CHALLENGES OF THE FARS NEOLITHIC CHRONOLOGY: AN APPRAISAL

Abstract

ABSTRACTOver the past few decades, several excavations that have been performed in the Fars Neolithic sites have resulted in the presentation of different chronologies for the region. Most of the research in Fars centered on the Kur River Basin (KRB). Fars has always had a different environment for the formation of different cultures over time, therefore, in order to reach a better understanding of the prehistoric cultures of the region it is necessary to make a brief review of the geographical zones of the plains and valleys of Fars province. Taking into account the existence of several questions and ambiguities regarding Neolithic Fars, the Hormangan site, located in the Bavant River Basin, was excavated. During the excavation, two settlement phases were identified that contained cultural materials relatively comparable to Tol-e Mushki, Tol-e Jari B, Kushk Hezar, and Rahmat Abad sequences. The goal of this paper is to explore the absolute chronology of the Hormangan site as well as other Neolithic sites located in the northern half of the Fars region with a special reference to the local cultural and technological sides of different Neolithic sites throughout the region. Bearing in mind the similarities of Bashi materials with Hormangan, Rahmat Abad, and Mushki regions and the absolute chronology of these regions, consideration of Bashi phase does not seem logical. Therefore, by comparing the cultural materials and absolute chronology done in other regions, a sequence chronology including Rahmat Abad (7500–7000 BC), formative Mushki (7000–6400 BC), Mushki (6400–6000 BC), Jari (6000–5600 BC), and Shams Abad (5600–5200 BC) for the Neolithic period of Fars can be presented. According to the excavation of Rahmatabad and Tal-e Sangi, it seems that Fars was inhabited in the middle of the 8th millennium BC and the Neolithic package entered this area, and there is no evidence of the Neolithization process. In the past, the Mushaki period was introduced as the oldest pottery Neolithic period, but with new excavations, it seems that the use of pottery had become common in Fars, as in many parts of Southwest Asia, around 7000 BC.