Mamasani in the Fourth Millennium BC

Abstract

The south-west has long held a prominent place in our understanding of the archaeology of ancient Iran. Knowledge of the late prehistory of this large region has been dominated by the research undertaken at archaeological sites situated in what are in effect its two geographical extremes: the lowland plains of Susiana (particularly the site of Susa) in Khuzestan at one end, and the extensive highland valley known as the Kur River Basin (particularly the site of Tal-e Malyan/Anshan) in Fars at the other (e.g. Carter and Stolper 1984; Potts 1999; Wright, this volume; Alden, this volume). From at least as early as the sixth millennium BC, the lowland and highland regions of south-west Iran witnessed cultural contacts of varying nature and intensity. Building on an understanding of the ancient state of Elam in the later third and second millennia Be, Pierre Amiet (1979) proposed that the intensity of highland-lowland interactions could be correlated with the changing fortunes of the lowland capital of Susa.