Notes on Arboricultural and Agricultural Practices in Ancient Iran based on New Pollen Evidence

Abstract

New pollen evidence from two sites in South-Central Zagros (Lake Maharlou), Southwestern Iran, and Sahand Mountains (Lake Almalou), Northwestern Iran, provide evidence for the emergence of tree cultivation in Southwestern Iran since the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC and upland agricultural activities in Northwestern Iran since 5th to 3rd centuries BC. Juglans cf. regia could have been cultivated firstly at ~ 2500 BC and became more extensively cultivated since ~ 1200 BC. Platanus cf. orientalis was also probably cultivated very early at ~ 1900 BC during the Middle Elamite period (2800-550 BC) and became more widely cultivated from ~ 1200 BC along with Juglans. The latter arboricultural events could have resulted from the establishment of great urban civilizations in Southwestern Iran. The rise of the Persian Empires seems to have been associated with a large-scale agricultural revolution over the Iranian Plateau. During the Persian Achaemenid Empire (550-330 BC) tree cultivation expanded in the Lake Maharlou area and agricultural practices expanded into upland areas in Lake Almalou area probably due to socio-economic stability and the development of water exploitation and irrigation techniques. The Parthian (250 BC-225 AD) and Sassanian (224-642 AD) periods were also associated with tree cultivation practices in Lake Maharlou area but to a lower extent comparing to the Achaemenid period. In the Lake Almalou area, the Parthian period saw no spectacular agricultural event at least partly due to political and socio-economic instability caused by conflicts with Romans over Armenia. The socio-economic stability and further development in agricultural techniques during the Sassanian Empire could, however, favor again the large-scale tree cultivation practices in Northwestern Iran. The Post-Islamic period is characterized by reduced agricultural activities in the Iranian Plateau most probably due to political instability caused by numerous invasions by Arabs, Turks and Mongols. The last signifi cant agricultural event recorded in the Lake Almalou pollen record is the appearance of Ricinus communis cultivated since the beginning of the Safavid Empire (1501-1722 AD).