Teppe Zagheh’s Anthropomorphic Figurines and Openness of Animist Worlds

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Associate Professor, Department of Archeology and Archaeography, Islamic Art University, Tabriz

Abstract

Located 60 kilometers to the south of Qazvin, Teppe Zaghe is a low area of 15-hectre breadth which has been explored during14 archeological seasons. This article is allocated to a significant set of finds on the site: anthropomorphic boot figurines. The reason for conducting this study was to test an atomistic, meticulous and objective study of a type of anthropomorphic figurines in Teppe Zagheh in relation to archeological intra-site contexts, so we can reveal the ontological meaning of the presence of boot figurines from within the contextualist study. This research merely focuses on statuettes known as boot figurines, describing them in a classified manner according to variables of size, exhibition of organs, the context of the find, sex organs, adornments, fractures and special features. The three main contexts on the site in relation to the figurines are: the totality of the location of Teppe Zagheh, the engraved monument, and the archeological guess k. To explore the meaning of the figurines within an archeological framework they were placed in the contexts of “the animist world”, “life cycle”, and “ecological relations”. The result of the research is that the anthropomorphic boot figurines in the context of the location of Teppe Zagheh in the fifth/sixth millennium BCE provided room for thinking the unthinkable.

Keywords


Alizadi, Abbas. 2004. The Origins of Governmental Institutions in Prehistoric Fars; Tall-i Bakun, Ancient Nomadism and Formation of The First Goverments (Mansha’i Nahadha-yi Hukumati dar pish az Tarikh-i Fars; Tall-i Bakun, Kuchnishini-yi Bastan va Tashkil-i Hukumat-ha-yi Avvaliyyih). Translated by Kurush Rustayi. Marvdasht: Parsi Foundation. [in Farsi]
Bailey, Douglas W. 1996. "The Interpretation of Figurines: The Emergence of Illusion and New Ways of Seeing." In Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 6 (2): 281-307.
Bailey, Douglas W. 2005. Prehistoric Figurines: Representation and Corporeality in TheNeolithic. London: Routledge.
Berezkin, Y. 1994. "Apatani i drevneyshiy Vostok: al’ternativnaja model’slozhnogo obshchestva
[Apa Tanis and the ancient near east: Alternative model of complex society]." In Kunstkamera: Etnograficheskiye Tetradi, 4: 5-19.
Binford, L. 1962. "Archaeology as Anthropology." In American Antiquity, 28 (2): 217-225.
Bourdieu, P. 1984. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Braidwood, R. 1961. "The Iranian Prehistoric Project." In Iranica AntiquaI, pp. 3-7.
Dimitriadis, G. 2006. "From Paleolithic “Venus” up to the Anthropomorphic Atatue-menhir: the Ideological Evolution of the Human Body in Prehistoric Art." In International Congress Series, 1286: 7-12.
Durkheim, E. 1975. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, London: Allen and Unwin.
Earle, T. 1978. Economic and Social Organization of a Complex Chiefdom: the Halelea Distinct,Kauai, Hawaii (Anthropological paper, No. 63). AnnArbor: University of Michigan.
Eliade, Mircea. 1989. Rites and Symbols of Initiation. Translated by Nasrullah Zangu’i. Tehran: Agah Publications. [in Farsi]
Eliade, Mircea. 2005. The Myth of The Eternal Return. Translated by Bahman Sarkarani. Tehran: Tahuri Publications.
Fazili Nashli, Hassan, Ilkhani, Hingami, Marqusian, Armini, and Bishkani, Amir. 2007a. “Speculation on and Stratigraphy of Chaharbuni Hill in The Qazvin Plain: A Preliminary Report, 2006 (Guzarish-i Muqaddamati-yi Gumanizani va Layinigari-yi Tappi Chaharbuni-yi Dasht-i Qavin).” In Guzarish-ha-yi Bastanshinasi (Archaeological Accounts) (7): 355-375. Tehran: Research Institute for Cultural Heritage and Tourism. [in Farsi]
Fazili Nashli, Hassan, Wong, Edna H, and Potts, Daniel T. 2005. "The Qazvin Plain Revisited: a Reappraisal of the Chronology of Northwestern Central Plateau; Iran in the 6th to the 4thMillennium B.C." In Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Studies: 3-82.
Fazili Nashli, Hassan. 2006. The Archeaology of the Qazvin Plain From The Six to The First Millenium B.C. (Bastanshinasi-yi Dasht-i Qazvin az Hizari-yi Shishom ta Hizari-yi Avval-i Qabl az Milad). Tehran: Tehran University Publications. [in Farsi]
Fazili, Nashli, Hassan, Ilkhani, Hingami, Marqusian, and Armini, Bishkani, Amir. 2007b. “Speculation on And Stratigraphy of Ibrahimabad, The Qazvin Plain: A Preliminary Reprt (Guzarish-i Muqaddamati-yi Gumanizani va Layinigari-yi Tappi-yi Ibrahimabad-i Dasht-i Qazvin, 2006).” In Guzarish-ha-yi Bastanshinasi (Archaeological Accounts), no. 7. Tehran: Research Institute for Cultural Heritage and Tourism. [in Farsi]
Gibson, James 1979. The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception, Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Hodder, Ian. 2012. Entangled: An Archaeology of the Relationships between Humans andThings. John Wiley & Sons.
Hodgson, Derek. 2000. "Art, Perception and Information Processing: an Evolutionary Perspective." In Rock Art Research, 17 (1): 3-34.
Hole, Frank. 2002. “Archeology of The Village Period.” In The Archeology of Western Iran, edited by Frank Hole. Translated by Zahra Basti.  Tehran: Samt Publications. [in Farsi]
Hole, Frank. 2010. "A Monumental Failure: the Collapse of Susa." In Beyond the Ubaid:Transformation and Integration in the Late Prehistoric Societies of the Middle East, edited by R.
A. Carter and G. Phillip, 209-226. Chicago and Illinois: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
Ingold, Tim. 2000. The Perception of the Environment. London: Routledge.
Joffe, Alexander, Dessel, J. P., and Hallote, Rachel. 2001. "The Gilat Woman; Female
Iconography, Chalcolithic Cult, and the End of Southern Levantine Prehistory." In Near EasternArchaeology,64 (1/2): 8-23.
Kreober, A. L.; Kluckhohn, Clyde. 1952. Culture: a Critical Review of Concepts and
Definitions. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Majidzadi, Yusuf. 2003. A Report on The Third Season of Excavation in the Uzbaki Archeologocal Site (Guzarish-i Sivvumin Fasl-i Hafriyyat dar Muhavvati-yi Bastani Uzbaki). Tehran: Cultural Heritage Organization. [in Farsi]
Malafouris, Lambros. 2013. How Things Shape the Mind: a Theory of Material Engagement. MIT Press.
Malik-Shahmirzadi, Sadiq. 1977. Tepe Zagheh: a Sixth Millennium B.C Village in the QazvinPlain of the Central Iranian Plateau: A Dissertation in Anthropology. University of Pennsylvania.
Mashkur, Marjan. Fontugne; Hatte, C. 1999. "Investigations on the Evolution of Subsistence Economy in the Qazvin Plain (Iran) from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age." In Antiquity, 73: 65 76.
Mellart, J. 1975. The Neolithic of the Near East. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Mulla Salihi, Hikmatullah, Mashkur, Marjan, Amirkhiz, Amir, and Nadiri Rahmat. 2006. “A Chronology of Prehistoric Site Zaghi in The Qazvin Plain (Gahnigari-yi Muhavvati-yi Pish az Tarikh-i Zaghi dar Dasht-i Qazvin).” In Bastanshinasi (Archaeology), no. 4: 26-42. [in Farsi]
Nigahban, E. O. 1979. "A Brief Report on the Painted Building of Zaghe (Late 7th– early 6thMillennium B.C)." In Paleorient,5: 239-250.
Nigahban, E. O. 1984. "Clay Figurines of Zaghe." In Iranica Antiqua, XIX: 1-19.
Service, Elman. R. 1962. Primitive Social Organization. New York: Random House.
Walsh, Roger. 2001. "Shamanic Experiences: a Developmental Analysis." In Journal ofHumanistic Psychology, 41: 31-52.
Yakar, Jak. 2005. "The Language of Symbols in Prehistoric Anatolia." In Documenta Praehistorica,XXXII: 111-121.