DĀR(- E) TANHĀ

 

DĀR(-E) TANHĀ (lit., “the lonely tree”), an ar­cheological site in the district of Badr, near the village of Jabar, ca. 70 km east-southeast of Īlām, in the province of Pošt-e Kūh. In 1348 Š./1969 two mega­lithic tombs were excavated there by Louis Vanden Berghe of Ghent University, Belgium. Each consisted of irregular courses of large boulders with enormous capstones forming a gabled roof.

This type of structure was used for multiple burials. Tomb 1, the more important of the two, measured 6.10 x 1.35 x 0.75-1.70 m on the interior; although almost all the bones had decayed, it still contained three skulls (1972, pp. 23-33). The grave goods included such copper or bronze objects as flat and shaft-hole axes, daggers with simple tangs or rivet holes, saws, and awls. All are comparable to contemporary Meso­potamian objects, and similar material has been found at Bani Surmah (Ban-e Sorma) and other sites in Pošt-e Kūh (Vanden Berghe, 1972, pp, 28-31). In addition, a unique small bronze figurine of a wild boar was found at the site. Pottery vessels included flat- or round-bottomed jars of a rather coarse ware with simple profiles and oblique handles. There is also a finer ware decorated with monochrome or occasion­ally polychrome paint. The monochrome ware is painted on the shoulder and neck with geometric de­signs in reddish or dark brown and is clearly related to ceramics from Godin (Gowdīn) Tepe III/6 (Henrickson, figs. 4-7) in the Kangāvar valley. Rare polychrome ware, also with geometric motifs, is reminiscent of Mesopotamian “scarlet ware” (Delougaz; Gibson). This tomb can be dated to the Early Dynastic II-IIIA periods in Mesopotamian chronology.

Tomb 2 contained only some beads and a few painted sherds from a slightly later period (Vanden Berghe, 1972, pp. 33-35).

 

Bibliography:

P. Delougaz, Pottery from the Diyala Region, Chicago, 1952.

M. Gibson, ed., Uch Tepe I. The Chicago-Copenhagen Expedition to Hamrin, Copenhagen, 1981.

E. Haerinck, “The Chronology of Luristan. Pusht-i Kuh in the Late Fourth and First Half of the Third Millennium B.C.,” in J.-L. Huot, ed., La préhistoire de la Mésopotamie. La Mésopotamie et l’exploration récente du Djebel Hamrin, Paris, 1987, pp. 65-67.

L. Vanden Berghe, “Prospections archéologiques dans la région de Badr,” Archeologia 36, 1970, pp. 15-17.

Idem, “Recherches archéologiques dans le Luristān. Cinquième campagne: 1969.

Prospections dans le Pusht-i Kūh central (Rapport préliminaire),” Iranica Antiqua 9, 1972, pp. 1-48, esp. pp. 22-37.

Idem, “La construc­tion des tombes au Pusht-i Kūh, Luristān au 3e millénaire avant J.-C.,” Iranica Antiqua 14, 1979, pp. 42-44.

(Ernie Haerinck)

Originally Published: December 15, 1993

Last Updated: November 14, 2011

This article is available in print.
Vol. VI, Fasc. 6, pp. 670-671