Cheshmeh-Ali Revisited: Towards an Absolute Dating of the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic of Iran's Tehran Plain

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn line with the recent revival of archaeological activity in Iran (Roustaei et al. 2002), a collaborative Anglo-Iranian project was launched in 1997 to focus on the prehistoric sequence of the Tehran plain. As there were no radiocarbon dates for this area, unlike those reported from the Qazvin plain to the west (Mashkour et al. 1999), our initial work was centred on the excavation of the well known tell site of Cheshmeh-Ali (Fig. 1). Cheshmeh-Ali is a 7-metre high mound abutting a rocky ridge at the edge of the Islamic city of Ray. Located beside a spring, which provides the site with its name, it once covered an area of over 3.5 hectares, but is today hemmed in by houses (Fig. 2). Cheshmeh-Ali has been a focus of archaeological interest since the 1920s, due to its visibility and relative proximity to Tehran, capital since 1784 A.D. It was first excavated in 1912 by De Morgan, the Director of the French archaeological mission at Susa, and again in 1924 by Dayet, a French diplomat based in Tehran (Vanden Berghe 1959: 121). Despite these early, and somewhat inconclusive, soundings it was not until 1934 that a more systematic campaign was directed at the site under the guidance of Erich F. Schmidt with sponsorship from the Chicago Oriental Institute. Excavating between 1934 and 1936, he opened over 600 square metres of the site with a workforce of 200 workmen (Schmidt 1936: 79). During this time he successfully identified the presence of two historic periods, Islamic and Parthian, and two major prehistoric levels, Chalcolithic and Neolithic, but was unfortunately killed in a plane crash in 1964 before his report was written. Following his death, interest lapsed and urban encroachment substantially reduced the tell. However, the elegant black on red Chalcolithic pottery unearthed by Schmidt has remained a key marker for relative chronologies for the prehistory of Iran's central plateau (Dyson 1991). In view of the encroachment of Cheshmeh-Ali, an enhanced appreciation of the position of archaeology in Iran and the sheer lack of absolute chronology within the prehistoric periods of the central plateau of Iran, fieldwork at Cheshmeh-Ali was again proposed after a break of 61 years. An excavation was conducted in 1997 by a collaborative team from the Cultural Heritage Organisation of Iran, the Department of Archaeology of the University of Tehran and the Department of Archaeological Sciences of the University of Bradford, and this paper presents our new absolute dating for this important site.