The Iron Age period at the Sarand necropolis in northwestern Iran

Abstract

The northwestern region of Iran has an important place in the archaeological studies of the Iron Age of Iran, eastern Turkey and the southern Caucasus. In this geographic zone, several Iron Age necropolises have been investigated until the present moment, one of the most important of them being the Sarand necropolis. The archaeological excavations here led to the discovery of 36 tombs belonging to the Iron Age. The graves in this cemetery are rectangular stone chambers with single or multiple burials. In some of them, secondary and disturbed graves are also present. The burial status in association with the gender of the dead shows great variability and often there is direct correlation between the biological sex of the individual and the grave goods. Our study focuses on one of the graves of this rich cemetery following a descriptive-analytical approach by comparison to other key sites of the Iron Age of Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan. The results of this study indicate a cultural similarity between this particular necropolis and other Iron Age cemeteries in Iran and Azerbaijan

Keywords

• iron age
• northwestern iran
• sarand necropolis