultural changes after the Proto-Elamite era and whether the sequence of deployment was gradual, or changed all at once to a new culture in the subsequent periods. Despite the differences in different regions, and with respect to some variations in some data, the sequence of deployment from the Proto-Elamite to the old Elamite eras can be observed through the information gathered in this study.

Abstract The site of Sofalin lies in the north Central Iranian Plateau in the north of Pishva city about 35 kilometres south-east of Tehran capital city. The excavations at Tepe Sofalin revealed information on the Proto-writing evidence of the controls on economy, art as well as the cultural and religious life of this period. Cultural sequence of the study period was identified during the some excavations seasons and it was revealed that the site was occupied continuously from first phase of the proto-writhing to the Proto-Elamite time. The seal impressions found from this site are documented, introduced and published here for the first time. The most important questions regarding the seal impressions of Sofalin are: which kinds of animal iconography, function and style were used? Have been seals made by local traditions? For the study of seal collections a comparative approach has been used to compare seal impressions found at Sofalin with its contemporary sites of Susa and those from Mesopotamia. The results of study showed that there have been some similarities between Sofalin and Mesopotamian seals impressions. The Proto-Elamite material showed the internal and external relationships for the peoples inhabiting Proto- Elamite societies; so based on the seal impressions comparisons it is evident that the proto-Elamite period can be attributed to have been in the earliest phase of urban development in the late 4th and early third millennium BC

Abstract This paper examines some of the results of the archaeological survey conducted in Ardabil Province in summer 2001. Ardabil Province is situated in northwest Iran and in the neighborhood of of Azerbaijan Republic. The survey of the surrounding area gives an account of the different graves. The greaves are characterized by simple grave; Megalithic graves with and without Stele and Kurgan mound. The large Megalithic are a form of graves with large stone structure, such as Gale Khosro and Shahrieri. The burial mounds or Kurgans are a form of monumental architecture found throughout Ardabil Province, in Meshkinshar, Idier and Gozalou near Parsabad. Most of the graves in Ardabil Province are dated to the late Chalcolithic -early Bronze Age to Iron Age.