Istituto Italiano Per L'Africa E L'Oriente (Isiao) East and West

A Note on Chlorite Artefacts from Shahr-i Sokhta
Author(s): Philip L. Kohl

Source: East and West, Vol. 27, No. 1/4 (December 1977), pp. 111-127
Published by: Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (IsIAO)
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A Note on Chlorite Artefacts from Shahr-i Sokhta
by Philip L. Kohl
Excavations at Shahr-i Sokhta have unearthed over one hundred and twenty geometric
stamp seals or seal fragments (Lamberg-Karlovsky, Tosi 1973, p. 46), countless beads,
and several vessels carved from the soft green magnesium silicate, chlorite (*). In the fall
of 1972 and spring of 1973 the author examined these artefacts and drilled small powdered
samples for physical and chemical analyses (2). This paper presents the results of these tests
and identifies a possible source for this material, and then contrasts the mid-3rd millennium
soft stone production at Shahr-i Sokhta with that at Tepe Yahya and attempts to draw
cultural and historical implications from these differences.
I. Technical Analyses
Twenty-three samples from Shahr-i Sokhta (table 1) were submitted to X-ray diffrac?
tion analysis (3). Twenty one (91%) were identified as chlorites relatively free of admix?
ture (4) with other minerals; one right-angled seal fragment (no. 3137) proved a chlorite
and talc (steatite) compound; and an undecorated flat tablet (no. XX4), possibly shaped
and smoothed for drilling a geometric design, was cut from antigorite. The "pure" chlorites
from Shahr-i Sokhta were compared to over three hundred chlorite samples from other areas
and sites in southwest Asia by calculating the relative intensities of the basal plane peak
reflections as a rough measure of the heavy atom content. Chlorites are a group of close?
ly related hydrous magnesium aluminum silicates that have exceedingly varied chemical
compositions due to isomorphous substitutions. They have a complex cell structure consist
O In earlier excavation reports (cf. Tosi artefacts from Shahr-i Sokhta. Their help is
1968, pp. 58-62; 1969, p. 375) the material was greatly appreciated.
identified as potstone, soapstone, and steatite. (3) The analyses were conducted at the Depart?
Since fourteen seals, two beads, five vessels, and ment of Chemistry, Brookhaven National Labora?
a few objects (e.g., no. 6363) of uncertain use tory under the guidance and supervision of Drs
were analyzed and over 90% proved to be chlor E. Sayre and G. Harbottle. The author gratefully
ites, it seems a safe generalization to call all the acknowledges their assistance.
soft green stone artefacts from Shahr-i Sokhta (4) Petrographic thin sections were taken from
"chlorites". The same mineralogical correction was eight of the artefacts that were analyzed; a few
necessary at Tepe Yahya, the soft stone corpus of these contained opaque inclusions that were
of which consisted exclusively of chlorites. identified as ilemenite. These inclusions were
(2) Prof. G. Tucci and Dr M. Tosi of IsMEO very small and their peaks did not appear in the
allowed the author to examine the soft stone diffraction patterns.
Ill
Table 1. Shahr-i Sokhta samples tested by X-Ray diffraction analysis
Italian
Archaeol.
Diffraction
Provenance Mission Description Identification
label
Inventory
SS01 surface long tapering object chlorite

SS02 everted rim fragment chlorite
SS03 617 vessel with lion in relief chlorite
SS04 1436 geometric stamp seal chlorite
SS05 143 geometric stamp seal chlorite
SS06 1673 complete square seal chlorite
SS07 arrow mould (late?) chlorite
SS08 flat base chlorite
SS09 X 16 small rectangular seal chlorite
SS10 CXXI 3 bead chlorite
SS11 LVIII 2 714 complete circular seal chlorite
SS12 LVIII 6 896 complete rectangular seal chlorite
SS13 XX 4 751 re-used rhomboidal seal chlorite
SS14* CLXXV 7 4341 circular seal fragment chlorite
5515 * XHC 1 2378 seal fragment chlorite
5516 * surface 3362 circular seal fragment chlorite
5517 * CCXVIII beaked rim chlorite
5518 * surface 3137 right angled seal fragment chlorite + talc
5519 * CI 13 1801 triangular seal fragment chlorite
5520 * surface 6403 triangular seal chlorite
5521 * XX 4 unfinished seal (?) blank antigorite
5522 * DV 6 unfinished bead (?) chlorite
SS23 surface 4251 imbricate Intercultural Style vessel chlorite
(North Flat)
* Indicates that a petrographic thin section from the artefact was also taken.
ing of alternating mica-like and brucite-like layers. Since the intensity of X-ray beams dif?
fracted from a particular plane depends upon the diffracting powers of the atoms in the
mineral, heavy atoms (in this case chiefly Fe, Mn, Cr) having about twice the diffracting
power of light atoms (Mg, Si, Al), the relative intensities of these diffracted peaks will
reflect isomorphous substitutions. Thus, a comparison of the relative intensities provides
a further breakdown of chlorites into specific recognizable types (cf. Brindley, Gillery
1956; Schoen 1962; and Petruk 1964, pp. 63-64). The chlorite material from Shahr-i
Sokhta was not homogeneous but separated into at least four groups that were preliminarily
defined through an average linkage cluster of their basal plane peak intensities (cf. Kohl
1974, pp. 296-313). When compared to samples from the elaborately carved vessels that
are common at Tepe Yahya and found throughout Southwest Asia, seven of the twenty-one
Shahr-i Sokhta chlorites satisfied membership criteria in the four groups isolated for the
112
Intercultural Style samples (5). Although more work is needed to quantitatively segregate
Tepe Yahya and neighbouring mines' samples from those of Shahr-i Sokhta, the existing
overlap probably does not suggest a common origin; the X-ray diffraction results and the
comparison of petrographic thin sections (6) do not indicate that Shahr-i Sokhta received
its chlorite from the Tepe Yahya area.
Chlorite is a fairly commonly occurring metamorphic stone and deposits of it exist
throughout a "crushed zone" or "complex belt" (cf. Harrison 1968, pp. 143, 159) which
extends nearly the length of the Zagros range. Dr N. Khadem (personal communication),
Director of the Geological Survey of Iran, writes that "massive occurrences" of chlorite
have also been reported in the metamorphic zone near Zahedan (cf. Fairservis 1961,
p. 15; Harrison 1968, pp. 154-55, fig. 43). It seems most likely that Shahr-i Sokhta
received its chlorite from this latter area, which also may have fulfilled the needs of the
Bampur Valley. Two of three samples from Bampur and the only tested sample from
Damin correspond to the only Intercultural Style sample from Shahr-i Sokhta (fig. 1) and
the seal fragment (no. 2378). Most interestingly, the diffraction pattern from these samples
resemble that of the only sample of an uncarved bell-shaped bowl from Ur and those of
the majority (65%) of Intercultural Style samples from the Sumerian sites of Nippur, Kish,
Khafajeh, and Tello. The classic Sumerian sites in southern Mesopotamia may have received
their chlorite from a source common to Shahr-i Sokhta and Bampur (7). On present evi?
dence, however, this interpretation must be viewed as a working hypothesis which should
be tested by exploring the metamorphic zone near Zahedan, perhaps as far south as Kh?sh
(cf. Fisher 1968, p. 61, fig. 15).
II. Comparison of Soft Stone Industries of Tepe Yahya and Shahr-i Sokhta
With the exception of the single chlorite vessel from Shahr-i Sokhta that is carved
with the imbricate motif of the Intercultural Style (fig. 1) which can be duplicated at
(5) Elsewhere the author (Kohl 1975a, p. 25) Period IVB1 levels yielded forty-six stone frag?
has referred to this corpus as vessels in the Inter? ments carved with Intercultural Style designs and
cultural Style (LS.). Over 292 examples from a single incised ceramic imitation. The different
twenty eight different sites and areas in South? pattern can imply that the Bampur IV-VI material
west Asia are characterized by twelve major is later than Yahya IVB1 or that the stone was
representational and stylized design motives that not worked as extensively as at Yahya. Alterna?
can be interrelated and share specific conventions; tively, a third interpretation, which the diffraction
such as, a tendency to completely cover the vessel's evidence supports, is that the ceramic imitations
surface and the absence of a firm ground line represent poor men's copies of the highly valued
for naturalistic representations. stone vessels. De Cardi's soundings were extremely
(6) Some of the Shahr-i Sokhta thin sections limited and interrupted after their first season. If
contained small yellow-stained (Fe) inclusions large-scale excavations could be conducted in the
which were not present in the Yahya examples. centre of the mound rather than on its periphery,
(7) De Cardi's excavations at Bampur yielded many more carved stone vessels and other luxury
sixty-two greyware sherds incised with designs items might be uncovered. This interpretation is
imitating the Intercultural Style; only two frag? consistent with J. Hansman's (1973) recent identi?
ments in the carved style were unearthed (During fication of Bampur with Makkan; it can and
Caspers 1970, pp. 319-25). This frequency should be tested.
almost reverses the pattern evident at Yahya where
113
Yahya (fig. 2) and with finds from the Dasht Valley (fig. 3), the Persian Gulf, and Meso?
potamia (fig. 4), the Shahr-i Sokhta chlorite assemblage is completely distinctive from that
at Tepe Yahya. At the latter site, chlorite was a locally available stone which was uti?
lized throughout the occupation of the site. The Period IVB1 levels, which can be dated
to the mid-3rd millennium or approximately contemporaneous with Shahr-i Sokhta II-III,
phases 4-7 (Lamberg-Karlovsky, Tosi 1973, p. 44; Tosi et al. 1974, p. 27), bear wit?
ness to a sharp increase in the utilization of chlorite artefacts, presumably indicating that
production for local use was supplanted by production for exchange with the urban cen?
tres in southwestern Iran and Mesopotamia (Kohl 1975, p. 20; 1978). At the same
time that Shahr-i Sokhta attained its maximum expansion and maintained lapidaries
drilling lapis lazuli beads, alabaster vessels, and chlorite beads and seals, craftsmen from
Tepe Yahya were carving luxury vessels which were to be traded with urban centres far
to the west. The lack of correspondence between the soft stone industries at Shahr-i Sokhta
and Yahya is significant. At a minimum the evidence forces us to conclude that relations
between the two sites were sporadic and probably indirect; a careful analysis of the stages
of soft stone production at the two sites suggests an even stronger difference and allows
us to posit distinctive cultural traditions on either side of the Dasht-i Lut.
One of the great merits of the Italian excavations at Shahr-i Sokhta is their emphasis
upon reconstructing the production technologies of their pro to-urban 3rd millennium site.
The chipped stone industry is not overlooked but rigorously analysed for ? according to the
evidence at hand, it seems likely that, during the whole of the third millennium, technology
and economic production were still closely linked to stone implements ? (Tosi, Piperno
1973, p. 15; cf. also Piperno 1973b, pp. 59-60). In a detailed examination of lithic drill
heads from Shahr-i Sokhta, Piperno (1973a, p. 128) has convincingly shown how these tools
were used to form the intricate patterns on the stamp seals. Although tinier heads of these
drills now have been recovered through flotation, and the microscopic flakes adhering to
their tips have proved their use in drilling lapis lazuli beads (Tosi, Piperno 1973, p. 21),
wear patterns on the larger drills (2-3 mm. diameter), as well as Piperno's own imitative ex?
periments, still demonstrate their application to the chlorite seals.
Briefly, rectangular, rhomboidal, circular, cruciform or triangular (8) tablets, which
(8) The variety of the seal fragments from mine the exact number of shapes or types evident
Shahr-i Sokhta suggests that there was no preferred in the Shahr-i Sokhta corpus. When broken, seals
shape. This lack of specificity contrasts with the were often cut down into the easiest recognizable
later standardization of shapes in the Indus Valley shape. Both seals in figs. 9-10 appear to have been
(square), Persian Gulf (circular), and Mesopotamia reworked. This reuse of broken seals, like the
(cylinder). If this later geographic separation of variety of initial forms, might suggest that a less
seal shapes facilitated distinguishing the place of complex or more alienable system of personal
origin of incoming goods, as Lamberg-Karlovsky ownership prevailed. Impressions of chlorite seals
(1975a, pp. 362-63) recently suggested, the bewil? on unbaked clay "stoppers" (Tosi 1969, p. 376,
dering variety of forms at Shahr-i Sokhta might figs. 277-86) prove that the seals served to identify
imply that no such separation was necessary, material (presumably as one's own). But this
which, in turn, might indicate that a relatively indication of ownership appears to have been
smaller volume of inter-regional trade was pro? transitory. The same "stoppers" are often marked
cessed at Shahr-i Sokhta. It is difficult to deter with several different impressions, and a person's
114
varied in thickness from 2-4 mm., were cut and smoothed. They were then pierced, gene?
rally from both sides, with one or more holes depending upon the shape of the tablet
(figs. 5, 6); presumably, the seal was worn or carried by means of a string(s) passed through
these holes. Next, the design was cut by partially drilling continuous rows of holes side
by side to form the desired pattern (figs. 7, 8, 9). These holes, which were drilled to
approximately half the thickness of the tablet, were then smoothed down either by small
serpentine (9) or similar stone flakes, possibly flint microblades, or by pointed metal tools
(cf. Tosi 1969, p. 375) (10). In some seals (fig. 10) this smoothing process not only re?
moved traces of the drill, but cut into the raised lines to form right-angled ? as opposed
to circular ? corners. It is uncertain whether the desired pattern was roughly incised on
the blank tablet before the design was drilled, though the intricacy of some patterns and
high quality of workmanship (fig. 13) would suggest such an intermediate stage. Piperno
(1973a, p. 128) has estimated that over one hundred and fifty separate drillings were ne?
cessary to form the patterns on the most complex seals, such as the unique example illus?
trated as fig. 13. The Shahr-i Sokhta chlorite seal corpus shows that the time-consuming
production process was faithfully followed; the technique always consisted of the three* es?
sential stages of forming the tablet, drilling the design, and smoothing the drill marks (1:L).
At Mundigak, the other well-documented site of Tosi's (Lamberg-Karlovsky, Tosi
1973, p. 26) proto (12) "Helmand civilization", Casal uncovered a similarly produced corpus
of seals stratified above more crudely worked fragments. Casal (1961, p. 256) claims
that the design on the earliest seal from Period II 2 was cut by drilling, like the later
probable that similar pointed microblades were

own sign or seal was not fixed but could change used to smooth the chlorite seals. Pointed metal
accidentally should the seal be broken. In other implements of the proper shape, to my knowledge,
words, the determination of present identification have not been found in association with the
rather than permanent ownership appears to have chlorite seals.
been the economic function of the Shahr-i Sokhta (n) In an earlier reference to the chlorite
seals. Alternatively (and perhaps more likely), the stamp seals from Shahr-i Sokhta, Tosi (Lamberg
intricate geometric designs alone may have been Karlovsky, Tosi 1973, p. 46) implies that the
sufficient to separate "Central Asian" and/or seals were not produced at Shahr-i Sokhta. Ap?
"Helmand Valley" material from imports from parently, the author mistakenly assumed that
other areas; shape simply may not have been a Shahr-i Sokhta received its chlorite from the
diagnostic criterion. sources near Yahya and then reasoned that the
(9) On analogy to the Yahya chlorite industry chlorite seals were cut elsewhere. However, the
(Kohl 1974, pp. 114-18) serpentine or some unfinished seals (figs. 5-8) as well as Piperno's
related stone may have been used for the smooth? detailed study of the flint drill heads suggests
ing process. Serpentine is slightly harder than otherwise. This paper assumes what Tosi's other
chlorite (3.5 to 2.5 on Mohs' scale) and would not descriptions of the seals (1968, pp. 60-62; 1969,
cut too deeply. When moistened to reduce fric? pp. 375, 376) take for granted: viz, that the
tion, serpentine flakes could have removed the chlorite stamp seals from Shahr-i Sokhta were
ridges left by the drills without difficulty. produced at Shahr-i Sokhta.
(10) It is more likely that stone tools (serpen? (12) In his most recent publications, Tosi (e.g.,
tine flakes or triangular flint microblades) were Tosi et al. 1974, p. 24) has added the adjective
used in the smoothing process than metal points. "proto" to qualify the nature of urban life and
Since the smoothing marks often leave sharply civilized society in Seistan in the mid-3rd millen?
etched lines (figs. 11, 12) and similar, if deeper, nium. The emphasis now has shifted from a
grooves were cut to separate lapis lazuli from culture that was complex and class-stratified to
the calcite block in which it was encased, it is one that nearly was so.
115
examples, but its execution seems primitive in comparison (13). A tradition, extending
along the middle Helmand River, for working seals by this process of partial drilling existed
as early as the mid-4th millennium. The production technique depended upon a chipped
stone industry characterized particularly by the lithic drill heads. Tosi (Biscione et al.
1974, p. 44) has compared similar stone tools from Shahr-i Sokhta, which were used in the
production of lapis lazuli beads and pendants, with implements characteristic of the early Kel
teminar culture on the border of the Kyzyl Kum (Vinogradov 1972) that were used to pro?
cess turquoise. The correspondence in the chipped stone technology clearly illustrates ? the
Central Asiatic tendencies in the Helmand civilization ?. Chlorite seals, similar to those
from Shahr-i Sokhta, Mundigak, Deh Morasi Ghundai (Dupree 1963, p. 99), and ceramic
copies from the Quetta Valley (Fairservis 1956, fig. 23a, b) were uncovered in Soviet
Turkmenistan beginning in the Namazga IV Period (Masson, Sarianidi 1972, pp. 109
10). The technique of manufacture is precisely the same and suggests an identical chipped
stone industry. The earlier "amulets" (Masson, Sarianidi 1972, p. 79, pi. 25) which first
appear in Namazga III are pierced by a single suspension hole and are decorated with geo?
metric designs that seem cut or incised rather than drilled. More detailed examination might
reveal whether the Namazga sequence from incised amulets to drilled seals developed locally
or ? as the earlier stratified seals from Mundigak suggest ? was interrupted by the intro?
duction of micro-drilling from Seistan and southern Afghanistan. In any event, by the
mid-3rd millennium, a process of stone working requiring lithic drill heads can be traced in
the turquoise industry of the Kelteminar culture on the border of the Kyzyl Kum, in the
soft stone and ceramic seal production of Soviet Turkmenistan, and in the lapis lazuli and
chlorite industry at Shahr-i Sokhta. Soviet Central Asia, Seistan, southwestern Afgha?
nistan, and northern Pakistan are linked by a common lithic tradition, best designated
"Central Asian".
It is useful to contrast production at Shahr-i Sokhta (and its chipped stone Central
Asian tradition) with the carving of chlorite vessels from Tepe Yahya. The industries are
roughly contemporaneous (14) and their comparison will reveal the striking regionalization
of prehistoric cultures on the Iranian plateau in the mid-3rd millennium and the distinct
(13) The photograph of this early seal (Casal But the compression of Shahr-i Sokhta 11-111 into
1961, pi. XLV A-2) seems to have horizontal a period roughly equivalent to Early Dynastic I
lines that were incised as well as drilled. This in Mesopotamia (Yahya IVB2) cannot be main?
early fragment deserves to be more carefully tained. Correspondence of seals with Namazga
examined; its method of production should be IV-V as well as the extent of the Shahr-i Sokhta
contrasted with the elaborate seals of Periods III cemetery suggest that the proto-urban civilization
6 and IV. must have continued at least to the mid-3 rd mil?
(14) In an earlier work I (Kohl 1974, pp. lennium. Shahr-i Sokhta IV probably represents
360-62; pp. 372-74) argued that Shahr-i Sokhta a short-lived occupation that may have overlapped
II-III predated the chlorite workshop of IVB1 with the end of IVB1. The earlier expansion
at Tepe Yahya. The grey ware fragments from and craft production of Shahr-i Sokhta II-III
Shahr-i Sokhta IV (Lamberg-Karlovsky, Tosi lasted for several generations, extending to the
1973, figs. 147-150) incised with designs imitating peak period of chlorite bowl production at Yahya
the carved Intercultural Style vessels were thus in the mid-3 rd millennium.
equated with Bampur IV-VI and Yahya IVB1.
116
and more permanent cultural traditions separated by the great Iranian deserts. Excavations
at Tepe Yahya, located in the small intermontane Soghun Valley in Kerman province, have
uncovered a sequence extending from the mid-5th millennium down to the first few centuries
of our era. Artefacts carved from chlorite, a resource locally available in the mountains
closing the valley to the north and west, dominate the small find assemblages in
every period at Tepe Yahya. In Period IVB1 (2600-2500 B.C.) chlorite production "takes
off" and the number of fragments per cubic meter excavated increases fivefold (cf. Kohl
1975, p. 20). This dramatic rise has been interpreted as a switch from production do
minantly for (local) use to one directed towards exchange. In Period IVB1 numerous un
worked, half-finished, and broken fragments of elaborately carved vessels have been disco?
vered which can be stylistically related to similarly decorated vessels from Susa and Sumer.
The implications of this trade have been discussed elsewhere (cf. Lamberg-Karlovsky
1975; Kohl 1974, 1975, 1976); here we wish to concentrate on the stages of the produc?
tion of the carved LS. (Intercultural Style) vessels as can be reconstructed from the un?
finished fragments found in the workshop levels.
The unworked and semi-worked fragments at Tepe Yahya reveal that at least five
distinct steps were followed to produce the carved vessels: 1) Procurement. Large unwork?
ed stones, exhibiting only faint traces of their removal from the parent rock, have been
found in IVB1 levels and suggest that the stone was brought directly to the mound for
manufacture. Stones were probably broken into portable sizes at the local mining site but
all manufacture occurred at Yahya itself. 2) Forming and Shaping. The stone blank was
painstakingly hollowed and shaped to its final form. Numerous examples (fig. 15) show
partially outlined vessels with everted rims and flat or disc bases and undecorated plaques.
Close examination of these discarded fragments reveals that every work mark was formed
by an individually directed blow from a metal point. The roughly parallel scars vary
slightly in depth and angle and could only have been formed by laboriously hitting a tool
against the unfinished block. The metal inventory at Yahya increases dramatically in IVB1
and long metal points common in these levels exactly fit the marks left on the semi-finished
artefacts (fig. 16). 3) Smoothing. Once the artefact had been outlined by indirect per?
cussion, it was a fairly simple process to smooth down the parallel grooves by hand and
attain a plain undecorated form. Comparison of three fragments of the same plaque
demonstrates this process (figs. 17, 18). The largest fragment has deep grooves left from
the original picking, while its reverse side had already been partially smoothed down at
the time it was discarded. The smallest fragment fits the same plaque and has been
completely smoothed down by Miss Anne Whitman in her experimental work on the chlo
rites. Using a small river pebble and wetting it and the plaque with water, Miss Whitman
(1974, p. 666) was able to remove the grooves in a matter of seconds. The finished pro?
duct had the same set of characteristic scratch marks that occur on all finished vessels from
Yahya. These scratch marks rarely follow the contour of the vessel and appear to have
resulted from the random motion of the lapidary's hand. The marks are easily distinguished
from the parallel or circular lines characteristic of a vessel turned on a lathe. A vessel
from Khafajeh that was decorated with the common combatant snake motif, a favourite
117
design of the Yahya craftsmen, could not have been produced in the Yahya workshops,
for its interior clearly shows marks proving its manufacture on a lathe (figs. 20, 21).
Small serpentine flakes, abundant in the IVB1 workshop levels at Yahya, were probably
used to smooth the roughly formed vessels (fig. 19). Serpentine is a slightly harder stone
than chlorite and could have removed the pick marks without cutting too deeply. 4) Carv?
ing. The carving of the designs, which often cover the entire exterior surface of the vessel,
was a laborious process demanding great skill. The hollowed and smoothed but under?
rated vessels were fragile and must have been frequently broken during the carving of the
design. Sharp metal styli were probably used to cut the designs of the Intercultural Style
(fig. 22). 5) Colouring and inlay. Three designs were also partially drilled; the holes were
inlaid with mother-of-pearl, shell, and various pastes and painted (cf. Hansen, Dales 1962:
cover for the striking combatant snake vessel from Nippur). The cutting of the holes for
inlay sharply contrasts with the drilling evident on the Shahr-i Sokhta seals and on a
small "potstone" vessel discovered at Shahr-i Sokhta in the first season (Tosi 1968, fig. 93).
The holes at Shahr-i Sokhta were drilled with the lithic drill heads and then smoothed.
At Yahya and at other workshops specializing in the production of Intercultural Style ves?
sels, the oval holes were cut and their interiors were then scratched so that the inlaid
material would more firmly adhere (fig. 23). The actual drilling of holes was characte?
ristic of chlorite artefacts from later periods at Tepe Yahya, but the drills used were hol?
low tubes which formed a characteristic dot-in-circle design. Vessels decorated in this
fashion also were discovered in the Shahdad cemetery (Hakemi 1972, pis. IXD, XIB); they
represent products of a stone working tradition different from that of Shahr-i Sokhta (15).
III. Work Organization and Comparison with a Contemporary Soft Stone Workshop
From these stages of production, it is possible to reconstruct how labour may have
been organized at Tepe Yahya; we can contrast the Yahya work organization with that
which appears typical for soft stone production at Shahr-i Sokhta. Leaving aside the ini?
tial stage of procurement, the sources of which are still undetermined for Shahr-i Sokhta,
we can compare the following steps:
Shahr-i Sokhta Tepe Yahya

a) preparation and perforation of tablet a) hollowing and shaping of vessel
b) drilling of design b) smoothing of rough vessel
c) smoothing of design c) carving of design
d) coloring and inlay of some designs
(15) Vessels decorated with incised diagonal never drilled and smoothed but cut with a sharp
lines appear in the Yahya IVA chlorite assemblage pointed instrument. Shahr-i Sokhta and Tepe
(cf. Kohl 1974, pp. 82, 83; pis. XVIIa, XVIII). Yahya had different industries with distinctive
The lines form a closely set alternating pattern, methods for working soft stone. As this continued
the spacing of which is slightly reminiscent of the over time (Mundigak 112 to Chanhu-daro, Yahya
Shahr-i Sokhta seals. However, these lines are VI-I) we can refer to separate soft stone traditions.
118
The drilling of the closely set holes to form the geometric patterns (step b) was the most
time-consuming stage in the production of the Shahr-i Sokhta seals. It required the most
skill and must have been conducted by craftsmen intimately familiar with the lithic drill
heads. Steps a and c at Tepe Yahya must have taken considerable time to complete. Signi?
ficantly, the hollowing of the vessels and their carving were probably performed with
metal tools. Metal implements do not appear to have been utilized for soft stone and bead
production at Shahr-i Sokhta (16). The actual carving of the design required the greatest
precision and the standardization of motives at Yahya and other centres producing the
Intercultural Style vessels suggests that these specialists were familiar with the meaning or
ideology implicit in these designs (17).
Although differences are striking, the division of labour in a contemporary soft stone
workshop in Meshhed provides an indication of how work may have been organized in
the two mid-3rd millennium centres. The Meshhed workers are employed on a full-time
basis and produce vessels for a market that extends throughout greater Iran. At Yahya
and Shahr-i Sokhta full-time specialization is more difficult to determine. The elaborately
carved LS. vessels are found on sites scattered throughout Southwest Asia, but most come
either from southeastern Iran where they were produced or from the urban communities
of Mesopotamia and Khuzestan. Their presence in royal graves and temples in Sumer sug?
gests that they were consumed only by the ruling class. The Period IVB1 levels, which
are over a metre thick, are filled with chlorite debitage and the main activity in the centre
of the largest settlement in the Soghun Valley appears to have been the production of
these vessels. We shall assume that the craftsmen were permanently employed, although
part-time specialization (cf. Trigger 1972, p. 583), perhaps on a seasonal basis, cannot be
totally ruled out. The extent of the market for the chlorite seals from Shahr-i Sokhta is
unknown. Similar seals have been found in Soviet Turkmenia, southern Afghanistan, and
the Quetta Valley. These may have been produced at a single workshop and traded, but
the size of the regional centres and the similarities in material culture, particularly in lithic
(16) Technical analyses (Dennis Heskel personal observed the following: ?The combination of
communication) of metal artefacts from sites on such attributes as snakes, felines, scorpions con?
the Iranian Plateau in the 4th and 3rd millennia sistently identically positioned, a limited number
place Shahr-i Sokhta metals in a special and of identically recombined geometric motifs, and
unique class. Shahr-i Sokhta metals have been elaborate and identical attributes placed on archi?
hammered after being initially cast as ingots, while tectural scenes clearly indicates that the Yahya
metal artefacts from Tepe Yahya, Susa, and Hissai artisan understood the grammar of their meaning
have been cast in moulds. Different production as well as did the elite Mesopotamian, who viewed
traditions which developed as early as the 4th mil? them as desirable luxury items. This sharing of
lennium separate the settlements on either side a symbolic ideology between the Sumerians in
of the great Iranian deserts. Shahr-i Sokhta smiths Mesopotamia and the cultures of the southern
used sulphide ores in the 4th millennium, while Iranian plateau (Elam?) has far-reaching impli?
western areas used the oxide/carbonate ores. cations ?. In other words, the stone carver at
However, all smiths at all sites in the 4 th and Tepe Yahya not only worked soft stone in a
3rd millennia in Iran used copper-arsenic alloys, tradition that was distinctive from Shahr-i Sokhta,
which Mr Heskel believes were derived from the but more importantly, understood, if not shared,
same source ? the Talmessi mine region. a symbolic (religious?) tradition that extended
(17) Lamberg-Karlovsky (1975, p. 362) has as far west as Sumer.
119
technology, suggest that each major site (Namazga, Mundigak, etc.) produced seals for its
immediate hinterland. In any event, the seals are not as widespread as the contemporary
black and white lacquered vessels from Meshhed or the Intercultural Style vessels carved
at Tepe Yahya. The workshops at Shahr-i Sokhta for semi-precious stones are located in
specific, easily recognizable areas; lapis lazuli wasters, for instance, are distributed only in
sector EWK. Calcite and chalcedony debitage, on the other hand, seems randomly scat?
tered throughout the site (Tosi, personal communication). More significantly, burials in
the Shahr-i Sokhta cemetery (Tosi, Piperno 1974, p. 132) show that individuals were ident?
ified as stone craftsmen. In grave 12, for example, an adult was buried with more than fifty
flint micro-blades, various jasper smoothers, a bronze axe, a small hammer, three blocks of cut
lapis lazuli, and 258 beads of turquoise, lapis lazuli, and chrysoprase. The association of
material in this grave not only suggests that the individual was a full-time specialist, but
that he worked more than one type of stone (18). The variety of stone working at Shahr-i
(18) Dr Tosi has informed me that the only Sokhta chlorite is determined, such a grouping
wasters found in G. 12 were made of lapis lazuli. seems unjustified. Present evidence would suggest
He interprets this evidence as an indication that that chlorite was not immediately available (cf.
the adult buried in the grave worked lapis lazuli p. 113), and we have no idea of the manner
exclusively. Contrasting G. 12 with the much or frequency of chlorite procurement for Shahr-i
poorer G. 77 and its tools for calcite and chal? Sokhta. A stone's value at a given site is never
cedony production, Tosi sees a sharp distinction simply a reflection of the distance over which it
between the production of easily available local has been imported. Chrysoprase, a rare apple
stones, wasters of which are scattered randomly green variety of chalcedony, presumably also can
throughout the site, and rarer semi-precious stones be found in the neighbouring Birjand mountains,
that had to have been imported from distant but it may have been more highly valued (and
regions. Calcite and chalcedony production is the artisans who worked it accorded higher pres?
opposed to that of lapis lazuli, turquoise, alabaster, tige) simply because it was less common and
agate, chrysoprase, and amazonite. Piperno (1976, harder to find and extract than ordinary chal?
p. 12) examines the potential implications of this cedony. If wealth and social ranking of lithic
difference: ? We face here (in G. 77) a sharp tech? specialists were directly related to their skill ?
nological differentiation, evident in the whole tool? a seemingly logical but hardly universal relation,
kit, which can be explained either by purely techni? then the chlorite artisans must have been among
cal motivations, as the quality and hardness of the more highly rewarded craftsmen at Shahr-i
stones like calcite, chalcedony or lapis lazuli could Sokhta.
have required the adoption of different drilling ma? It is, of course, hazardous to generalize about
terials and methods, or the distinctions might lie internal social differentiation on the basis of two
in the commercial sphere as different stones might graves, G. 12 and G. 77, but the contrast in
have varied in value and then could have moved grave furnishings probably reflects a real distinc?
at different social levels. It is not unlikely, con? tion between two craftsmen at the site. Extreme
sidering the size of the settlement in phase 4-3 specialization in stone production, however, is not
(c. 80 hectares) and the complexity of its material indicated; the individual from G. 77 apparently
culture, that craft specialization might have been worked both chalcedony and calcite, and it remains
developed to the point that those who worked possible that the wealthy carver from G. 12 may
imported stones such as lapis lazuli or turquoise have cut turquoise and Chrysoprase as well as
would have not intermixed in their manufacturing lapis lazuli. The social differentiation (and mo?
process with the craftsmen working the local bility or incipient breakdown of kin-structured
stones as chacedony and calcite, both extensively production?) suggested by G. 77 is terribly im?
available in the nearby Birjand mountains ?. portant but does not negate our general argument
Dr Tosi believes chlorite should be grouped that Shahr-i Sokhta craftsmen worked a greater
with the more common locally available stones. variety of stones than the chlorite carvers from
However, until the exact source for the Shahr-i Tepe Yahya (cf. pp. 122, 123).
120
Saf r, Baghda National Museum).
Fig.4-SimlarydesignedfragmentsfromUruk(courtesyF.
the Dasht Valley (courtesy S. Piggott).
Fig. 3 - Intercultural Style fragment with imbricate design from
been modified with deeper holes drilled. all tr
with two partially drilled holes. Sokhta.
Fig. 8 - Unsmoothed cruciform seal from Fig. 9 - Broken and reused seal fragment from F
Fig.6-ChloriteblankfromShar-iSokhtaFig.7-Unfi shedquares lfromShar-i
Fig. 5 - Chlorite blank fromGeometric Design.

Shahr-i Sokhta
with single perforation and beginnings (?) of Shar-iSokhta.S hr-iSokhta.Tedsignaperstohavebnxted intocrulacornestoremv
Fig. 11 - Broken seal from Shahr-i Sokhta with Fig. 12 - Circular seal fragment displaying less
etched lines showing that smoothing was done deeply cut smoothing lines. Note trefoil pat?
with a pointed tool, probably a flint microblade. tern in upper right corner.
13 - Unique complete seal from Shahr-i Sokhta. Over Fig. 14 - Carved chlorite bead from
150 drillings were necessary to produce the design. Shahr-i Sokhta.
Fig. 15 - Uncarved chlorite fragments from Tepe Yahya. Note unsmoothed rim fragment top left.
Fig. 16 - Reconstruction of forming plaque by indirect percussion of metal points. These metal tools are
found principally in period IVB1 at Yahya.
Fig. 17 - Close-up of two fragments of flat unfinished plaque.
Fig. 19 - Smoothing interior of bracelet with curved serpentine flake;

a reconstruction.
be nusedtocarveIntercult ralStyled signs. circular marks showing that it was made on a lathe. holes are cut, not drilled, and their interior is scratched to allow paste to adhere.
. 21 - Interior of snake fragment from Khafajeh, with Fig. 23 - Close-up of carved In

Fig.2 -Metalstylusandsimlarmetal olsfromYahy mayhave
Contras with oles nsimlarydesignedvselfromdiferntworkshop(fig.20)
Fig. 20 - Combatant snake fragment from Khafajeh.
Fig. 24 - Worker pounds exterior of vessel with heavy metal tool. Unused tools and roughly smoothed
vessels are in foreground.
Fig. 25 - Close-up of crude bow drill lathe. The worker's right hand pushes and pulls bow back and forth
turning the mounted vessel; his left hand holds metal smoother against the interior of the rotating vessel.
Fig. 26 - Meshhed soft stone workshop. Stone workers are separated into stalls according to assigned
tasks of hollowing, smoothing, or painting the vessels. Note preformed blanks at bottom right.
Fig. 27 - Interior of large bowl is initially smoothed by hafted scraper before being mounted on a lathe.
Sokhta contrasts with the specialization evident at Tepe Yahya. Lapis lazuli, turquoise,
and chlorite beads were drilled with lithic heads almost identical to those used in the
production of the geometric seals. Thus, we can also postulate full-time craftsmen at
Shahr-i Sokhta, but these specialists worked several different types of stone. A compa?
rison of the recently excavated G. 77, the burial of a calcite and chalcedony bead cutter,
with the much richer G. 12 suggests that different stone workers may have attained dif?
ferent social ranks. Specifically, those artisans who worked valuable imported stones,
such as turquoise and lapis lazuli, may have been more richly rewarded for their labours
than those who carved easily available, less valuable stones, such as calcite and chalcedony.
The technology of the Meshhed workshop was not sophisticated, consisting simply of
large metal implements with rows of pointed teeth for shaping the blanks and crude lathes
turned by bow-drills for smoothing and painting the recently formed vessels (figs. 24, 25).
Simple as it appears, this technology supports a mass production of several hundred ves?
sels per day. Sharp divisions of labour are evident in the Meshhed workshop. Pre-formed
blanks are brought and piled in front or at the back of the small partitions separating the
workers (fig. 26). The interior is quickly formed by the metal tool which is pounded into
the centre of the blank. Both Nylander (1966) and Tilia (1968, p. 76, note 11) believe
that this tool, which shapes the interior and exterior of the vessel, was introduced into
Iran by Greek craftsmen in the 6th century B.C.; it certainly was not utilized in the
mid-3 rd millennium workshop at Tepe Yahya where the vessels were formed much more
slowly by the indirect percussion of metal points. The hollowed vessel is then roughly
smoothed by the same worker who twists a hafted scraper around its interior and exte?
rior (fig. 27). The half-finished product is given to a second worker who finishes the
smoothing process by setting the vessels on a lathe; the bow is pushed and pulled with one
hand while the metal smoother is held against the rotating vessel with the other. The
completed vessel is then given to the final person who applies the black and white design;
this worker also mounts the vessel on a similar lathe and applies the patterns as the vessel
turns. The use of the lathe in this final stage results in more standardized patterns than
the handcrafted designs on the Yahya Intercultural Style vessels. Thus, at Meshhed the
vessels are produced in three separate stages performed by approximately equal groups of
workers:
a) hollowing and rough smoothing of the pre-formed blanks;

b) complete smoothing on a lathe turned by a bow-drill;
c) application of the final patterns on a similar lathe.
Although crude by modern standards, the technology allows for the production of
enough vessels to satisfy the demand of pilgrims visiting the Holy City and the external
markets of major cities in Iran. Neither at Shahr-i Sokhta nor at Tepe Yahya was the
production process geared to satisfy such a large demand. Although tests have not been
conducted is seems probable that the seals from Shahr-i Sokhta could have been more quickly
finished by cutting rather than drilling the designs, but this was deliberately avoided. None
of the Intercultural Style vessels from the IVB1 workshop at Yahya were turned on a lathe,
121
though some objects from Mesopotamia (figs. 20, 21) were smoothed in this fashion. Like
today's "oriental" carpets from eastern Europe, the vessels smoothed on lathes may poss?
ibly have been viewed as cheap machine imitations of the more painstakingly handcrafted
products from highland Iran. The technology was available but not utilized by the Yahya
craftsmen, for some one ? certainly not the workers ? benefited from the production of
the original vessels. The social labour time expended in the production of the chlorite
seals from Shahr-i Sokhta and the vessels from Yahya was considerable. Three workers at
Meshhed, each specializing in his production stage, are responsible for the production of
approximately one hundred vessels per day or, at least ten per hour. The production of an
average-sized chlorite vessel in the Intercultural Style at Yahya required much more time.
Considering the high quality of this workmanship, it is doubtful that two workers ?
one engaged in the first two stages of production and the other in the last two ? could
produce more than three finished vessels in a day. A difficulty with this calculation is that
the most time-consuming aspect of the production of vessels in the Intercultural Style
was indubitably the carving itself. One worker could produce ten uncarved vessels in a
day, but a single lapidary could not have carved a like number with the elaborate motifs
of the Intercultural Style. For this reason, more workers may have been engaged in the
carving and inlaying of the vessels than in the other stages. If the equation is changed then
to equal one worker forming and smoothing ten vessels and three lapidaries each carving
roughly a third of the first man's output in a single day, the comparison with Meshhed reads
four Yahya workers responsible for ten vessels, whereas three Meshhed workers produce
at least one hundred. The Meshhed workers are still more than twelve times as produc?
tive as their Yahya counterparts. Obviously, this is only enlightened speculation, depen?
dent upon numerous assumptions, but it illustrates a real difference.
The carving of the Intercultural Style vessels at Yahya was the most demanding task
and must have separated the master craftsmen from the other workers. It is difficult to
relate the stages of chlorite production at Yahya to separate work units, but it seems
reasonable to infer that the mining and transport of the stone to Yahya was performed
by a distinct group of workers, while the forming, hollowing, and smoothing of the vessels
was performed by a second group and the carving and colouring by a third. If production
was organized to maximize output in a minimum time, then there must have been more
master craftsmen carving the vessels than other workers. This maximization assumption,
however, cannot be proved and seems unlikely. At Shahr-i Sokhta, chlorite was not lo?
cally available and the procurement of the stone was a more difficult (and irregular?) task.
There is also no indication that chlorite was utilized on a scale comparable to that at Tepe
Yahya. Shahr-i Sokhta did not specialize in the production of a single stone, much less a
single commodity, for foreign markets. Rather, its craftsmen, utilizing a traditional chipped
stone technology, produced artefacts drilled from a variety of stones (lapis lazuli, turquoise,
alabaster, chlorite). If the extremely important grave (G. 12) containing the tools and ma?
terials of the lapidary provides a representative picture of the stone worker's craft, one
could argue that all stages of the actual production of chlorite seals was performed by a
single workman. In addition, the same lapidary not only drilled chlorite seals when the
122
raw material was available, but also ? utilizing smaller drill-heads ? beads of lapis lazuli
and turquoise (19). Stone-working at Shahr-i Sokhta was a more generalized activity than
at Yahya.
Another difference in chlorite production between the two mid-3rd millennium sites
is evident when we consider the related industries upon which the manufacture of Inter?
cultural Style vessels and geometric seals, respectively, depended. At Yahya chipped stone
tools may have initially cut the blanks and serpentine flakes appear to have smoothed the
roughly formed vessels (Whitman 1974, pp. 655-75); metal points were used both to hol?
low out the vessels and to carve the designs. It was also necessary to obtain the appro?
priate colouring and inlaying material for the motives which were treated in this fashion.
At Shahr-i Sokhta the entire production seems to have depended only upon the traditional
chipped stone tools. Grave 12 in the necropolis contained a metal axe and hammer and
these, no doubt, were utilized by the lapidaries in other work that they performed. But
metal tools were not integrated as an essential component in the production of the chlo?
rite seals. Stone production at Shahr-i Sokhta seems to have been a more self-contained
and independent industry, a more generalized activity, than at Tepe Yahya.
IV. Relations of Production and Cultural Traditions
This different orientation leads to the final contrast between the industries: that of
the social relations behind or implicit in the work organization (20) of the chlorite vessels
and seals. The production of LS. vessels at Tepe Yahya was directed towards final con?
sumption in the urban centres of Khuzestan and Sumer; Shahr-i Sokhta stone industries,
at most, were involved in the reduction and transshipment of material for foreign markets
(Tosi, Piperno 1973); as yet, there is no evidence to determine whether seals were ex?
changed even in the limited region of their occurrence east of the Dasht-i Lut. Yahya
IVB1 levels are filled with chlorite debitage; chlorite production represents the major
activity carried out on the largest site in the Soghun Valley and surrounding areas in the
mid-3rd millennium. In contrast, seal and bead production is localized in clearly defined
activity areas within the urban settlement at Shahr-i Sokhta. The integration of different
(19) This interpretation differs from that of Thus, Tepe Yahya would have distinctive modes
Drs Tosi and Piperno who believe the individual of production for its chlorite vessels, metal points,
buried in G. 12 had only worked lapis lazuli (cf. and chipped stone tools. But these are integrated
note 18). within a specific social structure, and this relation
(20) Social relations of production must be to the entire society is more important than any
conceptually distinguished from work organization differences in the division of labour and/or work
(cf. Friedman 1974, pp. 445-46; Cook 1973, pp. organization among the different industries. Social
820, 821; Godelier 1975, pp. 16, 17). The relations of production are more difficult to
error of equating these separate categories, which ascertain in the archaeological record than the
is a common source of confusion in some Marxist forces (technology and work organization) of
interpretations, ultimately ends in a multiplicity production; unfortunately, they are also more
of "modes of production" within each society. essential.
123
industries for the principal activity of Yahya IVB1: the production of a single commodity
for external markets suggests the presence of a central coordinating authority directing
this operation. At Shahr-i Sokhta such evidence does not exist. Craft specialization on a
full-time basis is clearly demonstrated, but the lack of sharply defined social strata in the
Shahr-i Sokhta cemetery suggests that such specialization may still have been structured along
kin lines. Numerous ethnographic examples of complex but not class stratified societies
demonstrate such a continuation of traditional relations of production (21). Paradoxically
then, the small non-urban site of Tepe Yahya may exhibit greater social stratification (22)
than the 3rd-millennium city of Shahr-i Sokhta.
This pattern is comprehensible only if we regard the Yahya IVB1 settlement not as a
cultural isolate, but as incorporated into a larger unit of social organization. The continua?
tion of local ceramic forms, lack of outside parallels except for the chlorite vessels, and
absence of administrative structures in Yahya IVBl suggests that such incorporation was
not political; while the complex ideology depicted on the LS. vessels shows that the inha?
bitants of Yahya shared a set of beliefs and cultural values with urban dwellers far to
the west. The politically autonomous settlement at Yahya IVBl may have been loosely
structured within the never-permanent proto-Elamite confederacy that linked the prehistoric
cultures of highland Iran west of the great Iranian deserts.
Shahr-i Sokhta likewise did not exist in a cultural vacuum but participated in a diffe?
rent cultural tradition. The chipped stone industry at Shahr-i Sokhta represents both a
local adaptation to the unique environmental conditions of Seistan and a shared technolo?
gical tradition that links Shahr-i Sokhta to Kelteminar settlements in Chorasmia and Ha
rappan settlements in the Indus Valley (e.g., Mackay 1943, pis. LXXXVIb, XCIII; Khan
1965, pi. XXXIVa). The metallurgical industry at Shahr-i Sokhta is distinctive from con?
temporary sites west of the great Iranian deserts. Metal implements were hammered from
cast ingots. Mr Dennis Heskel (personal communication), who has analysed metal arte?
facts from Shahr-i Sokhta and other Iranian sites, believes the smiths at Shahr-i Sokhta were
aware of the different practices on other sites further west on the Iranian plateau and
were fully capable of casting finished objects but preferred for cultural reasons to arduously
hammer out the desired forms from the ingots that they had cast. He interprets this
puzzling practice as a continuation (as well as an indication of the importance) of the stone
working tradition at Shahr-i Sokhta. Metal, in other words, was treated as a stone even
The Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria, for pattern may have prevailed in the protostate of
example, whose cosmogony suggests contact with Shahr-i Sokhta; this hypothesis, though based on
the ancient Near East and who have been inter? an admittedly distant ethnographic parallel, should
preted (Wheatley 1971) as illustrating an evol? be capable of confirmation through more ex?
utionary stage prior to the rise of the State, live tensive excavations in the necropolis and greater
in dense urban centres and specialize in the horizontal exposure of the Shahr-i Sokhta IT-III
production of many goods; such as weaving, settlement.
dyeing, ironworking, and brass casting (cf. Bascom (22) This stratification, characteristic of high
1969, pp. 24-25; Wheatley 1971, pp. 418-19). land settlements west of the great Iranian deserts,
This specialization, however, occurs within the can clearly be seen in the Shahdad cemetery.
clans or the corporate compounds (He). A similar
124
after its ductile properties had been appreciated. Chlorite seals of the type found at Shahr-i
Sokhta are also found at sites in Soviet Turkmenistan, along the middle course of the Hel
mand River, and in northern Pakistan. The geometric designs were duplicated in bronze and
terracotta; the carving of designs on soft stone beads was common on Indus Valley sites and
at Shahr-i Sokhta (fig. 14). The bead-maker's workshop at Chanhu-daro (Mackay 1943,
pp. 210-14) closely links the chipped-stone industries of Indus Valley sites with those of the
proto-Helmand civilization. The chipped-stone technology at Shahr-i Sokhta is more closely
related to later Indus Valley settlements further east than to the geographically proximate and
contemporaneous settlements at Tepe Hissar and Tepe Yahya. Twenty percent of the chip?
ped-stone corpus at Hissar consists of burins, a type extremely rare at Shahr-i Sokhta;
arrow heads and drills which characterize the Shahr-i Sokhta assemblage are virtually ab?
sent in the Yahya corpus. These sites should be contrasted, not compared, with Shahr-i
Sokhta whose relations and primary influences lay east not west of the great Iranian
deserts (23).
An appeal to the mystical properties of a cultural tradition does not preclude the
realization that the productive activities of the Shahr-i Sokhta artisans were based on a
distinctive technology in which chipped stone tools continued to control and limit technical
innovations throughout the 3rd millennium. This technology was not the sole determining
factor in Shahr-i Sokhta's limited development. The social relations directing this techno?
logy, the limitations of the self-contained ecological system of Seistan, and the extent
and character of foreign relations constantly reinforced each other; they must all be more
completely understood to appreciate Shahr-i Sokhta's sudden fluorescence and equally sud?
den demise. Cultural traditions are not determined by technology, but once formed, have
a life of their own, which ? though never divorced from their technological base ? are
frequently characterized by interests that are opposed to economic and social developments.
Implements were hammered from ingots rather than cast at Shahr-i Sokhta for the seem?
ingly obvious innovation of casting might have undermined the structuring of production
along kin lines that, for reasons still undetermined, may never have been overcome. The
demand or need for metal tools and weapons was insufficient to counter this societal op?
position.
This brief note is an initial attempt to contrast production technologies at two sites
in eastern Iran. A more complete analysis would have examined other classes of artefacts
from Shahr-i Sokhta and Yahya and compared and contrasted them to similar material from
(23) We can also relate the closely spaced fig. 12). The pattern, possibly having iconographic
drilling of geometric designs on the chlorite seals or symbolic significance, appears very rarely in
to the slightly later production of motifs charac? Mesopotamia. Its occurrence in contexts later
teristic of the Indus Valley. For example, the than the Early Dynastic period (cf. Wheeler
trefoil pattern, which appears on the cloak of the 1968, p. 87) may indicate contact between Sumer
famous "steatite"' bearded statue from Moenjo-daro and the Indus Valley. Harappan and Mesopo
(Marshall 1931: 356) and on numerous "steatite" tamian artefacts with this design should be
beads can be formed by drilling three closely examined to determine how the trefoil pattern
spaced holes. It occurs as part of the pattern of was produced.
several chlorite seals from Shahr-i Sokhta (cf.
125
other 3rd-millennium settlements scattered throughout Southwest Asia. Hopefully, this
glimpse at chlorite production continues the efforts of Dr Tosi and his colleagues to convince
archaeologists to study chipped-stone industries and the techniques or stages of production
of diverse categories of objects, such as seals, beads, and ceramic and stone vessels. Such
analyses, which can be performed on material found in recent excavations as well as that
secretly hidden in the basements of museums, not only can yield invaluable technical infor?
mation, but also indicate important differences in the beliefs and traditions that are the
overriding concerns of cultural historians. The study of production is necessarily associated
with the study of the entire cultural system, the superstructure as well as the base. Cook
(1973, p. 820) has expressed this profound truth most succinctly:
On the one hand, production integrates the ecological and economic fields through its intimate
relationship with technology; it is the direct processual link between the economic field and the natural
environment. On the other hand, production through its intimate linkage with work organization and
ideology, is a principal nexus between the ecological/economic field and the sociocultural system. And,
of course, men's relationship to the production process ? via control over its scarce material, means
or actual participation as producers ? determines their relationship to each other in society, as well as
their relative share in the total product.
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127

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A Note on Chlorite Artefacts from Shahr-i Sokhta

Author(s): Philip L. Kohl

SS01 surface long tapering object chlorite

probable that similar pointed microblades were

Shahr-i Sokhta Tepe Yahya

the Dasht Valley (courtesy S. Piggott).

Fig. 3 - Intercultural Style fragment with imbricate design from

Fig.6-ChloriteblankfromShar-iSokhtaFig.7-Unfi shedquares lfromShar-i

Fig. 5 - Chlorite blank fromGeometric Design.

Fig. 19 - Smoothing interior of bracelet with curved serpentine flake;

. 21 - Interior of snake fragment from Khafajeh, with Fig. 23 - Close-up of carved In

Contras with oles nsimlarydesignedvselfromdiferntworkshop(fig.20)

Fig. 20 - Combatant snake fragment from Khafajeh.

a) hollowing and rough smoothing of the pre-formed blanks;

IV. Relations of Production and Cultural Traditions

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