EARLY STAGE OF THE MANUFACTURING ECONOMY IN THE URMIA BASIN

Abstract

As a result of archaeological excavations in the 1960s in the Solduz-Ushna valley (south of lake Urmia), researchers from the University of Pennsylvania identified settlements of the early era of the producing economy. It is believed that the first inhabitants of the valley were nomadic shepherds who left their temporary camps in Ganj-Dare, Tepe-Asiab, Tepe-Guran, Tepe-Sarab in the Kermanshah area. Around the middle of the 6th millennium BC they founded the Neolithic settlement of Hadji Firuz Tepe at 1.5 km south of Hasanlu (on the southern shore of the lake). By the end of the millennium they had learned how to organize a collective farm, using counters of various forms tokens, improved the production of ceramic dishes and, interestingly, for the first time in the history of mankind, invented the technology of wine making. Continuation of this culture is observed in Pishdeli Tepe. Even greater progress is observed in the eneolitic layers of the settlements of Geoy Tepe, YanikTepe, Tezekend, whose inhabitants sheltered their homes with defensive walls and exchanged with neighbors. Excavations in Dalma Tepe (5 km south-west of Hasanlu) revealed a completely different chalcolithic culture. Her characteristic dishes with an imitation carp weaving ornament were also found much southeast of the lake. At the beginning of the III millennium BC the chalcolithic culture of the Urmia basin underwent the onset of a new Transcaucasian culture for these places, which initiated the use of bronze in everyday life. Traces of fire on adobe and raw brick buildings, yarn for sling and small bronze tips, daggers indicate clashes with aliens. Having established their dominance in Urmia basin, the bearers of the Transcaucasian culture moved to the south, where their presence was found in Luristan (Godin-tepe) and west of Hamadan.