The central and northern Zagros during the Late Chalcolithic: An updated ceramic chronology based on recent fieldwork results in western Iran
Steve Renette, Sirvan Mohammadi Ghasrian
Abstract
In the past two decades, Iranian archaeologists have conducted numerous surveys and stratigraphic soundings throughout the Zagros region of western Iran. Their published work is gradually filling in the major geographical and chronological gaps in our knowledge of the Late Chalcolithic period. At the same time, new research on this period in the Zagros Piedmont of Iraqi Kurdistan is rapidly producing large amounts of data. Unfortunately, scholarship between the two regions is divided by a national border and a linguistic barrier in publications, which still obstructs necessary communication. This article summarises the current state of knowledge on the Late Chalcolithic in the northern and central Zagros Mountains in order to bridge this artificial divide. Based on the results of Iranian archaeological projects, we propose an updated chronological framework for the Zagros that is in line with recent Mesopotamian and central Iranian models.