Relative and radiocarbon ( ¹⁴ C) chronologies of the Elamite period from the Bashar River Basin, Iran

Abstract

During the Bronze and Iron Ages, large parts of western, southern and southwestern Iran were under the influence of the Elamite polity. Over the past two decades, excavations at the cemeteries of Deh Dumen, Lahsavareh, and Lama have revealed significant evidence dating to the Elamite period. Archaeological data indicate that these cemeteries were used over extended periods of time. To establish a more precise chronology for these cemeteries, six human bone samples from the Deh Dumen and Lahsavareh cemeteries were subjected to radiocarbon ( ¹⁴ C) dating. In addition, one radiocarbon date from the Lama cemetery has previously been published. The oldest evidence of settlement at Deh Dumen dates back to the Proto-Elamite period, for which a date between 3200 and 2800 BCE can be suggested based on comparisons of pottery with sites from the same period for which absolute dates are available. The new ¹⁴ C results show that the oldest graves identified at Deh Dumen can be dated to between 2500 and 2200 BCE, corresponding to the Old Elamite period. Then, from about 1400 to 1100 BCE, burials took place in the two cemeteries of Deh Dumen and Lahsavareh, which coincides with the Middle Elamite period, and finally, burials were carried out again in these two cemeteries from about 800 to 600 BCE during the Neo Elamite period. Although only one ¹⁴ C date has been published from Lama, showing a date of ca. 1600–1450 BCE, comparing its findings with those from Lahsavareh and Deh Dumen suggests that this cemetery was also used as a cemetery for a long period in the second millennium and the first half of the first millennium BC. Absolute dating carried out in these cemeteries allows to separate and date the cultural materials of the Old, Middle, and Neo Elamite periods in the Zagros highlands more precisely.