Compared to other regions in Iran, the north-western region enjoys a distinctly higher rainfall because of higher altitude and is one of the most populated areas in the country. Hence, cultivation occurs mostly in valleys, where there is shelter from the bitter winter winds and soil has accumulated. At higher altitudes, the climate is often too cold and precipitation decreases. Thus, two different life styles are seen in the region: pastoralism at higher altitude, and sedentism with agriculture mostly at lower altitudes. Pastoral groups usually breed sheep and goats with some cattle and a few horses. Agriculture emphasizes cereals such as wheat and barley (Fisher 1968: 8-13). However, at high altitudes, some pastoralists engage in small scale agriculture, cultivating alfalfa to feed their herds in order to complement pastures in dry seasons.
Today, the Chaldran area is predominantly a pasture land. Agriculture is practiced mostly in plains such as the Chaldran plain around 20km to the south of Köhne Shahar, the Avajiq plain (Kilisa Kandi) around 10km to the north, and in a smaller scale in river valleys. In close proximity to the site, it is hard to practice
irrigation agriculture, and agricultural intensification is unlikely since there is a scarcity of land. Irrigation only became possible with the arrival of modern technologies such as tractors, pumps, and pipes.
Köhne Shahar is located 20km to the northwest of the city of Chaldran in the Western Azerbaijan province of Iran in a narrow valley between small plains and high pasturelands (Fig. 2). The site consists of a fortified citadel, a contemporaneous
extramural kurgan cemetery, and a possible extramural residential area or “outer town.” The site has a total area of approximately 15 hectares. The citadel, with an area of 2.5 to 3 ha., sits atop a natural basaltic platform. The platform is triangular and its location at the confluence of two rivers, Qizlar Chay and Beytal Chay, makes it naturally defensible (Fig. 3). In addition to two rivers, there are several springs around the site.
Fig. 2. Major Kura-Araxes sites in Caucasus and location of Köhne Shahar (modified map from wikimedia.org, location of the Kura-Araxes sites after Burney and Lang 1971, Kiguradze and Sagona 2003, Rothman 2003, Akhundov 2007, Sagona 1984, Smith 2005)
The site sits atop a basaltic lava that may have been deposited by one or several xqnecpqgu"kp"vjg"ctgc."uwej"cu"Ctctcv"*C0tõ"Fc0+."Vgpf̄tgm."cpf"[õiõv"Fc0õ"(Allen, et al. 2011: 1178; Kheirkhah, et al. 2009) and lies along the Gailatu-Siah Cheshmeh-Khoy Fault, which is recently dated to Quaternary, ranging from 1.87 to 0.4 Ma (Allen, et al. 2011: 1179-1180, 1186). Lava flows are the predominant geological features of the region (Allen, et al. 2011: 1186) and because of close proximity, probably lavas beneath and around Köhne Shahar were originated from Tendürek (see Kheirkhah, et al. 2009: 5). Lavas in the region flowed for tens of kilometers along pre-existing river valleys then “after eruption, the valleys were reoccupied by the present rivers, which have cut gorges on the scale of 10–50 m through the lavas” (Allen, et al. 2011: 1175). This phenomenon is well represented at Köhne Shahar where the lava beneath the
Fig. 3. View of Köhne Shahar from the south
citadel was cut by two rivers, which presently flow about 20 m lower than the surface of the citadel.
Before excavation was commenced in 2012, the entire site and a great deal of surrounding area was surveyed three-dimensionally using a Leica FlexLine TS09 1”R400 Power Total Station. I also established a site bench mark at the highest point on the citadel and seven more stations as secondary bench marks on the citadel. In
addition, I created a precise site grid aligned to magnetic north (see Figs. 4 and 5). Our survey in 2011 indicated that Köhne Shahar is most likely one of the largest known Kura-Araxes settlements. Surface ceramics collection also suggested that the site is all Kura-Araxes in date, with no other significant occupation of other time periods. Köhne Ujcjct"ku"ukvwcvgf"cv"G"66ü"39)"68$."P"5;̇"33)"42$"cv"c"jgkijv"qh"3;27"ogvgtu"cdqxg"ugc" level; as determined with the use of a handheld Garmin GPS 12 Personal Navigator®.
Fig. 4. Topographic map of Köhne Shahar
Fig. 5. Topographic map of the citadel of Köhne Shahar
The citadel is relatively intact but both the extramural area and cemetery have been significantly damaged by ploughing, flattening and transformation of earth for alfalfa cultivation during past few decades. Köhne Shahar was first surveyed in the 1970s by a German team (Kleiss and Kroll 1979). Except extensive surveys of the region by German team in 1960s and 70s whose primary focus was site of Bastam and the Urartian period (Kroll 2005; 2004b), no intensive survey had been carried out in the region generally, or in the immediate vicinity of Köhne Shahar. I visited the site in September of 2011, and surveyed it again after more than three decades.
The extensive surveys shows that while there are numerous Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlements around Urmia Lake to the south, they are rare to the north in mountainous areas (Kroll 2004b: 45; 2005). This means that probably the region was sparsely populated in time of the first occupation at Köhne Shahar. The surveys also indicated that Köhne Shahar is not the only Kura-Araxes fortified settlement, but it is the largest of the Kura-Araxes settlements in the regions (Kroll 2004b). Kroll (2004b: 46) consider Köhne Shahar a city with an urban
organization which in this sense it is the only within the whole KACC in eastern Anatolia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.
I visited the site in September of 2011, and surveyed it again after more than three decades. In addition to its natural defensive mechanism, both surveys indicated that the site also has a fortification wall with "rounded towers" (some of them could be buttresses) that separates a densely built citadel or inner town from the more sparsely built extramural area. The structures are close to the ground surface, which facilitated mapping architectural, occupational, and public spaces such as a central "plaza" and radial alleyways of the citadel (Figs. 6 and 7). Although there might be some minor inaccuracies on the map drawn by Kleiss and Kroll, their map has
proven to be mostly accurate and reliable, especially in terms of gross outlines such as the
location of the fortification wall and its towers, the alleyways, the central “plaza”, and most other architectural features. Kleiss and Kroll (1979) argued that the site consists of an Early Bronze Age occupation and attributed it to the Kura-Araxes Culture. As they indicated, all surface ceramics in the citadel and the cemetery are typical of the Kura-Araxes material culture. To the east of the site, foothills might have been occupied by nomads in later periods, specifically in the Islamic era.
Fig. 6. Topography and plan of Köhne Shahar drawn by Kleiss and Kroll (1979)
Many traits of the site, such as its nucleation around a citadel, its fortifications with towers, a possible communal area or “plaza” that could be used for public gathering and means for dissemination of ideology (see Billman 2001: 182),9 and its
sizable area in comparison to other contemporary sites, suggest that the site was a
9 Prior to mass media technologies, ideology as one of means of exerting power could be physically received by followers in public areas and “plazas.” In other words, public areas might be expressed materialization of ideology (Billman 2001: 182).
Fig.7. Topography and plan of the citadel of Köhne Shahar drawn by Kleiss and Kroll (1979)
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socially complex town founded in the highland area of Iranian Azerbaijan during the early 3rd millennium BC. In the summers of 2012, 2013, and 2014 I opened several
trenches in the citadel, the cemetery, and in the extramural area. The first season lasted for five weeks in July and August 2012. A second season lasted for about eight weeks from late June to late August 2013 and the third season lasted for five weeks during August and early September 2014.