Iranian Art and Archaeology in the First Millennium B.C

The purpose of this book is not to clarify very complex and important issues related to the linguistics and art of this period; rather it is a study of Iranian archeology from the 15th to the 8th century BC. In the first chapter, Iranian cultures between 2000 and 1500 BC have been studied using archaeological data to find out the cultural situation on the plateau of Iran and the relations between the past and this period before the beginning of cultural developments around 1500 BC. In the second chapter, the cultural situation of Iran between the 15th and 8th BC. (Iron Age) has been studied and it discusses topics such as chronology, stratigraphy, and characteristics of the most important archaeological sites and the history of archaeological studies of this period on the plateau of Iran. Also, the presented hypotheses, problems and complexities of archeological studies of this period and the important issue of Iranian migration to the plateau have been studied and criticized. The third chapter is devoted to the analysis of archaeological data related to this period, which are mostly obtained from controlled excavations. In this chapter, four groups of objects and data of this period (metal objects, pottery, architectural remains and tombs) are analyzed. In general, this chapter is based on archeological works and sources. The book contains tables, maps, and figures.