A Preliminary Report on the Excavations at Tepe Sharafabad, 1971

Abstract

The Elamite civilization of SW Iran represents one of the earliest geographically diverse literate empires in the world. During the 2nd millennium B.C. that part of the Elamite civilization situated in and around the ancient city of Susa (the Susiana plain) experienced a growth of population to unprecedented levels, as well as significant political and economic change. Tepe Sharafabad, already an ancient prehistoric mound, was the site of one of the new settlements founded during this period of growth. At first it was no more than an ordinary small village. Sometime near the middle of the 2nd millennium B.C. it was transformed into a rural estate. The study of such small sites may be critical to the understanding of the achievements of this important civilization, and of the evolution of early empires in general.