Watson cover Expedition cover CASE STUDY – Hasanabad (Faraman), Iran •From September 1959-June 1960 (53 years ago) •Carried out by Patty Jo Watson as PhD dissertation fieldwork, published as book in 1979 •Part of Braidwood’s Iranian Prehistoric Project, which involved survey and excavation of Paleolithic and Neolithic sites. •One of the first explicitly ethnoarchaeological studies PJW in garb PJW Kohl-1 > Faraman looking N Faraman Village •200 people, mud houses, with fields nearby •The setting is along a seasonal tributary to a permanent river, at the edge of hills, in a valley flanked by high mountains. •Drinking water is from a nearby spring •Mountains are now deforested, but trees along the river •In winter, travel is difficult because of snow and mud •Wild sheep and goats commonly seen; wolves come to the village; bears in the mountains > Faraman looking E Watson’s Assumptions and Goals •“The past cannot be understood without reference to events and processes occurring in the present” 8 •Traditional patterns of life are changing very rapidly and need “rescuing” •1. To record and make available data on technology and subsistence in a traditional village. •2. To contribute to understanding the relationship between (a) settlement pattern, domestic architecture and equipment, and (b) population size and economic and social organization. Watson’s Fieldwork •Village of Laki-speaking sharecropping tenants near Kermanshah, Iran. •Village in desperate straits owing to four years of crop loss due to insects (sün). •She stayed in nearby orphanage managed by American missionaries. •Worked without an interpreter, but had help from missionaries and their workers •Went to village early morning each day and stayed until dark. •Had hepatitis for more than a month in the spring. •Also shorter studies of two other communities, both Kurdi > Farhad-Red-Liz-Patty 1959 The Village •“Each household usually consists of an open court with the family’s quarters, animal stables, and storerooms opening off it.” 34 •An irrigation canal jub crosses north end and irrigates fruit trees – apply, plum, mulberry, apricot and almond •Formerly several qanats, but only one not dried up. •Houses built of chineh, tauf in Arabic. These are layers of mud dug from borrow pits •Hearths cleaned out every day and the ash dumped in middens, which hold all sorts of stuff from bones to pottery, cloth and old shoes •Dung is kept for making dung cakes Village plan-1 Activity Areas •1. middens •2. Borrow pits •3. Streets/lanes/latrines •4. Common open area •5. Courtyards for daily tasks, weaving, etc •6. Threshing floors •7. Springs to gather water, wash things •8. Cemetery, apart from village. > Qala Poin The Qala – old fort and headman’s house Qala plan > Qala near Borujerd > Faraman midden area > Faraman plowed field House Construction •Wall trench 90 cm x 60 cm deep. Bottom course has rocks. • Each course of chineh is about 50cm thick. •As wall gets higher it gets narrower . Walls are about 2-2.5m high and .75-.50 wide at top. •Borrow pits everywhere and trash is often incorporated into mud. •Walls plastered inside and out with mud. > Faraman remodeling house Construction •Roofs are wooden poles, usually poplar embed into upper course of chineh. •Smaller cross branches laid on the beams, then twigs, reeds, mud, dirt and then a layer of mud and chaff plaster on top. •Interior walls plastered to 3-4cm thick; sometimes with white topping – a natural source near the village. Mixed with cattail fuzz and smeared on with a cloth by women and children. •Most houses have an entrance chamber, avian •Some wattle and daub used on doors; sometimes wattle and dung. > Faraman roof beams Chineh walls Wall trench Chineh house walls Footing trench Typical House •Walled courtyard in front. Aivan opens into court. Door from aivan leads to living room, the stables, storage rooms for straw and dung, and stables (both above and under ground). •Courtyard walls typically 2-2.75m high. A gateway leads to the street. Most have pole bars to close at night. •Houses can last 50+ years with maintenance. • Kuli Sultan's plan Husein Reza's plan Hasan's plan > Faraman Sharif Reza in courtyard > Faraman fireplace with chimney > Faraman Sharif Reza's door Hasanabad doors Courtyards • •Not paved but hard from use. May have rock “paving” but rare in Faraman. In spring and summer is often covered with dung and urine because animals are now above ground. Dung cleaned out daily, as it is from underground stables. Women load it onto their skirts. •Features in courtyards: grain pits, wooden troughs for dogs, limestone slabs on which salt is spread for the animals, hearths for outdoor cooking, agricultural implements, brooms, rocks platform for water bags, mangers, “trees” •A few have kulas, leafy bowers over summer hearths > Faraman stringing warp for rug Balakhaneh Balakhaneh plan > Faraman weaving goat hair tent cloth > Faraman weaving goat hair tent cloth-1 Horizontal loom Vertical loom Living Rooms •Open hearths toward centers of room, simply stone-lined. •Niches in walls to store items. •Grain pit may be in corner of living room. Usually bell-shaped about 1m deep and at opening. May also have these in the courtyard. •Chicken coops in some living rooms and courtyards. Domestic Equipment •Saj, flour sifter, bread board, mixing pan, tongs or poker, small tripod, pot lids, metal bowls, tablespoon, wooden spoon, tea kettle and tea pot, sugar bowl and adze, basketry tray for cleaning rice, flour chest. •A few mortars and pestles and even querns. •All houses have a chest in which valuables can be locked. •Vertical loom for kilims. Horizontal loom for tent covers. Flour storage-1 Flour storage Grain pit Grave section Grain Storage pit Typical grave Cook utensils Mortars Rotary quern Saj Sugar adzes Sugar bowl hshld tools- Household utensils > Qala Poin sh-gts Amir's stable > Faraman dung cakes drying > Faraman midden > Faraman churning dugh > Faraman two-man shovel > Faraman cutting barley > Faraman cutting barley-1 > Faraman threshing > Faraman winnowing barley > Faraman watering chaff > Faraman rotary quern > Faraman man making giva > Faraman spinning goat hair > Faraman cleaning cotton before spinning > Faraman kilim > Faraman salt bag 8-10 yeas old > Qala Poin cix manufacture > Qala Poin cix manufacture-1 Supernatural •Evil Eye is real danger; also wicked jins and peris. 233 •“Children, animals, and even dugh • Manufactured by the women of the household are protected by charms and amulets” 233 •Mashallah (what God wills) is invoked when praise is given to ward off evil eye. •Charms are worn by children, blue is particularly effective, as are words from the Koran. •Jin a witch-like creature (female) that can possess a person. Particularly dangerous during childbirth, but also accounts for various diseases and afflictions Examples of charms •Mashallah (what God wills) is invoked when praise is given to ward off evil eye. •Charms are worn by children, blue is particularly effective, as are words from the Koran. •Examples: on child’s back, a brass bell, two white cowrie shells (excellent protection against Evil Eye), a blue glazed paste disc with multiple perforations, and a cloth case with Kuranic inscriptions; on his left shoulder three buttons –orange, yellow and white, on his right shoulder a red button, a blue glazed perforated disc, an old coin, two blue beads, and a large pink bead. •Another boy had a rooster bone, a blue glazed disc, a cowri shell, a small comb-like wooden object (tawi). •Chicken bones for mubaraki (blessing). > Duzaray boy at shearingJPG > Faraman girl's hairdo > Qala Poin beginning basket > Qala Poin beginning basket-1 > Qala Poin willow basket manufacture > Qala Poin willow bsket-1 > Qala Poin willow basket-2 > Faraman fish from Qara Su Behavioral Correlates •Naroll (1962) estimated that there is 10m2 per person of roofed area. At Faraman the average roofed area per person is 21.0m2, and the average roofed dwelling area is 7.3m2 with a great deal of variability (as seen in the house plans). 291 (see Figure of room sizes) •Average number of rooms per family is 4.5 (including underground stables) •Richer families have two living rooms (one a guest parlor). Poorer folks have smaller compounds. •Living rooms always have a stone-lined hearth, wall niches or pegs for storage, furniture, bedding, and vessels for cooking and serving food. Room sizes Land & Storage •A family of five, has 5-6 ha of land sown annually with 150 mann (1500 kg) of wheat that will be ground for family use. The 41 households, therefore, require 120-125 ha of dry-farmed wheat and barley. •Family has 1ha wheat, 0.5 ha barley, but with yearly fallow, need 3ha in all. 293 •Straw storage very important, to be used as fodder and also for plaster. •Storerooms lack features, but usually have mud mangers. •Storerooms are for fuel or animal fodder and not for food – pits and bins are for food. • M&F activities