Journal of Archaeological Studies

Abstract One of the most important subjects regarding the Neolithic period is the change of the subsistence economy in the societies of this period compared to the previous periods. The most direct evidence of subsistence economy within the archaeological contexts are plant and animal remains. Regarding this specific subject, other cultural materials such as pottery, architecture, and tokens are considered indirect evidence. In this article, we studied and analyzed the food consumption of the people living in the Neolithic site of Tepe Khaleseh in the Zanjan Province of northwest Iran (Valipour et al., 2012, 2013) based on direct and indirect evidence obtained from archaeological excavations. Analysis of the archaeobotanical assemblage has also permitted a reconstruction of the subsistence economy at the site and the results presented here, have significantly broadened our understanding of plant and animal management in northern Iran during the Late Neolithic. Tokens, lithic, bone tools, and architectural spaces also have been used in addition to animal bones and plant remains. It seems due to the rich environmental food resources in this region and based on a self-sufficient economy during the three phases of settlement in the late Neolithic period they have evolved from a society with an equal structure in the first stage, to a society with individual ranks in the third stage, therefore, the production organization has evolved from household production to household industries.

Abstract Khole-Kū is located in the south of Takestan and on the border of Qazvin plain. This site was sounding during an archaeological project in the spring of 2011. The pottery materials found by this excavation indicated for the site to have been succesivly occupied from prehistory to Islamic periods. In this article we performed a classification framework based on the typological characteristics of the prehistoric potteries by which four types of ceramics were identified: simple, painted, standard and Cheshmeh Ali types. In order to gain a relative chronology for the different types we compared them with those potteries of Central Plateau in the same horizon. According to the relative chronology and pottery similarities, the prehistoric materials of Khole-Kū can be placed in the Late Transitional Chalcolithic period that is dated at 5200-4600 BC.