Abstract:
The first and second seasons of extensive survey and excavation at Zardkhaneh were carried out during June-August
2011 and 2012. Third season of excavation continued in August 2014. The survey and excavation yielded materials from the
Late Bronze and Early Iron Age. Recently, a survey covering 30 ha at the second millennium b.c. site of Zardkhaneh, located
near the city of Ahar in the province of Eastern Azerbaijan, brought to light 95 stone burials indicating that Zardkhaneh
was a large cemetery, related to the adjacent settlement and defensive fortress. Our preliminary study shows that the large
stone graves and kurgan type burials of Zardkhaneh had close connections with the material culture of areas today located in
Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Turkey during these periods.
Machine summary:
A Fortress and New Kurgan Burials at Zardkhaneh Ahar: Reassessment of the Chronology of the Late Prehistory of Northwestern Iran Mehdi Kazempour Tabriz Islamic Art University, Iran Kamal Aldin Niknami University of Tehran, Iran Akbar Abedi* Tabriz Islamic Art University, Iran Nasir Eskandari University of Jiroft, Iran Received: October 9, 2017 Accepted: December 17, 2017 Abstract: The first and second seasons of extensive survey and excavation at Zardkhaneh were carried out during June-August 2011 and 2012.
Our preliminary study shows that the large stone graves and kurgan type burials of Zardkhaneh had close connections with the material culture of areas today located in Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Turkey during these periods.
This excavation had two main aims: 1) to reveal the architecture of fortresses and identify any evidence of settlements, tombs and pottery traditions of Late Bronze/Early Iron Age, and 2) to provide a basis for detailed survey and excavation in order to enhance the chronology of the late prehistory of northwestern Iran.
This project can be considered as one of the largest archaeological projects in Eastern Azerbaijan province as noted above in terms of collection of data regarding the frequency, distribution, density and condition of sites in the Late Bronze/Early Iron Age. This is also one of the most important archaeological programs of ICHHTO in Ahar region, as it provides a more certain anchor for the construction of a new chronology of this region and northwestern Iran during second millennium b.