Petrography

During the surveys to 2014-2019, Northern Kuhdasht county was studied with the aim of identifying the potential of ancient metalwork and the existence of sites related to the metalworking activities. These Surveys have yielded eighty sites containing slag and or possible places related to industrial activities. In this research, the physical and chemical properties of slags recovered from ten places in four sites, namely Changari, Chalghesholeh, Sargiz, and Dalab, have been studied. The main purpose of this study has been to identify the type of smelting and melting techniques used in the past. For this aim, petrographic and elemental analyses have been done on the slag samples to investigate the mineralogical and chemical compositions.

The petrographic analysis of ceramics can often answer a wide variety of archaeological questions, especially regarding fabrication, manufacturing processes which were despite focused on the construction and trade of pottery. However, ceramics which were collected from the same site can mostly differ in their chemistry as well as fabrics. As is applied in many cases, essential archaeological survey and documentations in a theoretical framework are key to the proper application of ceramic petrography through the archaeometrical research. This paper deals with the petrographically approach on Kura-Araxes or Early Bronze Age ceramics manufacturing processes of Sonqor Plain. It is of worth-knowing to contribute that the contact and exchange strategies between indigenous communities and several cultural-spheres during Early Bronze Age (beginning of the fourth millennium BC) in this area. Morphological data along with mineralogical composition of ceramics were applied to determine the major elements of the pottery sherds. Based on the result, one can be suggested that all of sherds are in the same group and were demonstrated mightily local productions. The ceramic manufacturing technology indicates same patterns of material interactions during the ETC or Kura-Araxes in all of the investigated sites in Sonqor Plain.