Tepe Yahya

Tappe Yaḥyā

Iran · Kerman

SettlementUnknown
Approximate period5,500 BCE — 300 CELate Neolithic–Early Sasanian See on the map ↓

In brief

The mound in the Soghun valley was occupied intermittently between approximately 5500 BC and AD 300. Proto-Elamite tablets and remains of chlorite vessel production allow the study of administrative activities and long-distance connections.

What was found?

  • 1Proto-Elamite accounting tablets

    These are economic records found in the large building complex of period IVC. They show that writing was used for administrative purposes at the settlement.

  • 2Cylinder seals

    The seals found in the IVC layers have close parallels at centers such as Susa and Tell-i Malyan. They allow shared administrative and visual traditions to be traced.

  • 3Clay seal impressions

    The clay impressions found alongside seals document the use of sealing at the settlement. Their discovery in the same building complex as the tablets is significant.

  • 4Decorated chlorite vessels

    Vessels made from chlorite, a soft stone, display snakes, humped cattle, date palms and patterns resembling plaiting. They demonstrate the diversity of stone vessel production.

  • 5Stoneworking waste

    The numerous production offcuts and unfinished pieces prove that chlorite vessels were produced here. They thus show that the settlement was more than a center where these vessels were used.

What does it point to?

Yahya Tepe was a center where records were kept and stone vessels were produced in different periods. The arrival of chlorite products in distant regions shows that local raw materials entered extensive exchange networks.

What did it teach us?

  1. Documented that Proto-Elamite administrative practices reached southeastern Iran.
  2. Proved local production of decorated chlorite vessels through waste and unfinished pieces.
  3. Revealed connections with settlements in Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf through chlorite products.

Images

Clay Tablet 3000 BCE Tappeh Yahya Iran 01
Hnapel · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Proto-elamite tablet- ca 3000 BCE - Tepe Yahya (Kerman Province) - National Museum of Iran
Darafsh · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Record

Culture
Proto-Elamite culture (layer IVC)
First modern dig
1967
Team / historical
C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky; Harvard University
Coordinates
28.3333°, 56.8667°

Sources

  1. iranicaonline.org
  2. sites.harvard.edu
  3. poj.peeters-leuven.be
  4. Encyclopaedia Iranica — Tepe Yahya
  5. Encyclopaedia Iranica — Bronze Age

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