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