Analysis of Pottery Shards From New Archaeological Survey in South Region of Sistan, Iran
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Date
2016-11-07
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Abstract
The aim of this study is to determine whether pottery shards from new archaeological survey in south
region of Sistan, Iran were locally made or imported from other regions. Sistan, since the Bronze Age
(4000BC) until now, has had an effective and salient role in the creation of human culture and
civilization in Iran. New archaeological survey in the south region of Sistan also revealed new potential
archaeological sites beside the well known sites such as Burnt City, Dahaneye Ghalaman and Kuhe
Khawaja. Archaeologists have divided the chronology of Sistan’s history into three periods which are
the prehistoric period, historical period and Islamic Period. Within these periods, many artefacts
especially pottery shards have been found during the archaeological survey. These pottery shards are
buff, grey, black, and red in colour which are mostly shards from broken jars, bowls, beakers and
dishes. Two glaze shards from the Islamic Period decorated with floral motif have also been analyzed.
In order to determine whether the glaze shards from the Islamic Period and the pottery shards from the
prehistoric and historical period were locally made or otherwise,, a scientific analysis was carried out to
determine the chemical composition of the shards. The technique involved the application of the X-Ray
Fluorescence (XRF) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) equipment to determine the major and trace elements
and also the mineral content of the pottery shards. The results shows that most of the pottery shards
taken from the archaeological survey in Sistan, Iran were locally made. Two of the samples from the
Islamic Period, namely ZR332/3 and ZR369/8 show different chemical composition content compared
to other shards and it can be suggested that these two samples did not originated from Sistan, Iran. A
shard from the prehistoric period which is ZR028/1 also shows differences in chemical composition,
suggesting that it did not originated from Sistan, Iran. The analysis of the pottery shards from Sistan
shows that since the prehistoric period, there had been trade activities in Sistan and the activities
continued until the Islamic Period. Results of the analysis also show that local communities in Sistan,
Iran were very skilful and knowledgeable in making the pottery
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Keywords
Sistan, X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), pottery, Burnt City