Early Bronze Age Trade Hub Excavated in Iran

ERBIL, IRAQ—More than 7,000 artifacts, including clay seal impressions, clay tokens, figurines, and cylinder seals, have been uncovered at Tapeh Tyalineh, a 5,000-year-old site on the Mereg River in western Iran, according to The Greek Reporter. The objects were found in the remnants of mudbrick structures and in trash pits. Shokouh Khosravi of the University of Kurdistan said that the artifacts would have been used to mark jars, seal doors, and keep track of goods such as grain, oil, and possibly wine. The more than 200 designs on the artifacts are similar to those seen on seal impressions from other Early Bronze Age sites in Iran and Mesopotamia. Khosravi concluded that Tapeh Tyalineh was likely an administrative hub for a regional trade network. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Antiquity. To read about evidence of communal feasting in western Iran some 11,000 years ago, go to "BYOB(oar)."