Archaeology

Mannea is the most important state, which was established before Median kingdom and ruled on vast part of northwestern Iran for several centuries. Manneaen were from Hurrian race and language and probably entered the region about 1500 B.C. In their political life although they suffered many inva-sions from Assyria and Urartu, they kept their political and cultural independence and expended their power and realm in next period. In spite of this historical fact and available archaeological data, up to the present time no notable study about Mannea has been conducted and therefore basic aspects of Manneaen culture have remained unknown. The present study undertakes to accomplish this.

Tis was one of the most important commercial ports of Iran in the early and middle centuries of the Islamic era. It played an important role in maritime or caravan export and import. Not only is this port less mentioned in historical sources, but also little research has been done on it. One of the archaeological findings of this region is various ceramics from Islamic periods, which are distributed on different parts of the site. Except for brief references in a few sources, there has been no independent research on ceramics of Islamic periods of Tis. Accordingly, the main purpose of this study is to know the economic and social life of Tis port in the Islamic era through study, analysis, and chronology of pottery. The method of this research is descriptive-analytical. The information is collected through field and library studies. According to research, the ceramics of the Islamic periods of Tis, probably belong to the 7-17 th centuries, but most of them date back to the 9 th -12 th centuries. During this period, various types of glazed and unglazed ceramics were used in this area, some of which, such as unglazed red ware and Celadon, were probably imported from near and far areas such as India, China, and others like a group of Sgraffito were domestically produced.

Biological samples such as bones, tooth, and hair obtained from archaeological excavations are mainly used for dating measurements. However, these findings provide valuable information about the diet, lifestyle or migration, and genetic interaction of communities, and disease because the biochemical content of biological tissues such as bones, teeth, and hair changes under the influence of the lifestyle of the past population. Therefore, it seems that human remains' biochemical, microscopic, and histological studies could be advantageous for clarifying the dark events of the past societies. Bioarchaeology, as an interdisciplinary science, assesses the historical-cultural relationships in ancient samples and human remains like hair, bone, or tooth by biological tools and techniques. In this science, the biological data of specimens are combined with archeological information to obtain a more accurate sociology of past civilizations. The purpose of the present review article is to familiarize archeology researchers with the usual methods in bioarchaeological studies.