A SPATIAL/FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF LATE FOURTH MILLENNIUM OCCUPATION AT THE TUV MOUND, TAL-E MALYAN, IRAN

The research being reported here has focused on a spatial/functional analysis of late fourth millennium occupation levels at the TUV mound, Tal-e Malyan, Iran. The TUV research is a case study of a portion of a site characterized by the occurrence of Proto-Elamite tablets. This study stems from work at the intra-site and intra-structure levels of the settlement pattern approach. The basic methodology of the research examines the patterns of spatial association between all the various moveable and immoveable elements of the archaeological record. These associations are then used to make functional inferences at two levels of interpretation. The first interpretative level is a room-by-room reconstruction of the internal structure (or organization in space) of activities at TUV. Such localization of functions can only be done on the basis of primary deposition and characteristics of the immoveable architecture and features. Consequently, the second interpretative level deals with the function of each building level as a whole. The contents of secondary trash deposits are utilized to construct a functional profile of each level. The TUV research is valuable in a number of ways. It constitutes a substantive contribution to knowledge of the archaeology of both the Kur River Basin and of sites with Proto-Elamite tablets. The TUV work makes a methodological contribution through the application of simple quantitative approaches to the examination in variation in depositional processes at a mounded site, and to the construction of functional profiles for building levels. Finally, the interpretations derived from the study can be used to evaluate a series of hypotheses about TUV and its wider relationships. The part of the TUV mound which we have excavated is shown to have been not a special-purpose quarter but rather an area with a very diverse functional profile. It is argued that TUV is physically and functionally a suburb of the main mound at Malyan. Some light is also cast on the Proto-Elamite phenomenon through the demonstration that at TUV the tablets appear to be associated with arrtifacts indicative of administration and local exchange