Proto-Elamite (period)

Proto-Elamite (period)
The Proto-Elamite period, also known as Susa III, is a chronological era in the ancient history of the area of Elam, dating from . In archaeological terms this corresponds to the late Banesh period. Proto-Elamite sites are recognized as the oldest civilization in the territory of present-day Iran. The Proto-Elamite script is an Early Bronze Age writing system briefly in use before the introduction of Elamite cuneiform.
History
Background
During the period 8000–3700 BC, the Fertile Crescent witnessed the spread of small settlements supported by agricultural surplus. Geometric tokens emerged to be used to manage stewardship of this surplus. The earliest tokens now known are those from two sites in the Zagros region of Iran: Tepe Asiab and Ganj-i-Dareh Tepe.
The Mesopotamian civilization emerged during the period 3700–2900 BC amid the development of technological innovations such as the plough, sailing boats, and copper metal working. Clay tablets with pictographic characters appeared in this period to record commercial transactions performed by the temples.
Proto-Elamite sites
The most important Proto-Elamite sites are Susa and Anshan. Another important site is Tepe Sialk, where the only remaining Proto-Elamite ziggurat is still seen. Texts in the undeciphered Proto-Elamite script found in Susa are dated to this period. It was originally assumed that the Proto-Elamites were in fact Elamites (Elamite speakers), because of cultural similarities (for example, the building of ziggurats), and because no large-scale migration to this area seems to have occurred between the Proto-Elamite period and the later Elamites. As Proto-Elamite writing has now been found over a wider area that is less certain.
Proto-Elamite pottery dating back to the last half of the 5th millennium BC has been found in Tepe Sialk, where Proto-Elamite writing, the first form of writing in Iran, has been found on tablets of this date. The first cylinder seals come from the Proto-Elamite period, as well.
Tepe Sofalin
The site of Sofalin (Lat. 51” 44’ 06 N., Long. 35” 18’ 58 E) lies on the Tehran Plain on the north-central plateau of Iran about 10 kilometers east of the modern city of Varamin. Sofalin means pottery shards in Persian. The site covers an area 500 meters long and 400 meters wide with a height of 10 meters above the plain. Occupation ranged from the late 4th millennium BC to the Iron Age. It was excavated in two seasons from 2006 to 2007 by a Morteza
Hessari led team of the Archaeological Service of Islamic Azad University of Varamin-Pishva. Among the finds were inscribed clay tokens, Proto-Elamite tablets, clay bullae, clay sealings, and blank tablets. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry of the residue in a Bevel Rim Bowl found beeswax.
Proto-Elamite cylinder seals
Proto-Elamite seals follow the seals of the Uruk period, with which they share many stylistic elements, but display more individuality and a more lively rendering.
See also
History of Iran
Jiroft culture
References
Further reading
Alden, J.R., Minc, L., "Itinerant potters and the transmission of ceramic technologies and styles during the Proto-Elamite period in Iran", J. Archaeol. Sci. Rep. 7, pp. 863–876, 2016
Amiet, P., "Il y a 5000 ans les elamites inventaient l’ecriture", Archeologia 12, pp. 16–23, 1966
Aruz, Joan, "Power and Protection: A Little Proto-Elamite Silver Bull Pendant", Leaving No Stones Unturned: Essays on the Ancient Near East and Egypt in Honor of Donald P. Hansen, edited by Erica Ehrenberg, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 1–14, 2002
L. Le Breton, "The Early Periods at Susa: Mesopotamian Relations", Iraq 19, 79–124, 1957
Brice W.C., "The Writing System of the Proto-Elamite Account Tablets of Susa," Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 45, pp. 15–39, 1962
Jacob L. Dahl, "The proto-Elamite seal MDP 16, pl. XII fig. 198", in Cuneiform Digital Library Notes, CDLN 2014:1, 2014
Jacob L. Dahl, "New and old joins in the Louvre proto-Elamite tablet collection", in Cuneiform Digital Library Notes, CDLN 2012:6, 2012
Dahl, Jacob L, "Animal Husbandry in Susa during the Proto-Elamite Period" SMEA, vol.47, pp. 81–134, 2005
Peter Damerow, "The Origins of Writing as a Problem of Historical Epistemology", Invited lecture at the Symposium on the Multiple Origins of Writing: Image, Symbol, and Script, University of Pennsylvania, Center for Ancient Studies March 26–27, 1999
Dittmann, R., "Seals, Sealings and Tablets: Thoughts on the Changing Patterns of Administrative Control from the Late-Uruk to Proto-Elamite Period at Susa", Pp. 332–366 in Ğamdat Nasr. Period or Regional Style? Papers given at a Symposium held in Tübingen November 1983. Beihefte zum Tubinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients. Reihe B 62, eds.U. Finkbeiner and W. Rollig. Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 1986
Englund, R.K, "The Proto-Elamite Script," in: Peter Daniels and William Bright, eds. The World's Writing Systems (1996). New York/Oxford, pp. 160–164, 1996
Robert H. Dyson, "Early Work on the Acropolis at Susa. The Beginning of Prehistory in Iraq and Iran", Expedition 10/4, pp. 21–34, 1968
Hansen, Donald, et al., "A Proto-Elamite Silver Figurine in the Metropolitan Museum of Art", Metropolitan Museum Journal, vol. 3, pp. 5–26, 1970
Laura F. Hawkins, "A New Edition of the Proto-Elamite Text MDP 17", Cuneiform Digital Library Journal, CDLJ 2015:001, 2015
Khosravi, Shokouh, et al, "Tapeh Tyalineh: a proto-Elamite administrative institution on the Great Khorasan Road, Kermanshah, Western Iran", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, pp. 1–28, 2023
A. Le Brun, "Recherches stratigraphiques a l’acropole de Suse, 1969–1971", in Cahiers de la Délégation archaéologique Française en Iran 1, (CahDAFI 1), Paris, pp. 163 – 216, 1971
Daniel T. Potts, "The Archaeology of Elam", Cambridge, UK, 1999
Saeedi, Sepideh, "Proto-Elamite Communities under the Magnifying Glass", in: Abar, Aydin et al. (Hrsg.): Pearls, Politics and Pistachios: Essays in Anthropology and Memories on the Occasion of Susan Pollock's 65th Birthday, Heidelberg: Propylaeum, pp. 61–87, 2021
Sax, M., and A. P. Middleton, "The Use of Volcanic Tuff as a Raw Material for Proto-Elamite Cylinder Seals", Iran, vol. 27, pp. 121–23, 1989
Scheil, V., "Documents archaïques en écriture proto-élamite", Revue Biblique (1892–1940), vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 372–76, 1905
V. Scheil, "Textes de Comptabilité Proto-Élamites", MDP 17, Paris, 1923
V. Scheil, "Textes de Comptabilité Proto-Élamites", MDP 26, Paris, 1935
Francois Vallat, "The Most Ancient Scripts of Iran: The Current Situation", World Archaeology, vol. 17, no. 3, Early Writing Systems, pp. 335–347, Feb. 1986
External links
Proto-Elamite tablets online at CDLI
Art of the Bronze Age: Southeastern Iran, Western Central Asia, and the Indus Valley, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Proto-Elamite culture
4th millennium BC
3rd millennium BC
Elamite language
Jiroft culture
States and territories disestablished in the 3rd millennium BC
States and territories established in the 4th millennium BC