Tepe Abdul Hosein: A Neolithic Site in Western Iran Excavations 1978 by Judith Pullar

Review by: Abbas Alizadeh

Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 57, No. 2 (Apr., 1998), pp. 146-148
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/546289 .
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146 JOURNALOF NEAR EASTERNSTUDIES
Chap. 5 treats separately those pieces for
which a Minoan origin has been demonstrated
or suggested. The format emulates that estab-
lished in chap. 2, so that the entries are arranged
according to vessel shape, with a brief descrip-
tion and discussion of each, albeit sans illustra-
tion, followed by a separate series of catalogue
entries listing the findspots of each example
known from Syria-Palestine.
Chap. 6 contains a site index, in which the
sites in Syria-Palestine at which Aegean vessels
and figurines have been found are listed in al-
phabetic order, with an abbreviated record re-
iterating the shapes present at that site and the
catalogue numbersassigned to each. As Leonard
notes, the catalogue and indexes in the various
chapters can be used either individually or in
concert with one or more of the others.
Following these chaptersare three appendixes.
Appendix A lists the specific chariotcomponents
representedin the chariot scenes on Mycenaean
vases from Syria-Palestine, while Appendix B
lists the incised signs and Appendix C the
painted signs found on the Aegean pottery from
Syria-Palestine.
Finally, following an extremely useful bib-
liography, some thirty-eight distribution maps
graphically depict the findspots of the Aegean
pottery in Syria-Palestine, arranged according
to vessel shape. For example, map 11 depicts
the distributionof Mycenaean "GlobularStirrup
Jars"(FS 171 and 173) found in Syria-Palestine,
while map 23 charts the findspots of Mycenaean
"Conical and Ostrich Egg Rhyta" (FS 199 and
201) found in Syria-Palestine.
Within the chapters and individual entries
themselves, Leonardis authoritative;yet he takes
care to present alternateviews and/or to explain
the various problems involved. The numerous
drawings of shapes and motifs accompanying
the text and catalogue are extremely useful. Al-
though one misses the presence of plates, ample
references are given to those which may be
found in Furumarkand elsewhere. Overall, the
text, catalogue, and illustrations clearly reflect
Leonard's painstaking labor of more than two
decades.
While there are a number of superficial typo-
graphical errors (which do not greatly affect the
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VOL. 57 No. 2
scholarship) and while the bibliographycontains
several publications not actually cited in the text
or footnotes of the book itself, on the whole, this
volume is tremendously useful and can be rec-
ommended without reserve. It will be a welcome
addition to the bookshelf of every archaeologist
specializing in the Bronze Age of either the
Aegean or the EasternMediterraneanand will be
of particularinterest to those attemptingto doc-
ument the trade between those two regions. It
will also join the works of Furumark,French,
and Mountjoy at every ongoing archaeological
excavation in Egypt and the Near East which
touches upon Late Bronze Age levels, for it is an
essential volume of description, discussion, and
comparanda which will serve to augment the
scarce resources available for identifying the
often-fragmentary Aegean sherds recovered at
such Eastern Mediterraneansites. As such, an
added, perhapsunintentional,benefit stems from
the fact that the volume has been printed as a
hardbackbook with sewn binding; thus, its man-
ufacture guarantees that the volume will stand
up to years of well-thumbeduse and will survive
the rigors of being taken into the field season
after season.
ERIC H. CLINE
Universityof Cincinnati
TepeAbdul Hosein: A Neolithic Site in Western
Iran Excavations 1978. By JUDITHPULLARET
AL.B.A.R. InternationalSeries 563. London:
B.A.R., 1990. Pp. 259 + 77 figs. + 24 pls.
This book is an excellent example of what can
be achieved with a modest budget and during a
short, but careful, season. It is also an exemplary
way of organizing and presentingexcavated ma-
terials. In chap. 2, for example, the excavator
leaves nothing to the reader's imagination. The
archaeological units and levels are well defined,
the techniques described, and the rationale for
each operation explained. This gives the reader
an excellent opportunity to ascertain the weak-
ness and strengthof the projectand to appreciate
the conditions underwhich the excavations were
APRIL 1998 BOOK REVIEWS
carried out. Moreover, the report is generously
supported by numerous meticulously prepared
section drawings, plans, and charts. All the ob-
jects found on floors are triangulated,numbered,
and described in a separate page facing the il-
lustrations (e.g., pp. 42-43, fig. 13). The spatial
distributionpatternson the surfaces and floors of
artifacts and ecofacts are painstakingly provided
with facing charts, describing each item. The
same is done for the burials and their contents.
The book is a report on the excavations at
Tappeh Abdul Hosein, a small early Neolithic
site, ca. 6 m high and 50 m in diameter. At an
elevation of 1860 m, the mound is located in
the valley of Ab-e Qeshlaq, halfway between the
modern towns of Khurramabadand Malayer, in
the central Zagros mountains. The excavation of
the mound was intended to test a number of
hypotheses concerning the crucial period of tran-
sition from hunting-gatheringto early domestica-
tion of plants and animals and the environmental
conditions during the early Neolithic period
(p. 8).
Temporary camps or campsites of the late
Pleistocene hunting-gatheringpopulation of the
Zagros mountains are representedby such sites
as Karim Shahir, Zawi Chemi, Shanidar B-l,
MoDlafaatand Gerd Chai, Ganj Darreh E, and
Asiab. Initial village life, though not necessarily
permanent,is representedin the Zagros by sites
such as Tappeh Guran and Tappeh Sarab. A
number of 14C dates put the earliest occupation
of Tappeh Abdul Hosein in the early seventh
millennium B.C., i.e., the end of Ganj Darreh,
and before the beginning of Tappeh Guran and
TappehSarab.
The deposits are divided into aceramic and
ceramic phases, each with a number of associ-
ated levels. The earliest occupation seems to be
a seasonal campsite with no solid architecture.
This phase is characterizedby having a number
of cooking and storing installations(p. 9). Some-
what later,tracesof rectangular,mud-brickarchi-
tecture with mud-plasteredfloors, some painted
red, occur (p. 9). Cultivated wheat and barley
were presentfrom the beginning, aceramic phase
(p. 5). But except for a number of surfaces and
floors (some mud-plastered),no traces of solid
architecturewere found in this phase (p. 6). There
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147
seems to be a break in the occupationallevels of
the aceramicand ceramic phases, separatedby "a
hard crust of dark brown or black clay mixed
with small stones" (p. 6). The 1 m of occupa-
tional debris above this deposit was too disturbed
to yield any tracesof solid architecture,but traces
of walls are noted in sections (p. 10). It seems
that the site as a village was deserted by the mid-
seventh millennium and was consequently cov-
ered with mixture of colluvium and alluvium.
The pottery (pp. 157-61) is primarilycoarse,
plain, and handmade;the surface is usually buff.
Insofar as the shapes can be reconstructed,they
are simple with thick, flat bases. Mineraland veg-
etal temperingagents were used either separately
or in combination, with the latter being most
frequent. Some sherds are burnished, but since
most of the sherds have an eroded surface or
are covered with incrustation, burnishing may
have been more common. The painted pottery is
scanty, and one piece is identified as "J" ware,
presumablycontemporarywith the Halaf period
in northern Mesopotamia. Only a handful of
painted pottery was found (23 lip-sherds and 46
body-sherds, little over 0.3 percent of the total).
These sherds of mixed painted pottery,dating to
the sixth and fifth millennia, were discovered
in the upper disturbed levels (p. 10). Almost all
of the painted examples exhibit characteristics
of early Neolithic pottery. The presence of later
ceramic, perhaps as late as Late Middle Susiana
(fig. 62:11), indicates that the site must have
been used as a campsite after it was abandoned
as a village.
Clay figurines,spindlewhorls, andtokens were
found in most levels (pp. 169-72). Also bone
tools, stone bowl fragments, pounders, pestles,
and grinders, all common components of early
Neolithic sites occur (p. 10). Stone tools were
found in all levels and resembled the lithic tech-
nology at Ganj Darreh and Asiab (pp. 213-16).
Sixteen pieces of obsidian were found from all
levels, except in the campsite phase (pp. 12, 113).
Eleven pieces of the NemrutDagh obsidian seem
to be the earliest occurrence of this commodity
in the Zagros mountains (pp. 6, 12, 113). The
lack of obsidian at Ganj Darreh, its presence at
Abdul Hosein, and its abundance at Guran and
Sarab also draw attentionto the transitorynature
148 JOURNAL
OF NEAREASTERNSTUDIES VOL. 57 No. 2

of the site between Ganj Darreh and Sarab and and language, limited themselves to translating
Guran. from previous French,English, or Germantrans-
Although the bones were not available for lations, Only the Hittite version of the poem was
analysis, worked bones were used to identify the put directly into Spanish (A. Bernab6, Textos
presence at the site of some domesticates such as Literarios Hetitas [Madrid, 1979 and 19871, pp.
sheep/goat, deer, boar, and wolf/leopard (pp. 10, 93-115).
189-91). It is unfortunatethat the faunal mate- The translatorhas aimed his work at the lay-
rial has not been analyzed due to the political man, at a readerwith an interest mainly either in
turmoil in Iran (p. 6). This hampers any conclu- ancient poetry, or in Mesopotamianculture, or in
sions on the state of animal husbandryat the site, both. In order to offer a continuous and coherent
crucial to the natureof the transitionperiod. text, Silva Castillo resorts to the Old Babylonian
Two-row hulled barley (Hardeum distichon), version to complete the StandardVersionin some
emmer (Triticium dicoccum), and lentils (Lens cases. Moreover, to save the reader from the
culinare) were identified. Pistachio nuts and philological selva selvaggia of differentkinds of
almond stones were also present (pp. 217-20). brackets, but giving, at the same time, an accu-
Hubbard (pp. 217-22) argues that agriculture rate idea of the state of the text, he uses italics
was brought to the site in an already evolved for the restitution of broken words and signs,
form. The predominance of the barley and em- brackets for more importantand commonly ad-
mer and the absence of einkorn at Abdul Hosein mitted restitutions, and a different font for the
is indeed peculiar, as Hubbard indicates. This Old Babylonian version. I. M. Diakonoff, in
situation suggests to him that plant domestica- his Russian translation(Epos o Gilgames'e(0 vso
tion is not at its initial stage here; rather, it vidavsem), Literaturnye Pamjatniki [Moscow,
reflects a conscious choice on the part of the in- 1961]), followed the same procedure.For simi-
habitantsof the site (pp. 219-20). lar reasons, Silva divides the text into thematic
chapters, independent of the traditionaldivision
ABBASALIZADEHinto tablets, although he makes the conventional
TheUniversityof Chicago numbering into lines, columns, and tablets clear
enough.
Silva's introduction puts stress on the mean-
ing of Gilgames as an epic figure replete with
Gilgamesh, o la angustia por la muerte (poema human and psychological nuances justifying the
babilonio). Translatedby JORGESILVACAS- subtitle of this book: "la angustia de la muerte"
TILLO.Mexico City: El Colegio de M6xico, (the anguish of death). In the light of W. L. Mo-
1994. Pp. 226. ran's article (JCS 32 [1980]: 208-10) regarding
This translation is of primary importance for Rilke's interest in Gilgames, one may perhaps
Spanish speakers:it is the first one made directly say of Gilgames'sheroic strugglebetweenlife and
from the Akkadiantext.' Othertranslators,2with death that "es erhilt sich der Held, selbst der
little or no knowledge of the original writing Untergang war ihm / nur ein Vorwand, zu sein:
seine letzte Geburt"(Duineser Elegien I 41-42).
11 thank Jerrold S. Cooper and Philip Jones for The footnotes restrictthemselves to illuminat-
reading earlier drafts of this review and for sharing ing some obscure expressions. Some pieces of
their comments with me. The responsibility for the the Hittite version are
ideas expressed, however, rests solely with me. quoted in these notes (in
While I was finishing this review, a second im- such cases, Silva follows J. Bott6ro's indirect
proved edition of Silva's work appeared(see my review
in a forthcoming issue of JAOS). Such promptness
proves the already mentioned importanceof this book. Florence Malbran-Labat(Estella, 1982). Agusti Bar-
2 Agusti Bartra(Mexico City, 1963 and Barcelona,
tra, who was a Catalan poet exiled in Mexico after
1972), Hylmar Blixen (Montevideo, 1980), Federico the Spanish Civil War, is the only one, before Silva,
LaraPeinado (Madrid, 1980, 1983, and 1988). Nicolais who attempted to render the epic in truly literary
Darical translated into Spanish the French version of Spanish.

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