JUB-E GOWHAR

 

JUB-E GOWHAR, an archeological site in the Eyvān plain, Ilām province (Poštkuh, Lorestān). A total of sixty-six tombs of a partially plundered graveyard were excavated at Jub-e Gowhar in 1977 by the Belgian Archeological Mission in Iran, directed by Louis Vanden Berghe (q.v.). The Mission excavated fifty-six stone lined tombs covered with flat slabs, nine pit graves of which some were covered with stone slabs and one pithos grave (Figure 1). The far majority were individual tombs, but some of the stone lined tombs contained up to four skeletons. The graveyard belongs to a single period, the Iron Age III (ca. 800/750-600 BCE), known from other sites such as Gol Ḵānān Morda, Čamahzi Mumah, and War Kabud (Vanden Berghe, 1987; Haerinck and Overlaet, 1998, 1999, 2004). The burial goods included pottery, a bronze mace and shield, bronze vessels, jewelry, iron armament (arrowheads, daggers, swords, spearheads, and axe-heads), flint arrowheads, and tools and beads of various types and materials (Figure 2). Silver was the only precious metal, but was used only in small quantities (some rings, hair-coils, and earrings). The pottery, which amounted to more than 45 percent of the finds, included cooking, common buff, fine buff, and fine grey ware, some with incised patterns. Diagnostic Iron Age III shapes were teapots with tubular spouts, sometimes bridged, and a vertical and/or basket handle, as well as jugs. The fine buff (3 percent of the pottery) and particularly the fine grey wares (20 percent) are characteristic for the Poštkuh Iron Age III. Small vessels are often decorated with incised geometric patterns, some of which can be linked to Baba Jan III painted designs (Piškuh, Lorestān; cf. Goff, figs. 1-9). Noteworthy among the pottery was the discovery of five bull- and cow-shaped vessels, one in fine grey and four in common buff ware.

 

Bibliography:

Clare Goff, “Excavations at Baba Jan: The Pottery and Metal from Levels III and II,” Iran 16, 1978, pp. 29-65.

Ernie Haerinck and Bruno Overlaet, Chamahzi Mumah: An Iron Age III Graveyard, Luristan excavation documents 2, Acta Iranica 33, Leuven, 1998.

Idem, Djub-i Gauhar and Gul Khanan Murdah: Iron Age III Graveyards in the Aivan Plain, Luristan excavation documents 3, Acta Iranica 36, Leuven, 1999.

Idem, The Iron Age III Graveyard at War Kabud, Pusht-i Kuh, Luristan, Luristan excavation documents 5, Acta Iranica 42, Leuven, 2004.

Louis Vanden Berghe, “Des tombes de l’âge du Fer au Luristan: La nécropole de Djūb-i Gauhar en Iran,” Archéologia 138, 1980, pp. 32-47.

Idem, “Les pratiques funéraires à l’âge du Fer III au Pusht-i Kūh, Luristān: les nécropoles ‘genre War Kabūd’,” Iranica Antiqua 22, 1987, pp. 201-66.

(Bruno Overlaet)

Originally Published: June 15, 2009

Last Updated: April 17, 2012

This article is available in print.
Vol. XV, Fasc. 1, pp. 84-85