Changes and Developments in the Customs of Shahr-I Sokhta Based on the Burial Tradition

Document Type : Original Article

Author

PhD Candidate in Archaeology, University of Mazandaran, Mazandaran, Iran.

Abstract

The customs surrounding burials hold significant importance as they shed light on the social and religious aspects of any given society. Shahr-i Sokhta is an ancient site of a sizable Bronze Age urban settlement, associated with the Helmand culture that dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. This is of great importance considering the fact that the information gathered from cemetery there proves instrumental in reconstructing the customs prevalent in this settlement. This article focuses on the changes observed in burial practices of Shahr-i Sokhta, specifically from period one to period four, and examines their correlation with the gender of the deceased. The study utilizes data obtained from excavations carried out during seven seasons between 1997 and 2003. A total of 213 burials with identifiable settlement periods were selected for the analysis. The study employed the SPSS statistical software and considered four factors: settlement periods, the number of burial objects, objects of significance, and gender. The settlement periods were treated as independent variables, while the remaining factors were dependent variables. The findings indicate a gradual increase in social class distinctions from the first period to the fourth period. Notably, these class differences are comparatively less pronounced during periods one and two.

Keywords

Main Subjects

🔓 © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Tissaphernes Archaeological Research Group, Tehran, Iran. Open Access. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The ethical policy of Ancient Iranian Studies is based on the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines and complies with International Committee of Ancient Iranian Studies Editorial Board codes of conduct. Readers, authors, reviewers and editors should follow these ethical policies once working with Ancient Iranian Studies. The ethical policy of Ancient Iranian Studies is liable to determine which of the typical research papers or articles submitted to the journal should be published in the concerned issue. For information on this matter in publishing and ethical guidelines please visit www.publicationethics.org.

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Ancient Iranian studies
Volume 3, Issue 8 - Serial Number 8
January 2024
Pages 29-42

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History

  • Receive Date: 30 March 2023
  • Revise Date: 03 May 2023
  • Accept Date: 25 July 2023

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