Some Socio-Economic Evidence from Iron Age Societies of the Iranian Central Plateau

Abstract

The Iron Age communities of the Iranian Central Plateau have often been thought of as comprising nomadic pastoralist groups that lack organised political and administrative institutions, a conclusion largely based on the small number of settlement sites. New data obtained from excavations at settlement sites dating to this period are, however, demonstrating the existence of socio-economic and political institutions in well-organised communities. The discovery of grey ware potsherds with seal impressions along with other materials such as seals, tokens, large pottery vessels, remains of vessel rim sealings in storage rooms, and the existence of spaces for special functions in large and important Iron Age settlement sites, sheds new light on the poorly understood social and economic organisation of the late second-millennium BC settlements in the Iranian Central Plateau.