Tal-i-Iblis

The site of Tal-i-Iblis (also Tal-i Iblis and Tell-i Iblis), known locally as "the devil's mound", lying in the Kerman province about 80 kilometers southwest of Kerman, 170 kilometers north/northwest of Tepe Yahya, was mostly destroyed by local peasants stealing soil to replenish the agriculture land depleted by their agricultural practices before it could be excavated by archaeologists. Enough was left to provide some important insights into the settlement history. The site was occupied primarily in the 4th millennium BC. It is not a natural hill, rather the accumulated remains of a millennia of occupation.

Tal-i-Iblis

Shown within Iran
Location	Kerman Province, Iran
Coordinates	30°30′00″N 56°15′00″E
Type	settlement
History
Founded	4th millennium BC
Periods	Late Chalcolithic
Site notes
Excavation dates	1964, 1966
Archaeologists	Joseph Caldwell
Condition	Ruined
Ownership	Public
Public access	Yes

Archaeology

Uruk-period beveled rim bowl, c. 3400–3200 BC, from Habuba Kabira South in Syria

The site was visited in 1932 by archaeologist Sir Aurel Stein during a reconnaissance of the area. He was prevented from examining or sketching the site by a local military official. He described the site, at that time, as having an oval shape, 118 meters by 100 meters, and around 11 meters high with pottery indicating the presence of a lower town (with pottery shards extending 1200 meters to the north and south and 800 meters to the east and west). Stein noted that locals had been removing soil from the site for an extended period.^[1] When the site was next examined, for 2 days in 1964 by archaeologist Joseph Caldwell, the reported the "entire center of this large mound had been dug out and destroyed" and men were seen shoveling dirt into a truck. The only upside was that the damage exposed the stratigraphy of the site, easily discernible by changes in pottery. Samples were taken for radiocarbon dating.^[2] Tal-i-Iblis was excavated for two months in 1966 by an Illinois State Museum team led by Joseph Caldwell. Metallurgist Cyril Stanley Smith also visited the site at that time to remove samples for analysis. By this time the site had been destroyed down to what was later deemed Period I though a few later remains were to be found at the very margins of the mound. Seven excavations (A-G) were opened. Area A was a deep probe in the center of the mound, Areas B and C behind the profile of the mound remnant, and area E was a trash dump well northwest of the mound, and Areas D and G were in the center of the mound but shallow.. Some building remains were found in areas F, and G. Finds included turquoise, carnelian, and shell beads, a few figurines, and a few calcite cups.^[3][4] A notable discovery was one of the earliest copper smelting workshops in the Old World dated to the early fifth millennium BC. The nearby mountain range has significant copper deposits including native copper. The early debate about whether activity at the site was actual smelting or simply the melting of native copper has been resolved in favor of smelting. A number of copper finds were recovered being found in all levels. These included pins, awls, rings, nails, and ornaments. A number of crucibles were found, primarily on earlier levels.^{[5] [6][7][8]}

Finds included beveled rim bowls and four-lugged jars, in Periods IV through VI, which are diagnostic pottery for the Uruk culture.^[9][10][11] A few small conic clay tokens were also found.^[12]

History

Excavators defined the stratigraphy as having six periods with the presence of flint tools coarse straw-tempered pottery suggesting that there had been earlier occupation (the damaged nature of the site made periodization difficult and subsequent publications have somewhat clouded this issue):^[13]

• Period 0 - tentative earlier occupation level which was later deprecated
• Periods I-II - c. 4200-4000 BC. Equivalent to Ubaid 5, Susa I and Yahya VA-VC.
• Periods III-V - c. 3500 BC. Equivalent to Uruk period.
• Period VI - c. 3000 BC. Equivalent to Jemdet Nasr,Proto-Elamite, and Yahya IVC

Some radiocarbon dates were obtained. Note that these are early pre-AMS dates and publications do not specify calibration method though it was mentioned that the then new C-14 half-life value of 5730 ± 40 was used. These dates were controversial and later corrections were proposed.^[14][15][16]

• Period I (Iblis 1): 4091 BC ± 74 - Corrected to 5290-4420 BC
• Period II (Iblis 2): 4083 BC ± 75 - Corrected to 5205-4685 BC
• Period III (Iblis 3): 3792 BC ± 60 - Corrected to 4460-4400 BC
• Period IV (Iblis 4): 3645 BC ± 59 - Corrected to 4415-3365 BC
• Period V (Iblis 5): 2869 BC ± 57

See also

• Chronology of the ancient Near East
• Cities of the ancient Near East
• Tepe Sialk
• Tell Yelkhi