A STUDY ON A SPECIFIC TYPE OF POTTERY FROM THE ELAMITE ERA AND TOPONYMY OF ZABSHALI

Abstract

So far, there have been no studies conducted extensively on the regions surrounding Elamite. One of the surrounding regions cover the north of present-day provinces Fars and Khuzestan as Elamite centers in the ancient era. The noteworthy point about these regions is their potentially rich metal mines. This has been mentioned in Mesopotamian inscriptions, mainly explaining the link between the Mesopotamian plain and the highlands of Elam. The present-day provinces, Khuzestan and Fars, have small potentials for metal mines. Hence, they only served as surrounding regions supplying the metals. However, little investigation has been done on the archeological data from the Elamite Era. It is crucial to carry out a historical study on these regions along with the archeological data to enlighten the dark spots in the Elamite Era and ultimately provide a toponymy of the Elamite cities. One instance of such archeological data involve various types of local pottery in Khuzestan (as a central city of Elam), which was compared through petrography against the samples recovered in Isfahan and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari (as two surrounding regions). Finally, this paper intended to discuss more confidently the era in which this type of pottery was built and its origin in order to provide a toponymy of the Zabshali based on historical and archaeological data.