| چکیده انگلیسی مقاله |
Abstract
The southeast region of Iran, especially the Hirmand civilization area, played a key role in regional and inter-regional trade during the late 4th and 3rd millennia BC. During this period, we witness the formation of large urban centers with numerous related settlements, workshops, and specializations, followed by administrative management, and social and economic complexity. So far, many archaeological studies have been conducted in this region, but little has been done to study administrative management systems based on archaeological evidence. The Department of Archaeology at Zabul University conducted six seasons of fieldwork at Tepe Taleb Khan in the framework of the student’s educational excavations. As a result, and due to the fact that this mound is a representative of the Hirmand Civilization, the recovered evidence helped us to examine the cultural, social, and economic aspects of this civilization. Ample archaeological evidence related to administrative management was documented at the site. Here, an attempt is made to read such evidence that was recovered in the fifth and sixth seasons of excavation. According to the objectives, the main questions are as follows: What was the nature of administrative-related evidence that was recovered from Tepe Taleb Khan? And what are their cultural significance? During the excavations, numerous pieces of evidence related to accounting and administrative management were found, including seals, sealing-related material, and tokens, which could reflect social hierarchy in the region during the third millennium BC. In addition, the production of such various materials was controlled by the elites. In this research, the administrative structure of the Hirmand civilization was studied within the framework of the administrative management system. The archaeological findings obtained from Tepe Talebkhan include seals, sealing, tokens, bullae, and numerical clay tablets. They could collectively be considered as important evidence related to the management and administrative systems, correlated to what happened in the related settlement of Shahr-i Sukhta during the third millennium BC.
Keywords: Hirmand Civilization, Bronze Age, Administrative Management, Accounting.
Introduction
The ancient economic system in Southeast Iran, particularly the Hirmand civilization, was significant and important for the formation of the East-West and North-South Bronze Age trade in Southwest Asia. Several archaeological fieldworks have been carried out in this region; among them are archaeological surveys (e.g., Mehrafrin and Mousavi Haji 2009) and excavations in Shahr-i Sokhta (Seyyd Sajjadi 2003; 2005; 2014; 2019; Tosi 1969; 1970; 1973), Tappeh Graziani (Kavosh et al. 2019), Teppe Taleb Khan (Kavosh 2022), Rostam (Kavosh 2020), Dasht (Mortazavi et al. 2011), Sadeq (Shirazi 2018), and Yalda (2015). The recovered evidence provides glimpses of the formation of an urban center with related villages, and the production and industrial centers, the presence of part-time and full-time crafts, intra-regional and regional exchanges, and technological development. Archaeologists always emphasize the importance of the southeastern part of the Iranian Plateau during the Bronze Age as part of a large inter-regional trade and exchange network (Lamberg-Karlovsky 1972; Kohl 1975; Alden 1982; Potts 1982, 1993, 2009; Aruz and Wallenfels 2003). Certainly, such massive production and exchange required an administrative management system. Although valuable previous research has been done on various issues in this region, the administrative management system, as reflected in the archaeological record, has remained unexplored. In this article, the aim is to examine the evidence related to such a system in a Bronze Age setting based on the new findings from Tepe Taleb Khan after describing the related findings. According to the above objectives, the questions are as follows: how was administrative management in the Bronze Age community of Tepe Taleb Khan structured? What types of related material culture were recovered from the site? And what is their cultural significance? According to the subject, the data were collected using direct observation in the field (excavation), laboratory, and library methods.
Identified Traces
Tepe Taleb Khan is located in the southern part of Qala-e-Rostam district, 66 km southwest of the city of Zabol in Sistan and Baluchestan Province. This site is located 15 km south of the ancient site of Shahr-i Sokhta, with dimensions of 70×50m. Its height is about 8.2m above its surroundings (Figures 1 and 2). The objectives pursued for the excavation of this site were to study the cultural sequence, assessing the function of the site during the settlement period, its relationship with Shahr-i Sokhta, understanding its architectural structures, and also, to train the archaeology students. The recovered potsherds imply the contemporaneity of the settlement at this site with Shahr-i Sokhta phases III and IV. In addition, C14 analysis yielded dates from 2500 to 2300 BC for the cultural layers (Kavosh 2022).
During the excavation at Tepe Taleb Khan, various clay and stone objects were recorded, which could be considered as related artifacts to the administrative management system in a Bronze Age society. Although there are different opinions, their function cannot be shown definitively. Yet, comparisons could open windows to talk about the control and accounting functions. Here, we consider seven types of cultural materials hinting to the administration systems, including seals, sealing (fig 3), tokens (fig 4), reused potteries (fig 5), bullae (fig 6), door locks (fig 7), and numerical clay tablets (fig 8).
Discussion
The existence of trade networks in Southwest Asia during the Bronze Age was dependent on a management system and the Hirmand Civilization played a pivotal role in this integrated system. Quantitative evidence of administrative management and accounting was obtained during the excavations in Tepe Taleb Khan.
In societies lacking written documents, the use of seals, often as one of the most important evidence of administrative management, could be considered as an important criterion for the recognition and reconstruction of the social, economic, and political systems. Evidence of seals and sealing have been unearthed from Tepe Taleb Khan, and the other archaeological sites of the region, such as Yalda and Graziani. The most important and explicit evidence related to the administrative control and recording is clay tablets that were in use from the second half of the fourth millennium BC. Four numerical clay tablets were obtained from Tepe Taleb Khan. Impressions and signs in these tablets were created in circular forms. The clay tablets obtained from Tepe Taleb Khan and Yalda indicate that until the beginning of the second half of the third millennium BC, that is, the time when writing was invented in Mesopotamia, the accounting system was still used as in previous periods. It is possible that the societies in the Hirmand area had familiarity with the Mesopotamian cuneiform due to trade with the latter region, yet they preferred to continue to use the previous recording methods in their accounting and administrative control system.
Conclusion
The archaeological excavations of Tepe Taleb Khan in Sistan and Baluchistan provide clear evidence for administrative activities and control tools. The cultural materials recovered from the site clearly show that the Hirmand Civilization with its Bronze Age settlements is important for the assessment of socio-economic institutions and their growth in this period. In this region, the characteristics of urban societies, such as the separation of residential areas from production centers, specialized production, and evidence for the existence of management techniques in a Bronze Age society could be seen. The presence of seals and sealings show that the industrial activities were managed through central management and had full supervision. The need to record and monitor the production and consumption goods that arose as a result of the expansion of socio-economic activities could have important contribution to the development of administration management system in the related settlements to Shahr-i sukhta, such as Tepe Taleb Khan. One of the most important effective factors in the emergence of states and social rank is the emergence of specialization in the process of the formation of social structures, which is clearly seen in the excavations of the related settlements to Shahr-i sukhta. |