The fourth millennium BC was a critical period of socio-economic and political transformation in the Iranian Plateau and its surrounding zones. This period witnessed the appearance of the world’s earliest urban centres, hierarchical administrative structures, and writing systems. These developments are indicative of significant changes in socio-political structures that have been interpreted as evidence for the rise of early states and the development of inter-regional trade, embedded in longer-term processes that began in the later fifth millennium BC. Iran was an important player in western Asia especially in the medium- to long-range trade in raw materials and finished items throughout this period. The 20 papers presented here illustrate forcefully how the re-evaluation of old excavation results, combined with much new research, has dramatically expanded our knowledge and understanding of local developments on the Iranian Plateau and of long-range interactions during the critical period of the fourth millennium BC.
Introduction
1.Ancient Iran and Its Neighbours: the state of play Cameron A. Petrie
Environment, ecology, landscape, and subsistence
2. Mid-Holocene environmental and climatic change in Iran Matthew Jones, Morteza Djamali, Lora Stevens, Vanessa Heyvaert, Hajar Askari, Dariosh Norolahie & Lloyd Weeks
3. Population and settlement trends in south-west Iran and neighbouring areas Kristen Hopper & Tony J. Wilkinson
Sites and regions
4. A bridge between worlds: south-western Iran during the fourth millennium BC Henry T. Wright
5. Interpreting the role of Godin Tepe in the “Uruk expansion” Mitchell Rothman
6. Some thoughts on the mode of culture change in the fourth-millennium BC Iranian highlands Barbara Helwing
7. The Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age in the Qazvin and Tehran Plains: a chronological perspective Hassan Fazeli Nashli, Hamid Reza Valipour & Mohammed Hossein Azizi Kharanaghi
8. Tepe Hissar and the fourth millennium of north-eastern Iran Christopher, P. Thornton, A. Gürsan-Salzmann & R.H. Dyson Jr.
9. The Middle Chalcolithic in southern Turkmenistan and the archaeological record of Ilgynly-Depe Gian Luca Bonora & Massimo Vidale
10. Mamasani in the fourth millennium BC Cameron A. Petrie, Alireza Sardari, Rachel Ballantyne, Manuel Berberian, Carla Lancelotti, Marjan Mashkour, Bernadette McCall, Daniel T. Potts & Lloyd Weeks
11. Northern Fars in the fourth millennium BC: cultural developments during the Lapui phase Alireza Sardari
12. The Kur River Basin in the Proto-Elamite era – surface survey, settlement patterns, and the appearance of full-time transhumant pastoral nomadism John R. Alden
13. Mahtoutabad I (Konar Sandal South, Jiroft): preliminary evidence of occupation of a Halil Rud site in the early fourth millennium BC Massimo Vidale & Francois Desset
14. Ceramic traditions and interactions on the south-eastern Iranian Plateau during the fourth millennium BC Benjamin Mutin
Technologies of craft and administration
15. Iranian metallurgy of the fourth millennium BC in its wider technological and cultural contexts Lloyd Weeks
16. Imagery in administrative context: Susiana and the west in the fourth millennium BC Holly Pittman
17. The power of writing: administrative activity at Godin Tepe, central Zagros, in the later fourth millennium BC Roger Matthews
18. Chronological parameters of the earliest writing system in Iran Jacob Dahl, Cameron A. Petrie & D.T. Potts
Synthesis and discussion
19. Scales, difference, and mobility Susan Pollock
20. Ancient Iran and its neighbours: emerging paradigms and future directions Cameron A. Petrie
Appendix A. Comments and discussion led by Guillermo Algaze
Appendix B. Comments and discussion led by Susan Pollock
Appendix C. Summation and discussion led by Cameron Petrie
