Across mountains and deserts: Patterns of movement and interaction in fourth and third millennium BC south-east Iran
The valleys of south-east Iran are ideally situated to investigate patterns of interaction among the communities of this part of the Indo-Iranian borderlands, and their connections with regions as far flung as Mesopotamia, Turkmenistan and the Indus River Basin in the Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age (c.4000-2000 BC). Excavations at sites such as Tepe Yahya, Konar Sandal and Shahr-i Sokhta, and surface collections have revealed evidence for a variety of local, regional and interregional dynamics across a fragmented landscape of high mountain ranges and arid desert basins. Mobility, its forms, and manifestations have long been a key issue in understanding these interactions. In this thesis I examine the nature of interactions in south-east Iran by situating them within their physical landscapes. Using a combination of archaeological legacy data, ethnohistorical data and a novel computational approach to modelling movement I reconsider where and how people, goods and ideas may have moved and what characterised the changing landscapes of interaction between 4000-2000 BC. To that end, four interlocking analyses are presented. First, a review of recent studies of the material record defines connections through material similarities and the distribution of raw materials. Second, this thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of diachronic settlement patterns throughout the region. Third, it examines in detail the diaries of Sir M. Aurel Stein for their information on the practicalities of moving through south-east Iran. Fourth, it assesses and applies a novel multi-factor, multi-temporal least-cost corridor model to generate corridors between major archaeological sites. For that purpose, a semi-automated workflow has been developed to calculate corridors over different cost surfaces and from various start points using open-source software. Ethnohistorical data from Stein’s diaries is used to inform and test the model’s parameters and a new method was developed to test the fit of corridors to historically reconstructed routes. The results provide a more nuanced picture of interactions in Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age south-east Iran. The review of the archaeological evidence demonstrates diachronically changing interactive dynamics and the simultaneous existence of overlapping and diverging connections. As the first analysis of interregional settlement patterns in south-east Iran since the 1980s, the thesis highlights that settlement was not only confined to alluvial plains, but that small communities existed along several steep mountain valleys connecting these plains. The diaries of Sir M. Aurel Stein provide an experiential component to interpretations of interaction in south-east Iran and challenge tacit assumptions of least-cost modelling in archaeology. The assessment of the multi-factor corridor model highlights the importance of additional cost factors beyond slope, especially when modelling long-distance connections. The corridors further reveal structuring characteristics of the landscape with regard to movement and allow us to theorise issues of decision making and socio-political circumstances. The results demonstrate that interactions in south-east Iran developed within landscapes that are at times permeable and at times forbidding. Drawing these analyses together reveals a nuanced picture of the differing patterns of interaction in south-east Iran and beyond and highlights areas for future archaeological work.
archaeology of interaction, Bronze Age, Chalcolithic, computational archaeology, corridors of movement, least-cost analysis, Sir M. Aurel Stein, south-east Iran
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