British Institute of Persian Studies
Socio-Economic Complexity in Southwestern Iran during the Fifth and Fourth Millennia B.C.:
The Evidence from Tall-i Bakun A
Author(s): Abbas Alizadeh
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Iran, Vol. 26 (1988), pp. 17-34
Published by: British Institute of Persian Studies
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4299798 .
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SOCIO-ECONOMIC COMPLEXITY IN SOUTHWESTERN IRAN
DURING THE FIFTH AND FOURTH MILLENNIA B.C.:
THE EVIDENCE FROM TALL-I BAKUN A
By Abbas Alizadeh
TheOrientalInstitute,Chicago
The development of civilization and the problem of
state origins and complex societies have long been
central to many anthropological and archaeological
studies of the ancient societies in southwest Asia.
Though socio-economic and political development of
the pristine states cannot be understood without a
foundation of knowledge about the economic and
political organization of the pre-state societies of the
fifth and early fourth millennia B.C., surprisingly little
work has focused on these precursors of the later urban
societies.
This situation is, perhaps, mainly due to the limitations
of prehistoric data and methodological problems
such as measurements of population size, nature
of the prehistoric political, social, and economic
institutions, and the fact that many of these sites were
excavated when archaeological investigations had not
started focusing on these problems. Nevertheless, we
are fortunate to have meticulously recorded evidence
from Tall-i Bakun A in the highlands of southern Iran
which can be re-evaluated with such problems in mind.
The present article is devoted to demonstrate a prehistoric
case of differential control of economic
resources which resulted in social stratification in the
later complex societies (Adams 1966). Further, I will
attempt to study the socio-political and economic roles
that the nomadic communities of the highlands played
in Fars vis-ai-visthe settled communities. In so doing, I
will draw conclusions from prehistoric data and will
compare them to the later historical and modern data.
The archaeological material in the present article
comes from the published 1932 (Langsdorff and
McCown 1942) and unpublished 1937 seasons of
excavations at Tall-i Bakun A, located in the fertile
Mary Dasht plain of Fars, near Persepolis (Fig. 1).
Bakun has played a prominent role in the understanding
of the prehistory of Fars, partly because it was the
first large-scale excavation of a prehistoric mound
there, and primarily for the richness of its finds. Among
the finds was a variety of clay sealings. One type of
these sealings was described by McCown as 'labels'
that "... were rarely found scattered but more usually
were in groups in various rooms... The labels, made
of fairly fine clean brown clay, are usually conical,
perforated vertically, with simple rough flattish
bases... The sides, which ordinarily slope at about
450, were smoothed to receive the seal impressions"
(Langsdorff and McCown 1942: 66). When McCown
wrote this description of the door-sealings found at
Tall-i Bakun A he did not recognize their function and
thus their great significance, nor did the next generation
of archaeologists, who in fact only quite recently
began to appreciate their meaning as documents for
reconstructing ancient economy (see i.e. Wright and
Johnson 1975).
These sealings, though sufficiently described and
illustrated (Langsdorff and McCown 1942: 66, P1. 7:
13, 18-19) remained, nevertheless, unnoticed, perhaps
because Tall-i Bakun has been so well entrenched in the
archaeological literature as a simple prehistoric farming
village.' Similarly, the chronological position of
Bakun A (ca. 4100-3700 B.C.) as a Chalcolithic site
also may have 'frozen' its status in the "band-to-state
evolutionary paradigm" as a simple village without
socio-political complexity.2 However, recent reinvestigation
of the materials demands a re-evaluation
of the socio-economic complexities of the site. Until
now, door-sealings were thought to have originated in
the Protoliterate period (ca. 3500 B.C.), when urban
centres with complex societies arose.3 Since doorsealings
are associated with the development of these
centres and are an important component of their
administrative technology (cf. Wright and Johnson
1975: 270-2), and since socio-economic processes
which led to the rise of urbanism and complex societies
must have begun prior to the period of pristine states
(Wright 1984), the present article re-evaluates the
socio-economic and political status of Bakun as an
example of pre-state complex society in light of this
long-neglected evidence.4
I
Season of 1932
The first season of excavation at Tall-i Bakun A
began in 1932 on behalf of the Oriental Institute of the
University of Chicago (Langsdorff and McCown
1942). The work of this season was concentrated on the
northern part of the mound, where an area of about
1200 sq. m. was opened (Fig. 2). Five occupational
levels were reported, Level I being the lowest, and
17
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18 JOURNAL OF PERSIAN STUDIES
Caspian
Tabriz
Sea
Mashhad?
Tehran
Siyalk
Esfahan
us
,.ogha
Mish
Yazd
Maliyan Pr.i * Kerman
Shiraz *
<'
Persian
Gulf
Pasargadae
0 5 10 km
a
Naghsh-e Rustam
Estakhr
N hsh-e Rajab
rsepolis
,
BAKUN-o
Mushki
a
:b O
Fig. 1. Locationof Tall-i Bakun A in the Persepolisplain.
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SOCIO-ECONOMIC COMPLEXITY IN SOUTHWESTERN IRAN 19
N
Area of 1932
Excavations
Herzfeld Trench
1928
Trench 1
1932
BB 27-28, 37-38
000
.
Japa.1956 1h
3Herzfeld Trench
1937 \1928
Trench II
1932
BB60 8862 BB64
O
BB 78 BC 70
BB 86
CB 06
TALL-IBAKUNA
0 5 10 25 m
Fig. 2. Tall-i BakunA, excavationareasof variousseasons.
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20 JOURNAL OF PERSIAN STUDIES
Level III being the best preserved and most extensively
excavated (Langsdorff and McCown 1942). Level III
contained a complex of buildings consisting of rectangular
houses with common walls. This level also
produced most of the artifactual material including the
clay sealings.
In general, the buildings of Level III suggest a
planned architectural layout; they are oriented northeast-southwest
with nicely aligned and carefully abutted
common walls. Unit VIII stands out as the best
and largest example. It is niched and probably was
erected first before the surrounding Buildings II-IV
and VII were annexed to it. Buildings I and II which
do not align with the general plan are possibly later
additions filling, in part, the open space defined by
Buildings III, VIII, IX, XII, and XIII (Fig. 3).
Langsdorff and McCown assigned Buildings I and II
to Level III and Building XIII to the later Level IV
(ibid., pp. 7-20). The assignment of Building XIII to
the later Level IV was rested solely on the fact that the
floors of this building, and those of Buildings XIV and
XV (Figs. 3-4), were higher than those of Level III
(ibid., pp. 19-20). I consider, however, Building XIII
as belonging to Level III because these differences of
absolute level are not convincing stratigraphic
evidence. Firstly, Building XIII and its adjoining
buildings which were assigned to Level IV are closer to
the centre of the mound and thus on a higher level.
JJ
VI
XII
IX
VIIV112 x
.0 e
" Xll •VVll
TALL-I BAKUN A v
r
Administrative Quarter
IV
,
33
\\ \\ III
0 1 2 4 6 8 10m 2
XIII
2
3r
XIV
XV
?,,
Fig. 3. Tall-i BakunA; planof thenortherncomplex,showinglocationsof buildings(shownin black)thatcontainedclaysealings.
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SOCIO-ECONOMIC COMPLEXITY IN SOUTHWESTERN IRAN 21
Secondly, these buildings, like those assigned to Level
III rest on a thick layer of ash, providing a common
stratigraphic foundation for these units and those
assigned to the earlier Level IV. Thirdly, this building
is perfectly aligned with the buildings of Level III; and
finally, the material culture from Building XIII is the
same as from Level III including the types of sealings.5
Access to the interior of the complex was probably
through the alley on the north part of the settlement.
After passing Buildings IX, XII, and VIII this alley
turned into the open area surrounded by Buildings III,
VIII, IX, and XII (Fig. 3). Somewhat later during the
occupation of Level III, Buildings I and II occupied
part of this open area when a shift in the organization
of the settlement may have occurred. This inference of
an organizational change is based both on architectural
aspects and the spatial relation of these buildings
to one another (shown with dark walls in Fig. 3), and
on the pattern of distribution of the seal impressions
found in these buildings (see below and Table I).
Central to this paper is the significance of Buildings
II-IV, VII, and XIII, their common architectural
features, and the sealings that were found in them.
These buildings are connected by common walls except
for Building XIII (Fig. 3). Buildings IV and XIII have
three rooms; the others have four. All these buildings
have an entry-room which leads to a central hall (Fig.
4). Connected to the central hall and in the rear of the
buildings there are one or two back-rooms with low
doorways (Figs. 3-4). The sealings were all found in
the back-rooms or immediately in front of them in the
central hall, suggesting that these buildings were used
as warehouses or store-rooms, based on the assumption
that the artifactual by-products of an activity will
be deposited near the place where the activity occurs.
Since door-sealings are associated with store-rooms
TABLE I
Tall-i Bakun A, distribution of various seal designs according to their provenances.
Type 0;
Provenance of
Sealing SEAL 1 SEAL 2 SEAL 3 SEAL 4L 5
DS 12
Building BS 2
15
II MISC 1
TABLET
DS 1 9 7
Building BS
125
III MISC 7
TABLET
DS 36 12 15
Building Bs 8 6
80
IV MISC 2
TABLET 1
DS 3 5
Building BS 4
12
VII MISC
TABLET
DS 4
Building ss
XIII MISC 3
TABLET 1
Total 39 13 20 7 15 46 140
DS: door-sealing. BS: bag-sealing
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22 JOURNAL OF PERSIAN STUDIES
Building II
Building XIII Building III
Building IV Building VII
Fig. 4. Tall-i BakunA, individualbuildingsthatcontainedstore-roomsandclaysealings.
and warehouses in the later historical contexts (Fiandra
1975: passim) I consider the buildings that contained
the sealings as such (see below).
Seasonof 1937
More information about the site came with the
results of the second season of excavations in 1937.6
Unlike the work of the previous season which was
concentrated in one large area, several 10 x 10m.
squares were dug in the central, southeast, and southwest
areas of the mound. Only the central area (BB
27-8, 37-8) and southern area (BB 78 and BB 86)
contained architecture; other squares yielded kilns of
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SOCIO-ECONOMIC COMPLEXITY IN SOUTHWESTERN IRAN 23
various sizes surrounded by thick layers of debris and
ash (Fig. 2). The central and southern areas are
markedly different from the northern complex of 1932
season. As mentioned above, the northern constructions
exhibit a planned architectural layout as can be
discerned from the regularity in spacing of the rooms
and thickness of their walls. The architectural units of
the central and southern quarters follow the same
northeast-southwest orientation; they are not,
however, as carefully constructed as the units of the
northern complex. Also, these units are surrounded by
open areas containing kilns of various sizes and covered
with layers of debris and ash' (Fig. 2).
Except for a number of painted pottery motifs
unknown from the first season, the artifact assemblages
from these areas and the northern complex are basically
the same with the exception of the sealings that
were absent from the second season. The central and
southern areas, however, contained a higher concentration
of unworked and half-finished items.8 This
situation and the evidence of industrial installations
and activities as can be deduced from the presence of
kilns in open areas covered with ash and debris layers,
pottery wasters, possibly copper slag, various stone
tools, and unfinished material goods, support the
identification of the central and southern quarters as
workshop areas. Artifactual remains from the northern
complex and the central and southern quarters include
pottery, animal and human figurines, spindle whorls,
pottery tokens of various shapes and sizes, small,
decorated, pottery pipes, firedogs, pottery wasters,
stone maceheads and pounders, stone and clay sling
missiles, large and miniature vessels of alabaster and
local stones, flint and obsidian blades, scrapers, borers
and drills, finished and half-finished stone stamp seals
(Langsdorff and McCown 1942), copper objects such
as points and needles, chisels, a 25 cm.-long dagger, a
stamp seal (Schmidt 1939: 126-7), and copper ores
(Langsdorff and McCown 1942). The wealth and
variety of material items at Bakun and the evidence of
large workshop areas point to the existence of local
industry and connection/trade with distant regions
such as the Persian Gulf, the central plateau, Kerman,
and northeastern Iran whence goods like shells, copper,
steatite, lapis, and turquoise were procured.
If my inferences are correct, we have a settlement
that is spatially arranged according to its functional
needs and socio-economic organization. The central
and southern quarters were designed for craftsmen,
whereas the northern section seems to have been used
for storage of various products, reception of goods and
overseeing of the distribution of material goods. The
latter interpretation is based on the presence of various
sealings found in Buildings II-IV, VII, and XIII,
similarity in their architectural design, their concentration
around the open space, and the material items
found in them.
Clay Sealings
Although the existence of trade is obvious at Bakun,
it is not the "habitual patterns in the movement of
goods"' that are central to this paper. Exchange of
various material goods, to meet economic and social
needs, was common among the neolithic societies in the
ancient Near East. What makes Bakun special and sets
it apart in a pre-urban network of exchange/trade
therefore is not the presence of various types of commodity
from distant places, nor the evidence of workshops
and various crafts, but the existence of doorsealings.
The differential spatial pattern of Bakun A
internal settlement organization is demonstrated by the
location of more than 140 sealings there.'o One hundred
and forty sealings, along with many lumps of clay
bearing mat or cloth impressions, were found in five
loci, Buildings II, III, IV, VII, and XIII (Fig. 5;
P1. I). These sealings can be divided into four categories:
1) Bag and bale-sealings," 2) Tablets, 3) Miscellaneous,
and 4) Door-sealings.
Category 1 is represented by twenty-one pieces
(Table I). They can be subdivided into two groups
according to their shape and the patterns of cordimpression
they bear on the back. The first group (Fig.
5: F) consists of sealings that were used on bags/sacks
probably made of some kind of rough fabric. The
lump of clay must have been placed where the bag was
closed tight with a cord and pushed down around the
knots to cover them, thus the faceted shape of the
sealings of this group. The second group (Fig. 5: G;
P1. I: C-D) has a rather smooth and elliptical shape;
the bottom always bears impressions of mat and of one
row of cord. Sealings of this group may have been used
on wicker-work baskets, closed tight with one row of
cord as it appears on the back of the sealings.
Only two pieces constitute the second category (Fig.
5: A, C); they are designated "tablets" because of their
flattish shape, the smoothed surface on the one side,
and the seal impressions they bear on the other. The
larger and better preserved example (Fig. 5: A) bears
impressions of two different seals, one on each side. Its
shape and the fact that it has seal impression on both
sides make plain that it had not been intended to seal
any container; rather, it probably served as a tag or
receipt of a type of transaction. The second specimen
(Fig. 5: C) is smaller and bears only one seal impression
on one side; the other side is damaged and it is not
possible to determine whether it also bore a seal
impression. The rounded edges and the similarity in
shape to the first example suggest that this piece was a
tablet as well.
The third category consists of a few jar sealings and
pieces too fragmentary to be assigned to any of the first
two groups. Jar-sealings of the type that are usually
applied around the neck of a jar are rare and the few
that occur at Bakun are problematic, hence their
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24 JOURNAL OF PERSIAN STUDIES
Fig. 5. Tall-i Bakun A, variousclay sealings showing impressionsof stampseal, cord,stick, and mat.
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SOCIO-ECONOMIC COMPLEXITY IN SOUTHWESTERN IRAN 25
inclusion in the Miscellaneous category. Fig. 5: B is an
example of this type; it has on its flat top a seal
impression and its rectangular profile could have fitted
the area between the rim and the shoulder of a large
jar. Similar jar-sealings from other sites have
impressions of cord where the clay rested on the neck of
the jar, but our example is damaged and it is not
certain whether originally it bore traces of cords.
Another example (Fig. 5: E) is conical with a flat base.
Categories 1-3 serve a common function: sealings of
moveable objects. In this way they differ fundamentally
from the sealings that were used on doors (Fiandra
1975). The sealing of a moveable container such as
a bag or a jar may have safeguarded its contents in the
store-room, but might also have been connected with
some kind of trade and business interaction through
which these containers were shipped to other locations
while their contents were protected by sealing the
containers. In the case of shipping goods, it would be
practical to entrust delivery of merchandise to specific
individuals, thus making the deliverer directly responsible
for the safe-keeping of the shipped items. In this
fashion the sealing of moveable objects implies at least
some level of socio-economic institutionalization to
ensure safe-keeping of merchandise so that the breaking
of the sealing would result in sanctioned punish-
ment.
Although the practice of sealing moveable containers
could be an indication of a level of socioeconomic
complexity, in the case of Bakun it is difficult
to argue for such complexity on the basis of this type of
sealing alone. One could, however, extrapolate from
such evidence the presence of a simple economic
organization if it could be shown that these containers
were sealed to be sent away or were received from
elsewhere and not just to protect their contents against
local tampering. Nonetheless, these sealings, even if not
intended to safeguard exported/imported goods, imply
a kind of social contract which would be respected by
the members of a community and whose breach may
bring punishment to the offender--otherwise in the
absence of this mutual understanding of the regulations
set forth to protect properties and the consequences in
the event of their breakage, sealing would be a
meaningless practice.
The importance of Buildings II-IV, VII, and XIII
at Bakun does not rest only on the presence of the
sealings of moveable containers. These buildings take
on special significance because, along with the other
sealings, 104 door-sealings were found in them (Tables
I-III). As mentioned above, most of these sealings
were discovered either in the back-rooms or in the
rooms immediately in front of them. They comprise
the bulk of the Bakun sealings and were designed as a
protective device to ensure that a closed door could
not be opened without detection. Rooms so protected
must have contained stores that had to be secured
against opening by unauthorized individuals. It is this
category of sealings that has significant bearing on the
socio-economic complexity of Tall-i Bakun A.
The frequency of the occurrence of individual seal
designs may be related to the degree of authorization
of individuals controlling the movement of goods (cf.
Wright 1984: 64-5). Since seals belong to individuals
or offices, their spatial distribution and their context
may be directly connected to those in control of the
TABLE II
Tall-i Bakun A, quantitative analysis of various seal designs in each buildings.
ProvenaSEALS TotalProvenance SEAL1 SEAL2 SEAL3 SEAL 4 SEAL 5 MISC
o
% % % % % %
Building II - - - -
10o0 10.7
BuildingIII 4 40 - 28 - 28 1Z78
Building IV 47.8 - 25 - 18.7 8.7 571
Building VII - 25 - - - 75 8.5
Building XIII - - - -
1oo 5.7
Total % 27.8 9.2 14.2 5 10.7 38.8 100
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26 JOURNAL OF PERSIAN STUDIES
TABLE III
Tall-i Bakun A, quantitative analysis of various seal designs on different categories of sealing.
Type SEALS
of Total SEAL 1 SEAL 2 SEAL 3 SEAL 4 SEAL 5 MISC
Sealing %o % %o ? % %
DS 104 35 12.2 11.5 6.7 14.4 20.1
BS 21 - 4.7 38 - - 57.1
MISC 13 15.3 - - - 84.6
TABLET 2 - - - - - 100
buildings in which sealings occurred. Thus an analysis
of the pattern of the spatial distribution of different
categories of sealings is in order. The seals as represented
by their impressed designs are divided into six
groups (Table I).12 Groups 1-5 represent designs that
were attested more than once, and group 6, various
designs which are attested only once.
From among the seals attested more than once on
the sealings, Seal 1 has the highest frequency (27.8 per
cent), (Table II). This seal has been attested only in
Buildings III and IV; it is used mainly on doorsealings.
I have included two examples of Seal I in the
Miscellaneous category, but it is likely that these two
fragments which have destroyed backs were doorsealings
(Table I). Seal 2 occurs on 9.2 per cent of all
the sealings; this seal was also used primarily on doorsealings
and once to seal a moveable container. This
seal was attested only in Buildings III and VII (Table
I). Seal 3 occurs only in Building IV and was used
exclusively on door-sealings and bag/bale-sealings; this
seal was used to make 14.2 per cent of all the seal
impressions (Table I). Seal 4 is the least attested, on 5
per cent; it was used exclusively on door-sealings and
only in Building III (Table I). Seal 5, 10.7 per cent,
also occurs on door-sealings and found only in Building
IV (Table I). With the exception of three examples of
Seal 2 that are attested in Building VII, Seals 1-5 were
almost exclusively used in Buildings III and IV,
whereas the seals used in Buildings II, VII, and XIII
belong to the Miscellaneous group (Tables I-III).
The above observations suggest a hierarchy in the
degree of authorization of individuals in control of the
movement of goods in specific buildings where the
owner of Seal 1 may have possessed a greater authority
than the owner of Seal 4 (Tables I-III).'" Further, a
shift in the economic organization of the site occurred
when not only seals 1-5 ceased to be used (Table I),
but also Buildings III-IV seem to have gone out of use
as loci for reception and distribution of goods. If my
inference, based on the above observations, is correct
that the northern complex may have been an
administrative centre with warehouses in which craft
production and economic activities were controlled
and organized, then, following examples of later
historical administrative centres with store-rooms,'4
one may expect to see that the general architectural
plan should exhibit features of security as well as easy
communication and an open area to accommodate
transport animals and movement of goods. An
administrative centre combined with warehouses
would be the locus of activities such as preparation,
storage, delivery and dispatch of goods. Such a nucleus
would require an open space to accommodate such
activities (Fiandra 1981b: 30). The architectural
design of the northern complex at Bakun seems to have
provided such accommodation.
Although deductions about administrative aspects
of the Bakun A socio-economic system cannot be
checked with textual evidence, the results of the study
of later historical documents provide some analogies
that may help decipher the organization of Bakun A
society. For the time being, I shall assume that these
door-sealings had a function similar to those of later
periods discovered in the ancient Near East (Fiandra
1975; 1981a; 1981b; Zettler 1984: 150-90). A study of
the administrative texts in connection with the doorsealings
from the period of the Third Dynasty of Ur
has demonstrated that the withdrawal of goods from
the warehouses was done by the owner of a seal who
sealed the warehouse after the transaction was completed.
Further, the person in charge of the store-house
would routinely draw up a text that recorded the
transaction. In this system the seal on the clay sealing
would naturally represent the last office or person who
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SOCIO-ECONOMIC COMPLEXITY IN SOUTHWESTERN IRAN 27
withdrew goods from the warehouse (Fiandra 1981b).
Also detailed studies of the Middle Assyrian tablets
from Assur have demonstrated that the owner of
warehouses would routinely give written instructions
for transactions which were to be carried out. The
transaction then would be monitored by some of his
agents who were present at the warehouse. The warehouses
had a staff who had their own seals and were in
charge of opening and closing doors (i.e. breaking the
sealing and putting on a new one), and delivering items
requested (Fiandra 1975: 21). Ur, Nippur, and Assur
were large urban centres with numerous functionaries
and complex economic systems. We cannot expect that
in a small prehistoric community such as Bakun A,
where few people may have been engaged in the
movement and storage of goods, and in the absence of
writing, to find close parallels with a complex system of
record-keeping and management of ware houses
operating in large urban centres of the later historical
periods, and I do not intend to equate the bureaucratic
features of these periods with the system of economic
management at Bakun A. Nonetheless, the situation
at Bakun, so far as door-sealings are concerned,
shows similarities with later historical administrations
in which the practice of door-sealing was fully
operative.••'
II
Pastoral Nomads of SouthwesternIran
The economic aspects of the nomadic mode of
production and the dichotomy in social structure and
subsistence in regions with mixed nomadic and sedentary
populations may have some bearing on the socioeconomic
and eventually political development of Fars
in the early fourth millennium B.C. Since it is my
contention that socio-economic and political developments
in Fars during the late fifth and early fourth
millennia B.C. were influenced by the pastoral nomads
and their interaction with the sedentary population, it
is necessary to outline briefly socio-cultural developments
of the late fifth and early fourth millennia in
southwestern Iran, and the modern demographical
components of this region.
Bakun A is externally a homogeneous culture in Fars
represented by a widespread, highly sophisticated
painted pottery. Outside Fars this pottery has been
found in northern Khuzestan (Le Breton 1943; Weiss
1976; Wright 1981), in the Bakhtiari mountains
(Zagarell 1975; 1982; Nissen and Zagarell 1976), and
in the Behbahan and Zuhreh regions (Nissen 1976;
Dittmann 1984). These areas have been traditionally
exploited until recently by the nomadic pastoralists of
the Zagros as summer and winter pastures. The tribes
of the Bakhtiari confederacy roamed in the region
stretching from west of Isfahan down to southeastern
Khuzestan; the Mamasani and Boyr-Ahmadi tribes
wandered around the areas between north and
southeastern Khuzestan and northwestern Fars. The
tribes of the Qashqai confederacy swung from the area
southwest of Isfahan well into southern Fars, near the
Persian Gulf, covering a distance of more than 700 km.
in their annual migration. Other nomadic tribes of the
Khamseh confederacy and Arabic-speaking tribes also
exploited Fars, sharing it with numerous other nomads
and the sedentary population (Barth 1959; 1961;
Garthwaite 1983; Beck 1986).
Fars thus seems to have been favoured by many
nomadic tribes for its vast and multitude of natural
resources. The locations of summer/winter pastures of
the tribes of Qashqai, Bakhtiari, Khamseh, Mamasani,
and Boyr-Ahmadi confederacies correspond to the
pattern of geographical distribution of the Bakun
painted pottery. I am well aware that the political
configurations and the ethnic make-up of these
nomadic tribes are the outcome of later historical and
political developments (Garthwaite 1983: 4-16; Beck
1986: 41-95). However, since geographical and ecological
features of this region impose certain migration
patterns related to summer and winter pastures, particularly
in the case of vertical nomadism, it is reasonable
to assume that these routes and pastures were
more or less the same from the beginning of nomadic
pastoral life in the highlands. This assumption is also
based on archaeological data.
Archaeological investigations in the BehbahanZuhreh
area (Dittmann 1984), Dasht-e Susan (Wright
etal. 1979), and particularly in the Bakhtiari mountains
(Zagarell 1975; 1982) have indicated that in the fifth
and fourth millennia B.C. these regions were utilized
by nomadic communities. Moreover, the archaeological
data from the Bakhtiari mountains suggest similar
developments that occurred during the first half of the
fourth millennium B.C. in Fars, culminating in the
abandoment of some sites and the displacement of
Bakun A painted pottery by a plain red ware (Zagarell
1982: 44-50). The situation is less clear in the Behbahan/Zuhreh
plains and in upper Susiana. However, the
appearance and the disappearance of the Bakun A
painted pottery is paralleled in Susiana, the Behbahan/
Zuhreh region, and the Bakhtiari mountains, and
certainly witness to universal developments that
occurred both in the lowland and in the highlands.
No doubt Bakun A and some other sites were major
centres for manufacturing pottery in Fars; it is,
however, unlikely that the vast geographical distribution
of Bakun painted pottery was the result of long
distance trade. A major problem would have been the
difficulties involved in transporting the fragile Bakun
pottery over long distances and through mountainous
regions, rendering a trade of this sort neither feasible
nor economical. Secondly, the Bakun A painted pottery
outside Fars exhibits a limited repertoire of shapes
and designs, a character that can be expected from
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28 JOURNAL OF PERSIAN STUDIES
periphery regions. Thus, Bakun cultural influence outside
Fars in regions traditionally under the sway of
numerous nomadic tribes may have been the outcome
of a common cultural and perhaps ethnic backgrounds
which the settled population in Fars shared with the
nomadic tribes who dispersed Bakun A culture over
vast areas.'16
Bakun A EconomicBase
As we have seen, Bakun A was a flourishing prehistoric
settlement which procured raw materials,
manufactured material items, and distributed them
perhaps both intra and inter regionally. An obvious
and thorny question that may be asked is what was the
base for the site's economic power in the absence of
state organizations and large-scale irrigation agriculture
which would allow a portion of the population
to be engaged in full-time activities other than agriculture?
Unlike the Susiana and Deh Luran plains,
where major centres such as Chogha Mish, Abu
Fanduwa, Susa, and Musian differ from minor sites in
both size and symbolic features (Hole 1982; Pollock
1983; Wright 1984), major sites in Fars during the
Bakun A period such as Tall-i Bakun A, Tall-i Rigi,
and Vakilabad are not considerably larger than their
neighbouring sites and can be archaeologically detected
as 'major' centres by the presence of symbolic
features such as specific painted pottery designs and
stamp seals.
It has been suggested that pre-state societies are
characterized by a redistributive economy through
which tributes were extracted from smaller centres to
larger one(s) which were the seats of chiefly class
(Brumfiel 1976; Steponaitis 1978, 1981; Wright 1984).
Archaeological surveys have demonstrated that such
centres did not develop in Fars until the later Banesh
period (ca. 3200 B.C.). Bakun sites in Fars are rather
low and small, ranging in size from less than a hectare
to rarely more than three hectares.'7 These sites are
usually located in several fertile valleys of Fars in
clusters comparable to the modern towns and villages
(Stein 1936; Vanden Berghe 1959; Sumner 1972; 1974;
Miroschedji 1972). These valleys are shared extensively
by both the sedentary population and the
pastoral nomads. Most of the Bakun sites are located
near springs, and there is no convincing evidence that
until the Banesh period (3200 B.C., Proto-Elamite),
the inhabitants of the region employed a river irrigation
system in agriculture (Sumner 1986).
Though many Bakun sites remain unexcavated,
given their small size, their distance from rivers, and
their simple, spring irrigation technique, it is unlikely
that the farming communities of the early fourth
millennium in Fars had the technological capabilities
to produce an agricultural surplus that could be used
as the economic basis for the production and trade of
material goods. Nor does there exist any site large
enough to be considered as the seat of a paramount
chief and thus a redistributive centre (see below).
Except for one archaeological survey in the Kur
River Basin (Sumner 1972), northwest of Shiraz, the
modern province of Fars has never been intensively
investigated. Direct archaeological evidence of the
presence of pastoral nomads before the Banesh period
(ca. 3600 B.C.) in Fars is limited (Sumner 1986: 200).
However, the size, location, lack of architecture, and
midden deposits of ash and debris indicate that at least
some of the sites were seasonal. More important is the
existence of flat sites in Fars. These camp-sites which
Aurel Stein came across in his survey of southern Fars
are sufficient to suggest the existence of pastoral
nomadic sites there (Stein 1936: 161, 163, 175, 180).
These camp-sites, strewn with Bakun A painted pottery
and flint blades indicate two things: first, that nomadic
camp-sites existed in the early fourth millennium B.C.
in Fars; second, that these camp-sites were integrated
into the Bakun A cultural and, perhaps, economic
sphere as indicated by the material culture recorded
from these flat sites.
Thus, known Bakun A sites can be assigned to three
categories: 1) permanent villages characterized by
mounded sites with architecture,'8 2) seasonal villages
characterized by mounded sites without architecture,
3) camp-sites characterized by flat areas covered with
potsherds and flint blades. Whereas there is little doubt
about the nature of the sites of the third group, the
nature and function of the first two groups can be
understood only by detailed analysis of their components,
which should reflect the material needs of
their occupants. At this point, however, I assume my
categorization of Bakun sites to be generally correct for
heuristic purposes.
Since Bakun A sites in Fars are small, and agricultural
technology was inadequate to allow production
of the type of surplus which makes growth,
development, and trade possible, to argue for an
agriculturally based trade is not tenable and theoretically
incongruent with archaeological data. If the
Bakun manufacturing sites did/could not rely on an
agricultural surplus to obtain raw materials and maintain
a community of specialized craftsmen and coordinators,
then how did they balance their economy and
how did they become such centres? Now that we can
reasonably demonstrate the presence of nomadic tribes
that were closely linked to the settled population of
Fars, it can be hypothesized that the production of
surplus by which Bakun craftsmen and traders/administrators
could maintain their trade/market economy
was basically related to a pastoral mode of production
(Boonzajer Flaes 1982: 87-96). The creation of surplus
in traditional agricultural societies depends on many
variables including manpower, irrigation technology,
storage facilities, market availability, and incentive.'9
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P1.I. Tall-i BakunA, variousclaysealings.
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SOCIO-ECONOMIC COMPLEXITY IN SOUTHWESTERN IRAN 29
The latter two variables are in fact interrelated and
most crucial. In the absence of a state economy, for an
agriculturalist to produce a surplus there must exist a
market/incentive which could absorb his product and
would in turn provide him with material goods such as
pottery, tools, cloth, etc. that he may not be able to
produce because of either technological or economic
reasons.20 The existence of such markets thus would
provide incentive that would encourage production of
a surplus necessary for exchange and in turn would
accelerate specialization of crafts.
In contrast, a pastoral nomad would need no incentive
to produce a surplus. Animals reproduce themselves
without the complexities involved in the production
of agricultural surplus; in fact in the course of
several years when environmental conditions are
favourable, a pastoral nomad would have more
animals than would be needed for a subsistence
economy. There are, however, cultural (Galaty 1981:
72-80) and economic-environmental (Swift 1979;
Balikci 1981: 152-3; Boonzajer Flaes 1982: 87-95)
limitations to the production of surplus among
pastoral nomads; first, the surplus cannot be internalized
and pumped back into the economy; and
second, it cannot be maintained in its original form
(animals on hoof) within the economy for long because
of the danger of overgrazing, shortage of manpower,
and socio-cultural inhibitions (Galaty 1981; Hjort
1981; Gilles and Jantgaard 1982). The nomadic surplus
can, though, be externalized without damaging
the production possibilities of the remaining herds
(Boonzajer Flaes 1982). It is this transformation of a
surplus from structurally the same as income to structurally
different that should characterize the politicaleconomic
character of pastoral nomadic societies. The
externalization of surplus among modern Iranian
pastoral nomads has been done through the purchase
of agricultural land, with some individuals becoming
landlords as well as owners of herds21 (Barth 1961: 110;
Balikci 1981: 154). This conversion of the wealth of
herds into land requires, of course, "money" of some
kind. In the case of Bakun A society, the conversion of
nomadic surplus into convertible items that would
have provided economic power to maintain a body of
full-time craft specialists would have been accomplished
through mechanisms which out of mutual
demands for fibre, meat, various tools, pottery, textile
which both settled and nomadic populations of the
highlands created for one another as a result of their
interdependence and populations increase.
III
Discussions and Conclusions
On the basis of the archaeological data for the late
fifth and early fourth millennia B.C. in Fars and in the
neighbouring regions discussed and analysed above,
the following proposals can be suggested: the plain of
Susiana suffered a sharp decline in population by the
end of the Middle Susiana period (Adams 1962; Hole
1969). Conversely, Fars reached its peak prehistoric
population at roughly the same time, or somewhat
later (Sumner 1972; 1977; 1986: Fig. 3). At this point it
is a matter of conjecture whether that portion of the
Susiana population which abandoned its villages
migrated to Fars, adopted nomadic life, or both, and
whether this situation in Susiana was due to new socioeconomic
and political developments which eventually
resulted in the formation of state societies there.
Whatever factors contributed to demographic
developments in Fars by the late fifth and early fourth
millennia B.C., it appears that the population increase
and the appearance of nomadic groups there created
new demands for material goods. These demands were
met by sites like Bakun A. They were by no means mere
manufacturing settlements. Judging by the evidence of
administrative technology at Bakun A and at other
sites as implied by the presence of stamp seals and
tokens, such settlements were at once manufacturing
sites and centres for the administration of production
and trade. Moreover, they possess a great repertoire of
painted pottery with some specific motifs such as
human beings, lizards, and large-horned mountain
sheep and goats that are either rare or totally absent
from other sites22 (Fig. 6). This observation in turn
suggests that the elite segment of Bakun society resided
at and had control over these centres (Pollock 1983).
Because of the specialized and one-sided economy of
nomads, they are more interested in trade (either their
own products or conduct long-distance trade) than the
sedentary people. Further nomads cannot trade among
themselves because of their undiversified economy, and
agriculturalists can get along without them (Khazanov
1984: 203). A common ethnic background and perhaps
kinship between the settled communities in Fars and
Zagros nomadic tribes may have facilitated processes
of economic and socio-political development in Fars.
The small cadre of individuals at Bakun A who controlled
the resources and production of crafts may have
easily procured raw materials from far away regions on
one hand, and traded the finished products through
their nomadic kinsmen on the other.23 In this fashion,
they not only enjoyed nomadic support and protection,
but also a steady flow of valuable information
needed to conduct their inter/intra-regional trade in
material goods such as pottery, stone vessels, stone
tools, textile, and ornaments.
Socio-Political Status of Bakun A
Most archaeologists and anthropologists are of the
opinion that the period preceding the formation of
pristine states and urbanization in the Near East was
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30 JOURNAL OF PERSIAN STUDIES
Fig. 6. Ceramicsfrom Tall-i BakunA, seasonof 1937.
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SOCIO-ECONOMIC COMPLEXITY IN SOUTHWESTERN IRAN 31
characterized by chiefdom societies.24 This characterization
is based on evolutionary models derived
from the ethnographic data of African and Polynesian
societies. This evolutionary stage, "chiefdom", was
discussed in detail and refined by Service (1962: 144) as
"redistributional societies with a permanent central
agency of coordination". Since Service's model of prestate
organized societies would include many societies
of various degrees of complexity that would not necessarily
evolve state organizations, and since recent archaeological
and ethnographical studies do not support
his emphasis on the redistributional aspect of chiefdom
societies, some anthropologists have sought to make
distinctions between those chiefdom societies that were
capable of developing state organizations and those
which were not (Earle 1977; 1978; Wright 1977b: 381;
1984: 42-4).
According to a recent and carefully formulated
definition, a chiefdom society is ".. . a socio-political
entity in which overall social control activities are
rested in a subsystem which is externally specialized visa-vis
other activities, but not internally specialized in
terms of different aspects of the control process ... e.g.
observing, deciding, coercing" (Wright 1984: 42).
Moreover, control in "complex chiefdoms" "... is
exercised by figures drawn from a class being defined as
a ranked group whose members compete with each
other for access to controlling positions and stand
together in opposition to other people" (ibid.). It is
argued that these societies can be identified archaeologically
when they exhibit: 1) settlement hierarchy;
2) residential segregation; 3) mortuary segregation
(Wright 1984: 43-4). Using Steponaitis' tributary
model, which maintains that seats of paramount chiefs
would be comparatively larger than the sites from
which resources are extracted and distributed,25
H. Wright arrived at the first criterion working with
materials from Farrukhabad, a site in the Deh Luran
area, northwest of Susiana (Wright 1984).
The pattern of the spatial distribution of Bakun sites,
their relative small size and the spatial relation of
larger sites to the smaller ones do not show the type of
settlement hierarchy expected to be present in the case
of "complex chiefdoms" or proto-state societies as
observed in Susiana and Deh Luran. Similarly, Bakun
A and similar sites such as Rigi and Vakilabad that
demonstrate symbolic features characteristics of major
centres do not seem to exhibit any specific location that
may be considered central to the surrounding communities,
nor are they considerably larger than some of
the sites in their vicinity.
As for the second characteristic, Bakun A itself
demonstrates an internally segregated settlement; this
segregation, however, could have been functional,
because, except for the architecture and the sealings,
we have no evidence indicating any difference in the
material remains between the northern complex and
the central and southern quarters which would indicate
class differentiation within the site. Given the
available archaeological data, Tall-i Bakun A must be
considered as a centre of specialized craft production in
which accounting control was exercised over certain
storerooms and that these storerooms were segregated
from the craft quarters. Nevertheless, Bakun A itself
can be considered a special centre which, vis-a-vis nonspecialized
sites, demonstrated aspects of socioeconomic
differentiation in pre-state societies.
The absence of burials from the Bakun culture does
not allow speculation on the third characteristic. Thus,
the archaeological material of early fourth millennium
Fars discussed here does not conform to the models
suggested for the archaeologically discernment of
centres of "paramount" or "complex chiefdoms".
A different problem in characterizing Bakun A as a
"complex chiefdom" according to the above models
involves the size of the society. If the organizational
characteristics of a society are functionally related to
its size (Service 1962; Sanders 1984: 16), then in order
to characterize Bakun society as chiefdom, etc., we
need to estimate the size of the society Bakun A
controlled and this, given our present knowledge of
prehistoric Fars, is not possible. Further, if the
development of special institutions of a higher level in
the matrix of a pre-state society to deal/control/
organize the consumer goods is related to the size of
the consumer potentialities, as suggested by Nissen
(1983: 336), it is possible that a nomadic pastoralist
population, being mobile and economically more flexible
and adaptive than the agriculturalists, will affect
this relationship and will add to the potential of the
consumers regardless of the size of the settlement
system. This situation may explain why settlement
patterns of Bakun sites in Fars differ from those in
Susiana where there is marked settlement hierarchy
with large centres (chiefly centres) dominating smaller
sites. Therefore, Bakun A may have occupied a place
among a network of interaction whose developments
may "...lead to configurations which are neither
uniform nor stable" (Adams 1974: 244). Thus, it can
be hypothesized that because of the unstable nature of
these interactions, members of the Bakun society who
were engaged in the production of crafts and trade
became dependent on them and once the equilibrium
of the trade was changed, be it by nomads or decline of
the 'market' places, or disruption in the source of raw
materials, this class of individuals and their residency
would disappear. In this respect it is interesting to
remember Sumner's speculation on the transition from
the Bakun period to the following Lapui period as a
rise in the nomadic population of Fars and decline of
the settlements.
The outcome of the socio-economic and political
development of the early fourth millennium in Fars is
by no means clear. It may, however, be postulated that
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32 JOURNAL OF PERSIAN STUDIES
Bakun as a stratified society, in order to maintain itself
and not to revert to a simpler society in which access to
resources is not limited, must have had to ". . . evolve
more powerful institutions of political control than
ever were called upon to maintain a system of differential
ranking" (Fried 1967: 225-26).26 Whether the
nomadic elements of Bakun society provided formidable
obstacles to prevent it from evolving these
institutions of political control cannot be answered at
this point.27 We know almost nothing of post-Bakun
societies in Fars. Some of the Bakun sites were deserted
some time before the middle of the fourth millennium
B.C. The following, Lapui, period is virtually
unknown, except for its characteristic red burnished
pottery-we have yet to excavate one Lapui site in
Fars. Alternatively, the socio-economic and political
developments that began in the Bakun period may in
fact have continued after the disappearance of its
elaborate painted pottery. Indeed, Bakun society
represents a case in which the socio-political situation
had become complex and mature enough to develop
state organizations (Fried 1965: 185-91). Or, perhaps,
Bakun A represents a pre-state community in which
administrative problems were being differentiated or
changed into political ones as a result of internal
competition among the small cadre of individuals who
controlled and redistributed resources (cf. Wright
1977b). The emergence of an impressive urban centre,
much larger than Susa, at Malyan (historic Anshan)
and the concomitant development of Proto-Elamite
civilization dominating both the lowland and highlands
may well have had their roots in the earlier
Bakun period.
I am aware that the arguments presented are brief,
and given the lack of comparative material this is
inevitable, but the hypotheses are capable of being
tested. The data analysed also provide an empirical
base to test anthropological theories dealing with the
processes of the formation of stratified societies and
pristine states which remain, nevertheless, archaeological
questions (see Wright 1977b; 1984; Earle 1984:
1-5).28 Further, this paper should be considered as
heuristic in nature, in the hope of encouraging similar
studies that may offer new insights with which to
analyse aspects of socio-economic organizations in prestate
societies in the ancient Near East.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Professors Helene J. Kantor,
Mc. Gibson and M. Stolper for reading a first draft of
this paper and for making many constructive suggestions
and criticisms. I am particularly indebted to
Professors Henry Wright and William Sumner whose
encouragement and sharing of their extensive knowledge
of the materials presented made this paper possible.
I am, however, fully responsible for any errors and
shortcomings.
'See, however, Sumner's statements on the social complexity of
Bakun culture in Fars based on his survey data (1977: 303).
2Cf. Hole's 1983: 322-7 discussion of the status of the Susa A period
at Susa.
:Amiet (1986) in a recent article has noted the hitherto unidentified
evidence of door-sealings from Susa A.
4Bakun seems to be the earliest site in which door-sealings occurred;
but I suspect that some of the sealings reported from late
chalcolithic levels at various Anatolian sites may be door-sealings,
though they are called bullae. See Edgui 1983: 80-1, nos. A147A151;
Esin 1981, Fig. 11; Esin 1983: 182, Pl. 36: 4-7. See also
Amiet 1986.
McCown, 1942: 60, particularly warns us that "The forms of the
vessels from Levels III-IV are too similar to be used for stratigraphic
distinctions".
61 would like to thank Professor Janet Johnson, Director of the
Oriental Institute, for giving me permission to publish the archaeological
material of 1937 season of excavations at Tall-i Bakun.
7The blank areas in Squares BB 27-8, 60, 64, 78, 86, BC 70, and
CB 06 indicate ash deposit.
8McCown, pers. comm.
9See Adams 1974: 240.
0oSealings that were too fragmentary to be assigned to any specific
groups are excluded.
" This category may include sealings of baskets, sacks, bags, boxes,
and other containers, but they are all treated under the rubric
"Bag-sealings" for convenience.
12Since, of course, the seal designs were made by individual seals,
these designs are reconstructed to represent actual seals.
'3
It is also possible that a person/office had more than one seal, in
which case there may have been attached an even greater authority
to their owner.
4Cf. Fiandra 1981b.
SCf. Fiandra's analysis of sealings from Shahr-e Sukhteh, 1979:
12-26.
'6 A similar situation has been suggested for the distribution of the
neolithic Urfirnis pottery in Greece Jacobson 1984).
" Sumner recorded three large sites (8H8, 817, and 9H31) in his
survey of the Kur river basin. He noted that "... none of these
seems to be central in terms of access:two are located in a narrow
neck of land between Kuh-i-Ayub and the River Kur... and the
thirdis on the edge of a vacant marshyarea on the peripheryof the
central population concentration." (Sumner 1972: 256-7). These
three sites have been intentionally excluded from the analyses of
BakunA sitesin this article. The exclusion of thesesitesis due to the
chronological problems they present. Sumner dates these sites to
his Phase III; thisphase includes all the sitesthat produced painted
pottery known from Tall-i Bakun B, Tall-i Gap, and Tall-i Bakun
A (ibid.:58). Though painted ceramics from these three type sites
share a common tradition, they do representdistinct chronological
periods that could be equated to the Middle through Late
Susiana/Susa A periods in Khuzestan, covering perhaps a millennium.
Therefore,since the presentarticledealsonly with the period
of Bakun A, Late Susiana, I have excluded these three sites from
my analysis until a more refined chronological sequence is worked
out, allowing precise dating of these three sites.
'~Some nomads live in small villages at theirsummer/winterpastures
which they abandon part of the year (see Arrian, Anabasis,III. 17.
3-6, where he refersto nomadic people living in villages. But since
this practice is not very common among nomads, it is safe to
assume that mounds containing architecture with ceramic exhibiting
a large repertoire of style and shape should fall in the first
group.
9 See Boserup (1965; 1981) for a full discussion of these problems.
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SOCIO-ECONOMIC COMPLEXITY IN SOUTHWESTERN IRAN 33
"'Other mechanisms for mobilising surplus in per-state economies
may include kin obligations, marriage payments/contracts, ritual/
religious duties, and chiefly tributes (Wright, pers. comm.). But I
doubt that these mechanisms would lead to formation of a market
economy and craft specialization as suggested for the Bakun A
society.
21 For a different approach to this aspect of the pastoral mode of
economic adaptation, see Botte 1979: 399-418.
22Sumner (1972: 40) reports, for example, that out of 3,000 sherds
only twenty had naturalistic motifs such as dancing men, animals,
snakes, and birds.
23Cf. Hjort 1981 for a study of the relevance of ethnic ascription and
ethnicity to economic expansion and development of political
system among pastoral nomads.
24Cf. for example, Service 1962; 1975; Wright 1984;Johnson 1973.
"2See also Flannery (1972: 403) for similar emphasis on this characteristic
of "chiefdoms".
26The term "stratified society" is preferred here over "chiefdom
society" due to the fact that we can speak about socio-economic
aspects of Bakun without walking too often in the realm of
hypotheticals. Further if Bakun was predominantly a nomadic
society, then it is possible to argue that it reached that stage of
development which directly precedes the emergence of a state
(Khazanov 1984: 165).
27Cf. Khazanov (1984: ix-xxv, 228-95) for a detailed discussion of
the socio-political obstaclesinherent in nomadic societieshindering
autochthonous complex political institutions.
'"Cf. Haas 1982: 50-3 for a full discussion on this problem.
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