Vahed Joolaee; Reza Rezaloo; Karim Jajizadeh Bastani; Behrouz Afkhami
Abstract
According to historical evidence, during the Iron Age III period the southern shores of Lake Urmia were a place where many tribes lived, politically divided among small kingdoms whose ...
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According to historical evidence, during the Iron Age III period the southern shores of Lake Urmia were a place where many tribes lived, politically divided among small kingdoms whose political boundaries changed with the conflicts over the region between the regional powers of Assyria and Urartu. The Mahabad area, which despite its importance in archeological studies of Iron Age III, has been under-investigated. In April 2016, during the investigation of the central part of Mahabad city, a total of 24 areas dating to this period were identified. The most important questions of this study are: (1) What is the structure and extent of the Iron III settlements in the Mahabad plain, and (2) What kind of cultural exchanges and interactions took place between the different areas of the Mahabad plain with neighboring areas during this period? The results of these investigations show that these areas take three primary forms: a) areas with stone architecture, b) cemeteries, and c) settlement mounds. The typology of the ceramics recovered from this fieldwork suggests that the Mahabad plain had extra-regional cultural relations during this period, in addition to connections with the western regions of Iran.
