Pottery Making and Communities During the 5th Millennium BCE in Fars Province, Southwestern Iran

This book explores pottery making and communities during the Bakun period (c. 5000 – 4000 BCE) in the Kur River Basin, Fars province, southwestern Iran, through the analysis of ceramic materials collected at Tall-e Jari A, Tall-e Gap, and Tall-e Bakun A & B. Firstly, it reconsiders the stratigraphy and radiocarbon dates of the four sites by reviewing the descriptions of excavation trenches, then presents a new chronological relationship between the sites. The book sets out diachronic changes in the the Bakun pottery quantitatively, namely the increase of black-on-buff ware and the gradual shift of vessel forms. It also presents analyses of pottery-making techniques, painting skills, petrography, and geochemistry and clarifies minor changes in the chaînes opératoires and major changes in painting skill. Finally, the book discusses the organisation of pottery production from a relational perspective. It concludes that the more fixed community of pottery making imposed longer apprenticeship periods and that social inequality also increased.

Table of Contents:
Preface ; Part I: Introduction and raising research questions ; Chapter 1: Introduction ; Part II: Reviewing previous studies and presenting theoretical frameworks and methodology ; Chapter 2: Previous Studies ; Chapter 3: The theoretical framework for craft-production studies ; Chapter 4: Methodology ; Part III: Analyses ; Chapter 5: Chronological relations of the Bakun-period sites ; Chapter 6: Materials and analyses of wares, vessel forms, and design structures ; Chapter 7: Analysis of pottery-making techniques ; Part IV: Discussion and conclusion ; Chapter 8: Discussion: reassembling the organisation of pottery production ; Chapter 9: Conclusion ; Bibliography ; Appendix

About the Author :
Takehiro Miki completed his PhD at the Freie Universität Berlin in 2020. He currently works as a project research associate at the University Museum, the University of Tokyo. He has participated in fieldwork projects in Oman, Azerbaijan, and Pakistan. His research focuses on the processes of adopting and developing painted pottery, characteristic of southwest Asia from the fifth to third millennium BCE.

Review :
'There is no question that this book introduces in specific a major modern treatment of the Bakun painted pottery, and in general a new and detailed approach in dealing with a totality of pottery production that includes people and other materials in the process.' – Abbas Alizadeh (2023): Journal of Near Eastern Studies