東京大学総合研究博物館

西秋研究室

Laboratory for Prehistoric Archaeology of West Asia, The University Museum, The University of Tokyo

Professor Yoshihiro Nishiaki

Dailaman Cemetery Sites, Alborz Mountains, North Iran
Yoshihiro Nishiaki
The University of Tokyo

Introduction
The Dailaman district, Gilan Province, became an important research field of the Tokyo University Iraq-IranArchaeological Expedition, due to a rather surprising discovery made at an antique shop in Tehran. When themembers of the mission were staying in Teheran, while preparing for excavations in the Marv Dasht plain(see this volume), March 1959, they happened to encounter Sasanian cut glasses, which were virtuallyindistinguishable from the cut glasses in the Shosoin Repository constructed by the Imperial family of Japanin the 8th century AD. This great moment signified the bridging of ancient Persia and Japan among scientificcommunities interested in the Silk Road (Egami et al. 1963). The members of the expedition were excited todetermine the provenance of these cut glasses. The Dailaman highland plateau, Gilan, was identified as themost likely origin (Fig. 1). When they visited the plateau, what astonished them was the large number oflooted pits at the ancient graveyards there, which evidently indicated a need for scientific documentation.
Moreover, the necessity for research was also evident in contributing to the research of the cultural exchange
in the antique periods of Eurasia.

Fig. 1 Map showing the location of
the Dailaman district, Gilan, Iran(Nishiaki et al. 2006).

Thanks to the generous understanding of the Iranian authorities at the Department of Antiquities and theNational Museum of Archaeology, the expedition organized field investigations from the next year. Under
the direction of Namio Egami, the excavations in 1960 and 1964 led to the discovery of dozens of ancientgraveyards, dating from the Bronze Age to the early Parthian Periods, at six archaeological sites: Ghalekuti I,II, Hassani Mahale, Lasulkan, Noruz Mahale, and Khoramrud (Figs. 2 and 3). These intensive excavations
eventually did not yield cut glasses of the Shosoin type. Nevertheless, the tombs produced an enormous
amount of archaeological records derived from the Late Bronze Age to the Parthian Period, thereby
providing a unique opportunity to investigate changes in the mortuary practices, the ceramic chronology, theevolution of social complexity, and other aspects over this time period. All of these topics were insufficiently
understood at that time. The chronological positions of the finds at these sites are summarized in Fig. 3(Nishiaki et al. 2006).

Fig. 2 Cemetery sites excavated by the University of Tokyo team in the Dailaman District, Gilan, Iran(Nishiaki et al. 2006).

Fig. 3 Provisional chronology of the archaeological remains recovered at the Dailaman sites (Nishiaki et al.
2006).

Ghalekuti I (1960, 1964)
This is one of the most extensive cemetery complexes known to date. It is located about 1 km northwest ofKuhpas, a small hamlet, approximately 4 km east of the Dailaman Village. The ancient graveyard at this siteextends across a small plateau of some 600 m by 300 m, which is cut by gullies and wadis to four parts.
These were designated Ghalekuti IV, I, II, and III. Ghalekuti I extends for 200 m in the north-south direction(NS), and 100 m in the east-west direction (EW). The expedition recorded a total of 243 looted tombs before
the excavations were conducted (Fig. 4; Fukai and Ikeda 1971: 6). Eight trenches were opened in parts of theless looted areas, Areas A to H. They exposed a total of 27 tombs, which covered almost all of the periods
from the Iron Age to the Parthian period, providing a chronological standard for the other tombs (Fig. 3–5).
The important discoveries included tombs of the Early Iron Age, whose burial practices and funerary goods
indicated a connection to North Eurasian cultural traditions (Egami et al. 1966). Beside tombs, some stone
constructions and occupational debris were recovered in Layer 1 of Area B, suggesting the existence of asmall hamlet, also of the Iron Age.

Fig. 4 Distant view of the Ghalekuti I site.

Fig. 5 Excavation of Tomb 2 of Ghalekuti I, Area A.

Ghalekuti II (1964)
Located to the east of Ghalekuti I, this site complex extends 200 m NS and 80 m EW; a number of looted
pits are visible on the surface (Fig. 6). Four trenches were excavated in Areas A to D, which revealed seventombs. While Tomb 1 was fully looted, and Tomb 4 was heavily disturbed by an Islamic burial, these tombs,
including those with well-preserved iron tools as funerary objects (Tombs 2, 3, 5, and 6), were generally
assigned to either the Iron Age II or Post-Achaemenid periods (Fig. 7).

Fig. 6 Distant view of the Ghalekuti II site.

Fig. 7 Excavations of Tomb 5 of Ghalekuti II, Area B.

Lasulkan (1960)
This is an area defined at the eastern slope of a hamlet, Espeli, situated about 2 km northeast of the Dailaman
Village (Fig. 8). Two trenches, A and B, were opened. This site is characterized by a series of "stone circles,"which represent stone constructions arranged in a circular form, about 5 m in diameter. Nearly twenty such
constructions were recorded on the surface, among which four examples (Stone-circles I to IV) wereexcavated. As a result, they were regarded to constitute parts of Iron Age tombs that encircled burial
chambers (Egami et al. 1966: 78; Egami and Ikeda 1963). Beside these Iron Age tombs that dominatedarchaeological remains of this site (Fig. 9), the excavators identified a “pre-ceramic” layer underneath,reportedly containing flint “cores” and “flakes” (Eagmi et al. 1965: 82–85). These were interpreted asevidence that this high mountainous region, over 2,000 m above sea level, was already being exploited by ahuman group prior to the Pottery Neolithic period. However, a later reanalysis of the recovered flint
specimens demonstrated that all these flints were actually naturally fractured geofacts (Nishiaki 2009).

Fig. 8 Distant view of the Lasulkan site.

Fig. 9 Iron Age Pottery from Tomb Vaof Lasulkan (LAS. P8).

Noruz Mahale (1960)
Noruz Mahale is situated on a slope to the south of the village of the same name, 2.5 km northeast ofDailamn Village (Fig. 10). Five trenches were opened in the area, which featured plenty of looted pits. Theexcavations of Areas A to E revealed a total of 15 tombs. All of these tombs were in Layer I belonging to theParthian period (Fig. 11). Up to ten circular or semi-circular pits were unearthed below these tombs,
however. Those pits had a diameter of 1.5 to 2 m, and a depth of nearly 1 m. The excavators regarded thesepits as storage pits rather than tombs or residential structures (Egami et al. 1966: 349). The associatedremains included not only pottery and lithic artifacts, but also faunal remains, including fish bones. Thesecomprise the Layer II assemblage, which has been assigned to the Late Bronze Age (Arimatsu 2005).

Fig. 10 Distant view of the Noruz Mahale site.

Fig. 11 Late Parthian Pottery from Tomb B-II of
Noruz Mahale (NZ. P3)

Khoramrud (1960)
Khoramrud is situated about 4 km east of Dailaman Village, some 2 km downstream of the valley that runs
through the east of the Ghalekuti site complex (Fig. 12). It is situated on a slope to the north of the small
hamlet of Khoramrud (Egami et al. 1966). Two areas were excavated, designated Areas A and B, from thewest; 17 tombs were recovered in Area A, numbered Tombs A-I to XVII (Fig. 13). All of these were foundto be heavily looted, yielding few identifiable objects. On the other hand, Area B contained no tombs.
However, one unlooted tomb, Tomb I, was recovered between Areas A and B. In either case, the identified
funerary objects indicate a Parthian age for this cemetery complex (Fig. 3).

Fig. 12 Distant view of the Khoramrud site.

Fig. 13 Parthian Pottery from Tomb
A-VI of Khoramrud (KH. P3)

Hassani Mahale (1964)
Hassani Mahale denotes the name of a plateau to the southwest of the Espeli Village, separated by a rivercalled Suis Rud (Fig. 14). Excavations of this cemetery complex were conducted in the highest area (Sonoand Fukai 1968; Egami and Ikeda 1968). A total of eight tombs (Tombs 1 to 8) were excavated. The mostsignificant discovery was made in Tomb 7, which was located on the ridge of the plateau, while the others
were recovered on the slope. This tomb was sufficiently preserved to retain the ceiling of the horizontal stone
burial chamber (Fig. 10). Moreover, the associated funerary objects found here included a complete glasscup with applied decorations (Fig. 15). As the first example of this kind of cup ever recovered throughscientific excavations in a Sasanian context, this vessel has served as an important reference point for tracing
the development of glass cup production in the antique period. All of the other tombs from this site belong tothe Parthian period.**The text is after Nishiaki 2020.

Fig. 14 Distant view of the Hassani Mahale site.

Fig. 15 Early Sasanian glass cup from Tomb 7 atNoruz Mahale.

Further reading
Arimatsu, Y. (2005) Ceramic chronology of the Iron Age to the Parthian Period in the Dailaman district,Iran. Proceedings of the 10th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society for West Asian Archaeology,
pp. 34-38. Tokyo: The Museum of Horses and Horse Racing (in Japanese).
Egami, N. (1963) Dailaman I: The Excavations at Ghalekuti and Lasulkan in 1960. Tokyo: The Institute ofOriental Culture, The University of Tokyo.
Egami, N. and J. Ikeda (1963) Anthropological Studies of West Asia 1: Human Remains from the Tombs inDailamanistan, Northern Iran, Vol. 1. Tokyo: The Institute of Oriental Culture, The University ofTokyo.
Egami, N., S. Fukai and S. Masuda (1966) Dailaman II: The Excavations at Noruzmahale and Khoramrud,
1960. Tokyo: The Institute of Oriental Culture, The University of Tokyo.
Fukai, S. and J. Ikeda (1971) Dailaman IV: The Excavations at Ghalekuti II & I, 1964. Tokyo: The Instituteof Oriental Culture, The University of Tokyo.
Hori, A. (1981) Dailaman and Halimehjan: Re-examinations of their Chronology. Bulletin of the AncientOrient Museum 3: 43–62.
Ikeda, J. (1968) Anthropological Studies of West Asia 2: Human Remains from the Tombs in Dailaman,Northern Iran, Vol. 2. Tokyo: The Institute of Oriental Culture, The University of Tokyo.
Nishiaki, Y., H. Mikuni, Y. Ogawa and Y. Arimatsu (2006) Catalogue of Archaeological Materials in theDepartment of Archaeology of Western Asia. Part 7: Pottery from Ancient Tombs of theDailaman District, Iran. The University Museum, The University of Tokyo, Material Reports No.
63. Tokyo: The University Museum, The University of Tokyo.
Nishiaki, Y. (2009) Geofacts from the “Pre-ceramic” layer of the Iron Age site at Lasulkan, Alborz, Northern
Iran. Al-Rafidan 30: 1–14.
Nishiaki, Y. (2020) Dailaman cemetery sites. In: Iranian Archaeology, edited by K. Yamauchi, N. Murakami
and T. Kanai, pp. 23–27. Fuefuki: Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Teikyo University.
Sono, T. and S. Fukai (1968) Dailaman III: The Excavations at Hassani Mahale and Ghalekuti, 1964. Tokyo:
The Institute of Oriental Culture, The University of Tokyo.

Copyright © Yoshihiro Nishiaki. All Rights Reserved.
17 June 2020