Ancient Settlement Systems and Cultures in the Ram Hormuz Plain, Southwestern Iran
Excavations at Tall-e Geser and Regional Survey in the Ram Hormuz Area
by Abbas Alizadeh, Loghman Ahmadzadeh, Mehdi Omidfar, John R. Alden, Leah Minc, Jacques Connan, John Zumberge and Kendra Imbus
After World War II, archaeological fieldwork was resumed in Iran in 1948. McCown chose the Ram Hormuz region, southeast of lowland Susiana and the region south and east of the provincial town of Ahvaz down to the Persian Gulf. He recorded 118 sites in the areas and eventually chose for excavation the large prehistoric mound complex Tall-e Geser.
After a decade-long hiatus in the years of World War II, archaeological fieldwork was resumed in Iran in 1948. In that year, the Oriental Institute returned to its long tradition of archaeological research by sending Donald McCown to the lowlands of southwestern Iran to conduct a series of surface surveys to find a multi-period site for excavation. For his survey, McCown chose the Ram Hormuz region, southeast of lowland Susiana and the region south and east of the provincial town of Ahvaz down to the Persian Gulf. McCown recorded 118 sites in the Ram Hormuz and Ahvaz areas and eventually chose for excavation the large prehistoric mound complex Tall-e Geser. Three months of excavation in 1948 and 1949 yielded materials that were kept in Chicago for many years. Apart from short articles, the site was never fully published. In Part 1 of this two-part volume, Abbas Alizadeh and colleagues have undertaken a final publication of the site. This task was undertaken because of a number of important considerations. First, the excavations at Geser have been cited as justifying the division of the Uruk period in southwestern Iran into Early, Middle, and Late phases. Second, Geser remains the only systematically excavated site in the Ram Hormuz region – a strategic location between the Susiana and Mesopotamian alluvium and the Zagros highlands of southwestern Iran. Third, Geser has produced a very extensive body of archaeological materials dating to the comparatively less understood proto-Elamite period, roughly the first few centuries of the third millennium bc. And finally, with the exception of a 700-800-year gap following the proto-Elamite phase, Geser remains one of the only sites in the Near East to have a very long and generally uninterrupted depositional sequence, in this case spanning from the fifth millennium BC to the Safavid period. The site’s crucial location, its importance in the archaeological literature, and its long stratigraphic sequence made it imperative that the original excavation results from Geser be published in anticipation of a time when the site can be re-excavated. Part 2 of this volume presents the results of regional surveys conducted in the Ram Hormuz plain from 2005 to 2008, which were undertaken by Alizadeh and colleagues with the goal of understanding the semi-nomadic, mobile component of lowland Susiana and its hinterlands through time.
- By (author) Loghman Ahmadzadeh
- By (author) John R Alden
- By (author) Abbas Alizadeh
- By (author) Jacques Connan
- By (author) Kendra Imbus
- By (author) Leah Minc
- By (author) Mehdi Omidfar
- By (author) John Zumberge
Other Titles in this Series
Cuneiform Texts from the Ur III Period in the Oriental Institute, Volume 2
Drehem Administrative Documents from the Reign of Amar-Suena
Volume 121
On the Margin of the Euphrates
Settlement and Land Use at Tell es-Sweyhat and in the Upper Tabqa Area, Syria
Volume 124
Excavations at the prehistoric mound of Chogha Bonut, Khuzestan, Iran
Seasons 1976/77, 1977/78, and 1996
Volume 120
Early Megiddo on the East Slope (The ‘Megiddo Stages’)
A Report on the Early Occupation of the East Slope of Megiddo. Result of the Oriental Institute's Excavations, 1925-1933
Volume 139
Tell Hamoukar, Volume 1. Urbanism and Cultural Landscapes in Northeastern Syria
The Tell Hamoukar Survey, 1999-2001
Volume 137
The Amuq Valley Regional Projects, Volume 1
Surveys in the Plain of Antioch and Orontes Delta, Turkey, 1995-2002
Volume 131
The Temple of Khonsu. Volume II
Scenes and Inscriptions in the Court and the First Hypostyle Hall
Volume 103
Temple of Khonsu, Volume 3
The Graffiti on the Khonsu Temple Roof at Karnak: A Manifestat
Volume 123
The Egyptian Book of the Dead
Documents in the Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago
Volume 82
Archaeology of the Bronze Age, Hellenistic, and Roman Remains at an Ancient Town on the Euphrates River
Excavations at Tell Es-Sweyhat, Syria Volume 2
Volume 125
Reliefs and Inscriptions at Luxor Temple, Volume 1
The Festival Procession of Opet in the Colonnade Hall
Volume 112
Excavations in the Plain of Antioch III
Stratigraphy, Pottery, and Small Finds from Chatal Hoyuk in the Amuq Plain
Volume 143
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