Papers by omran garazhian
Antiquity, Dec 7, 2022
The Tracking Pleistocene Human Occupations in the East of Iran project was initiated with two fie... more The Tracking Pleistocene Human Occupations in the East of Iran project was initiated with two field seasons in 2020 and 2022. The authors present the results of this fieldwork, which identified 176 Palaeolithic localities, demonstrating the presence of Lower Palaeolithic and Middle Palaeolithic occupations in the Ferdows-Sarayan-Qaen plains.
Comparative Assessment of Geomagnetic Survey Results with Archaeological Test-Trenches. Case study of Tell-e Atashi, Darestan, Southeastern Kerman (in Persian)
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2019
High-resolution historical satellite imagery and the Neolithic Landscape of South-Eastern Iran
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2022
Bam Archaeological Mission (BAM). A New Archaeological Research Program in Kerman Province, Iran
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2018
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2021
HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific re... more HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. Copyright
The acceleration of consumption and trash disposal during the past century is responsible for the... more The acceleration of consumption and trash disposal during the past century is responsible for the quick conversion of natural landscapes into landfills and dumpsites. Among the spots where discarded items land, studying coastlines is vital since these are areas where wind, water, land, and humans interact, causing discarded objects to land, get buried, and undergo other changes. According to the fact that the Baltic Sea is one of the most polluted seas in the world, the authors conducted a garbological survey to explore the patterns of waste disposal and accumulation of garbage in Öland Island (south-eastern Sweden) in 2022–2023. Visiting Byxelkrok on the northern side of the Island, we found out that the seaweeds absorbed pieces of discarded objects. This initial observation was followed by three sets of excavation/extractions of six seaweeds in the summer and autumn of 2022. The primary purpose of this article is to introduce the studied seaweeds as sources of absorbing discarded ...
Current fieldwork in the Lut Desert region (southeastern Iran) sheds new light on the Indo-Iranian Borderlands Neolithic
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2022
Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe - HAL - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, 2019
In this article we present objectives and results of the first two field-seasons in 2016 and 2017... more In this article we present objectives and results of the first two field-seasons in 2016 and 2017 of the Bam Archaeological Mission (BAM), a new Iranian-French field research project in the Bam-Narmashir region, Kerman. The main object of this research project is to reconstruct the ancient settlement in this area with an emphasis on its oldest occupation periods between the Paleolithic and Iron Age. It aims to understand how this settlement evolved, to evaluate the influence of climate and environmental changes on this evolution, and to determine its relationship to the archaeological cultures defined in Iran and Pakistan. As such, this research project also more broadly seeks to contribute to the general study of ancient southeastern Iran and to the reconstruction of the major demic and cultural dynamics-the dispersal of peoples, cultures, and technologies-that occurred in this area and across Middle-and South Asia during pre-and proto-history. In 2016 and 2017, we surveyed the region and recorded about 250 sites mostly dating to between the Paleolithic and Iron Age periods. One of the most significant results from this survey is the discovery of two impressive settlements, one dating to the Neolithic period and one to the fourth millennium BC, probably among the highest concentrations of sites dating to these periods reported so far on the southeastern Iranian Plateau. In 2017, we also resumed excavation at the Neolithic site of Tell-e Atashi. We opened test-trenches that have helped us understand its stratigraphy and general organization, as well as the nature of deposits present in various locations at this site. With new radiocarbon dates, we got confirmation that at least a large part of its occupation levels date to between the second half of the sixth and the middle of the fifth millennia BC. This excavation season was also instrumental in the preparation of more extensive excavations that were conducted in 2018. The aggregate of this work produced new data which have confirmed the unique nature of Tell-e Atashi and its significance for the understanding of the Neolithic period in the Indo-Iranian Borderlands.
Under the umbrella of neoliberalism: Iranian Archaeology and the reduction of cultural diversity
Archaeology and neoliberalism, 2016, ISBN 978-84-944368-7-1, págs. 263-278, 2016
Archaeology is an imported commodity in Iran (Papoli & Garazhian 2012). It was brought to... more Archaeology is an imported commodity in Iran (Papoli & Garazhian 2012). It was brought to Iran by Naser al din Shah (Fig. 1) among other modern elements, such as photography (Amanat 1997) and theatre. Three decades after the first contracts of the Qajarid kings with French antiquarians (Karimi 2013), Iran had the opportunity to educate its own archaeological experts in Tehran University (Karamati 2012). Before this change, they authorised the Antiquities Law, which legitimised governmental control of cultural heritage. By empowering the Pahlavi dynasty, archaeology was reduced to cultural heritage and to a governmental organisation (Moosavi 1990)—a tool employed until today to protect state political identity, which has reduced Iranian archaeologists to experts supervising foreign excavations. Rereading the materialistic heritage in Iran is absolutely a governmental matter, with the government able to apply archaeology as a political means (Goode 2009).
Patterns of Post-Earthquake Domestic Architecture in Bam County (Southeastern Iran), an Archaeological Study
Domestic architectures, besides their spatial structure and elemental functions, are signs of eco... more Domestic architectures, besides their spatial structure and elemental functions, are signs of economic class, amount of (surplus) wealth, and lifestyle. They are also contexts of cultural, material, and human behaviors (Vaughn 2005). Therefore, by identifying and studying them, it can be possible to categorize and define other material culture patterns, and to reconstruct the human behaviors and social statuses of the inhabitants. On the other hand, we are speaking of a private space directly related to everyday life and private human actions.
Do historical processes have the potential of being repeated? This article presents such a possib... more Do historical processes have the potential of being repeated? This article presents such a possibility by studying two cases in Iran, one from the 1970s and the other from 2009. The political circumstances of contemporary Iran have posed this question: why have the political protests never truly changed the political structure? Why are we repeatedly experiencing dictatorship despite two great political movements over the last century? This article tries to reconsider this issue by interpreting material culture from an archaeological perspective. It is the result of an archaeological investigation conducted in 2009 in the Faculty of Art and Architecture of Bu Ali Sina University, Hamadan, Iran. The function of the faculty building changed several times during the 1960s and 1970s. In the process of investigating the first function of the faculty as a 1970s detention centre, archaeologists discovered that the material culture represented the existence of an exiled professor and the pro...
Dieser Beitrag steht unter der Creative Commons Lizenz CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 (Namensnennung-Nicht komme... more Dieser Beitrag steht unter der Creative Commons Lizenz CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 (Namensnennung-Nicht kommerziell-Keine Bearbeitung.) Sie erlaubt den Download und die Weiterverteilung des Werkes / Inhaltes unter Nennung des Namens des Autors, jedoch keinerlei Bearbeitung oder kommerzielle Nutzung.
Context" has been a major focus of archaeological theoretical studies since the early days of pro... more Context" has been a major focus of archaeological theoretical studies since the early days of processualism or "New Archaeology". In both processual and post-processual archaeology, context is more than just a space in which material data can be identified. Instead, it is a set of spatial, chronological, and socio-cultural terms set by the archaeologist through which (and through whom) material culture obtains meaning and function. In theoretical treatises, context has been divided into two types: dynamic or static. According to an ethnoarchaeological research in Bam disaster context (SE Iran) and a pilot area in Pakistani Jamu and Kashmir, a new kind of context is introduced in this article which can be located in the spectrum between dynamic and static. It can be hypothesized that this new kind of context (Disaster context) is not particular and can be observed in sites which have passed the process of becoming an ancient site.
An evaluation of applicability of seismic refraction method in identifying shallow archaeological features A case study at archaeological site
We applied the seismic refraction method at archaeological site, Tepe Damghani located in Sabzeva... more We applied the seismic refraction method at archaeological site, Tepe Damghani located in Sabzevar, NE of Iran, in order to determine the structures of archaeological interests. This pre-historical site has special conditions with respect to geographical location and geomorphological setting, so it is an urban archaeological site, and in recent years it has been used as an agricultural field. In spring and summer of 2012, the third season of archaeological excavation was carried out. Test trenches of excavations in this site revealed that cultural layers were often disturbed adversely due to human activities such as farming and road construction in recent years. Conditions of archaeological cultural layers in southern and eastern parts of Tepe are slightly better, for instance, in test trench 33 m21S03, third test trench excavated in the southern part of Tepe, an adobe in situ architectural structure was discovered that likely belongs to cultural features of a complex with 5 graves. After conclusion of the third season of archaeological excavation, all of the test trenches were filled with the same soil of excavated test trenches. Seismic refraction method was applied with12 channels of P geophones in three lines with a geophone interval of 0.5 meter and a 1.5 meter distance between profiles on test trench 1S03. The goal of this operation was evaluation of applicability of seismic method in identification of archaeological features, especially adobe wall structures. Processing of seismic data was done with the seismic software, SiesImager. Results were presented in the form of seismic section for every profile, so that identification of adobe wall structures was achieved hardly. This could be due to that adobe wall had been built with the same materials of the natural surrounding earth. Thus, there is a low contrast and it has an inappropriate effect on seismic processing and identifying of archaeological features. Hence the result could be that application of the seismic method in order to determine the archaeological features, having the same conditions, is not affordable and efficient in comparison to GPR or magnetic methods which yield more desirable results.
Tepeh Baluch is located in the northeast of Iran in Khorasan Razavi Province and in the west of N... more Tepeh Baluch is located in the northeast of Iran in Khorasan Razavi Province and in the west of Neyshabour Miankouh Plain. Prehistoric studies, especially the Neolithic period of this section of the Iranian Plateau have been less considered compared with the western part. Tepeh Baluch was explored during a short season in the spring and summer of 2011 under the support of Neyshabur University. Organizing the production of lithic hand tools is one of the most important aspects of the study of stone artifacts. Such studies are important in explaining the differences between a set of stone artifacts belonging to one era in a region and their variability in different periods. Sequence models have special features that distinguish them from other archaeological structures. In this paper, a collection of stone artifacts from the exploration of Tepeh Baluch in terms of the technological structure, typology, and morphology of the tools are investigated and on this basis the function of the site and the organization of stone tools′ production are reconstructed. The feature of the stone artifacts of Tepeh Baluch is the abundance of chips most of which have been used as scratches; in contrast to the high frequency of blades and micro-blades, chips have the largest number in the collection. Most of the pieces are retouching. The cores in this set are often small in size and irregular in shape with uneven edges. Considering the use of chamfered blades to collect cereals, food production through raising livestock and hunting and food gathering were more common than agriculture in the Neolithic and chalcolithic layers of the Baluch hill. This article aimed to shed further light on the study and surveying these stone artifacts.
نوسنگی و نوسنگی شدن در سرزمین های پَستِ شرق مازندران بر اساس بررسی های باستانشناختی
New Evidence of Middle Paleolithic Period in Sabzevar Plain, Northeast of Iran
Archaeology, 2017
Although methodic and extensive studies have been conducted on the Middle Paleolithic Period in w... more Although methodic and extensive studies have been conducted on the Middle Paleolithic Period in western Iran, which provide a relatively clear image of the lifestyle of hunter-gatherer societies and their tool making traditions in these regions, conditions are quite different in eastern Iran, especially in Khorasan, and we have very little information about Paleolithic Period and its tool making traditions. Damghani Ancient Hill of Sabzevar in northeast of Iran, in addition to introducing artifacts of Chalcolithic and Bronze Periods, introduces an open air Site of Middle Paleolithic, based on the tools discovered on surface. The discovered tools include a flake-based industry, where in addition to Levallois and disc-shaped cores, chopper cores, handaxes and multisided core, as well as core scrapper and heavy scraper cores can be identified; which makes it difficult to dateline the collection. By the way, considering the tool making techniques of the Middle Paleolithic Period, we may...
First Evidence of Pleistocene Archaeology on the Neyshabur Plain and its Role in Reconstructing the Dispersal of Hominins on the Northeastern Iranian Plateau
Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia (Russian-language), 2021
Северо-восточная часть Иранского нагорья имеет важное значение для изучения палеолита. Археологич... more Северо-восточная часть Иранского нагорья имеет важное значение для изучения палеолита. Археологические изыскания в этом регионе ведутся с середины XX в. Однако в отличие от западной и в некоторой степени центральной части Иранского нагорья на северо-востоке пока было найдено лишь несколько стоянок. Полевые исследования на Нишапурской равнине предоставили палеолитические материалы с четырех местонахождений у подножия хребта Биналуд: Дарбехешт, Мушан-Тапех, Али-Абад и Гхезел-Тапех. В статье дана оценка этих материалов. Пересмотрена типология артефактов эпохи плейстоцена с Нишапурской равнины. Рассмотрено значение этих и других находок из данного региона для реконструкции расселения плейстоценовых популяций гоминин. Сделан вывод о том, что два коридора в северо-восточной части Иранского нагорья сыграли основную роль в распространении предков человека.
Archaeological Research in Asia, 2020
This article presents results from recent archaeological survey in the southern Lut Desert area (... more This article presents results from recent archaeological survey in the southern Lut Desert area (Kerman Province, southeastern Iran). This fieldwork, conducted in the Bam region since 2016, has recorded numerous Neolithic sites, probably among the largest concentrations of Neolithic sites reported so far in southeastern Iran. This region is located in the lowlands east of the Jebal Barez Mountains, while all other Neolithic sites known in southeastern Iran are west of these mountains. It is also halfway between India and the Zagros Mountains of western Iran. As such, this fieldwork not only has brought important new data on the Neolithic period in the southern Lut Desert area and southeastern Iran, but it also has allowed us to address again broader research questions relating to the development of agriculture east of the Fertile Crescent, across the Iranian Plateau into South Asia. In this article, we describe the main characteristics of the regional Neolithic settlement we have surveyed and offer preliminary interpretations as to its chronology and spatial distribution. We first provide information on the ancient climate and topography of the Bam region, for these are key aspects to understanding settlement pattern during the Neolithic period. We also summarize results from three excavation-seasons at Tell-e Atashi, the single Neolithic site that has been excavated in the southern Lut Desert area. We conclude by discussing our results with consideration of current knowledge on the Neolithic period in southern Iran and Pakistan and questions relating to the emergence of agriculture east of the Fertile Crescent.
Antiquity, 2018
The Bam Archaeological Mission aims to investigate ancient settlement in the Bam-Narmashir region... more The Bam Archaeological Mission aims to investigate ancient settlement in the Bam-Narmashir region of Iran. Preliminary survey has identified over 200 new archaeological sites, with renewed excavation at the key site of Tell-e Atashi revealing structural evidence of Neolithic occupation.
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Papers by omran garazhian