Socio-economic developments in south-west Iran during the fourth millenium BCE

In south and north Mesopotamia and western Iran, the late 4th millennium BC was the culmination of a protracted period of profound social and economic change. Although there has been extensive discussion of the processes of socio-economic development in Mesopotamia and lowland Susiana during the 4th millennium BC in recent years, there has been limited consideration of evidence pertaining to highland Iran – particularly the southwest region of Fars. Research is currently being carried out at the site of Tol-e Spid in the Mamasani region of Fars, specifically focusing on the transformations that took place during the 4th millennium BC.

The changes that take place in the 4th millennium BC are very much a part of a sequence of long term socio-economic developments. For example, the ceramic assemblages used in Fars from the 6th to the 4th millennium BC display distinctive morphological and technological changes over time. In order to characterise these developments, a pilot programme of mineralogical (thin-section petrographic) and compositional (ICP-AES) analysis has been undertaken, using samples from mound sites in the Mamasani region of Fars, including Tol-e Spid and Tol-e Nurabad. 

The results suggest that there were a number of marked changes in the technological choices made during the process of ceramic production from the early 4th millennium BC onwards.These have implications for our understanding of the nature of socio-economic development in highland Fars during the entire millennium.