Tepe Yahya
تپه یحیی · Tappeh Yahya · Yahya Tepe
Neolithic to Sasanian (5500 BCE–500 CE; peak Proto-Elamite 3100–2600 BCE)·Central Iran Neolithic → Proto-Elamite → Kerman Bronze → Iron → Sasanian·🇮🇷 Kerman Province, Soghun Plain, Baft–Doulatabad area, Iran
About
About Tepe Yahya
Circular tell (20 m high, 187 m diameter) in Soghun Plain 250 km SE of Kerman, excavated 1967–75 by C.C. Lamberg-Karlovsky (Harvard–AMS). Seven Phases Yahya I–VII trace Neolithic (5500 BCE) to Sasanian; Phases IVC–IVA (3100–2600 BCE) show Proto-Elamite chlorite vessel workshop producing 'intercultural style' for export to Shahr-i Sokhta and Mesopotamia, then Early Bronze Kerman grey ware. After a 1000-year hiatus Phase VA Iron Age reoccupation with burnished grayware links to Shahr-i Sokhta cessation. Classic Kerman metallurgical and lapis trade paper.
Why it mattersPillar site for east-Iranian Proto-Elamite economy and chlorite intercultural style origin, paired with Shahr-i Sokhta as twin Kerman workshop.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Where did lapis workshop debris go — Anarak source or Afghan import?
Theories
- 01Yahya as summer highland workshop versus Shahdad lowland hub
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 5500 BCE (Yahya VII, Neolithic)
- Period
- Neolithic to Sasanian (5500 BCE–500 CE; peak Proto-Elamite 3100–2600 BCE)
- Culture
- Central Iran Neolithic → Proto-Elamite → Kerman Bronze → Iron → Sasanian
- Builders
- Soghun villagers; Proto-Elamite artisans (Phase IVA chlorite carvers)
- Purpose
- Highland workshop and staging town on Kerman–Jiroft–Banigan lapis–copper corridor
- Abandoned
- c.2600 BCE (hiatus to 1000 BCE), reoccupied Iron Age
- Rediscovered
- 1967 Harvard survey; excavated 1967–1975
- Excavation
- Excavated
c.3000 BCE
Chlorite workshop peak Phase IVB
c.2600 BCE
abandonment after proto-urban collapse
c.1000 BCE
Iron Age Phase VA reoccupation
On the ground
Structures & features
28.5830° N · 56.3500° E · 1480 m · 2 mapped features
Phase IVB chlorite workshop
workshopCourtyard with chlorite vessel blanks and drill cores
28.5832° N · 56.3503° ECircular fortification (Phase VII)
fortificationEarly Neolithic curvilinear mudbrick perimeter
28.5828° N · 56.3497° E
Gallery