Later Village Period Settlement Development in the Karun River Basin Upper Khuzestan Plain Greater Susiana Iran

This study re-evaluates the previous understanding of the Later Village Period in Greater Susiana (southwestern Iran) by focusing mostly on settlement and landscape. This is addressed from the perspective of the small and previously least explored plain known in this study as the Eastern Plain. By providing a picture of the previously unknown prehistoric human occupations in the Eastern plain through an examination and assessment of recent survey and excavation results and contextualizing this information with the results of previous research carried out in the Greater Susiana plains, it is hoped that this study will contribute to our understanding of human occupation and settlement pattern between ca. 5000 and 3500 B.C. in southwestern Iran. After the Introduction, Chapter 2 consists of a general review of the available evidence on the Later Village period (Middle Susiana to the Uruk period), its characteristics and interpretation. Chapter 3 looks at the geographical and geomorphological characteristicsof the Eastern Plain. Chapter 4 reviews the new evidence of human occupation in the Eastern Plain from LMS to the Islamic era. Chapter 5 focuses on Tall-e Abu Chizan, an extensive settlement in the Eastern Plain and its place in the wider context of the Naft Sefid alluvial fan system. Chapter 6 presents the summary and conclusions. Appendices: 1. Excavation Pottery Collection; 2. Archaeobotanical Analysis at Tall-e Abu Chizan (Margareta Tengberg); 3. Observations on the Faunal Remains of Tall-e Abu Chizan (Marhjane Mashkour and Azadeh Mohaseb); 4. Chipped Stone from Tall-e Abu Chizan; 5. Radiocarbon Dates from Tall-e Abu Chizan.