Tepe Farukhabad is a small mound site located in Southwestern Iran in the Deh  Luran Plain. It was originally discovered in 1903 by Gautier and Lampre, but was not excavated until many years later. It is an odd shaped mound, roughly 25 meters high, and thought to be originally 200 meters in diameter. Since its original inhabitation however, the  Mehmeh River has eroded away roughly two thirds of  the site. Its location in the
Deh Luran Plain, in the foothills of the Zagros mountains, along an ancient route that connected Susa and Babylonia, made it a practical choice for the location of a trading center (Wright 1997:181).
    After his work at Ur, completed in 1967, Henry Wright decided to continue on the development of states and urban societies, but decided that he could best contribute by focusing on factors other than agriculture. Instead he determined to base his next project either on interregional trade, intercity warfare, and diplomacy or on central political organization. He finally chose to study the relationship between interregional trade, competition and the rise of town centered settlements (Wright 1981:). Now that he knew what he wanted, he just had to find a location.
    Wright knew he wanted a town on a trade route that was located between the mountains and the lowlands. His attention was first directed to the area of the Deh Luran Plain by Kent Flannery and Frank Hole. Their recent work in the Deh Luran Plain done along with Neely and Helbaek had provided important information on population, environment, chronology and subsistence pattern during the Neolithic and Chalcolithic that were not available for the other areas at the time. Flannery and Hole had also found sherds at Tepe Farukhabad that dated back to the fifth millennium BCE, as well as beveled rim bowls that dated from the fourth millennium, giving evidence that the site was occupied at the appropriate times for the study of town development as well as the trade patters of the area. Its location made it ideal for a trade route study, and because it was small and the area was well defined, it allowed multiple factors  to be controlled by the excavator. Wright decided it was an ideal site for the purpose of his study (Wright 1981:1).
    The recent work of Flannery and Hole had given evidence that supported the supposition that the population of Mesopotamia was rapidly increasing during the period of rising states, thereby decreasing the land that was available for use. Also, the quality of the land that was available was declining (Wright 1981:1). This supposition led to the formation of two hypotheses that were to be tested during the excavation of Tepe Farukhabad. The first was that fortified towns and military organizational specialists were necessary due to competition over the decreasing amount of agricultural land.  The second was that the growing production of export materials and the increasing numbers of imports required a growing administrative body to both organize the labor and the oversee the redistribution process (Wright 1981:Fig 2). Even if these hypotheses were proved to be incorrect, it was still hoped that the relationship between craft trades and town growth and development could be examined.
    As mentioned earlier, Tepe Farukhabad is and odd shaped mound that has been thoroughly eroded by the Mehmeh River on the southwest side. The site is 190 meters from the northwest edge to the southeast edge, and 140 meters from the northeast to the southwest. The high central area is roughly 25 meters about the ancient flood plain, and 30 meters below the mound's surface (Wright 1981:4). The high central area is surrounded by a low flank. Early descriptions of the site indicated that the central area was an earlier village mound that had been subsequently built upon during the formation of the larger town. It was supposed that the large public buildings were placed on the high central mound, while the lower flanks held the more domestic buildings of the town (Wright 1981:3).
    After studying ground and aerial photos of the mound, Wright decided to open at least two soundings. One would be along the edge of the river cut face so as to provided a stratigraphic sequence of the public buildings and associated debris. The other would be close to the edge of the lower flank to transect any fortification walls and to find any domestic buildings and the associated debris. Interregional trade was to be examined through any changes in the quantities of traded materials. Also, and examination of the architecture involved in each trade would provide data on the organization of interregional trade. Changes in subsistence techniques, land quality and the availability of transport animals would be studied through a sequence of floral and faunal remains acquired through the two excavations. Also, it was hoped that an examination of nearby canal traces would reveal ceramics that would allow the canals to be dated. And, finally, if time and funding permitted, two more soundins would be opened in order to increase the sample area (Wright 1981:3).
    Excavations at Tepe Farukhabad were opened on March 2, 1968, and were conducted bye the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology, Ann Arbor, in collaboration with the Iranian Archaeological Service; the project was headed by Henry Wright (Wright 1997:182). A field camp was set up and 30 local workmen were hired. A tent was rented and erected to act as an equipment depot and a shelter for the workmen, and a Landrover was borrowed from the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute.
    Indications on the surface of the site showed that the mound had probably grown as much as Wright had speculated, but not during the assumed period. An initial sounding was done on the low flank to reveal that there were several meteres of Partho-Sasanial debris. Wright decided to focus on the high central mound area.
    Surveying the site, Wright discovered that the mound had been eroded three times by the Mehmeh River. The first erosion episode cut away the northwest corner, which is now covered and stabilized with grasses. The second episode left a long transect through the heart of the mound that was also stable. The third episode was the one that cut the entire southwest half of the mound way. This is still the site of active erosions, the result of which is a steep cliff that is in constan danger of collapse. Wright chose to work along the site of the second errosional episode, which could be worked with ease and in relative safety. This location would also allow debris to be dumped over the side of the excavation into the flood plain with little difficulty. Extensive horizontal excavations would not be nearly so practical or effective (Wright 1981:8).
    Excavations A and B, as they were called, were both five meters in width, and were aligned northeast-southwest. The northeast-southwest placement was to all ow them to be cut into the slope at right angles. The unit to the southeast was Excavation A and the unit to the northwest was Excavation B. The two excavation were placed exactly 45 meters apart to allow for future excavations at Tepe Farukhabad. The excavations were then divided into one by one metere squares, each designated by a letter/number grid. Each excavation was to expose approximately 25 square meters. As the excavation proceeded, they were stepped outward so as to keep roughly the same area exposed (Wright 1981:6).
    Once a layer was cleared of any architectural features, the whole area was cut down by a few centimeters and then cleaned. A shallow step was then cut to reveal any underlying deposits. Possible walls and features were defined on the new surface, and any stratification was defined on the section cut. Most layers were divided into sections for removal. Thick layers, those over fifteen centimeters in depth, were arbitrarily divided into upper, middle and lower layers for removal. Only the thinnest of layers were removed as a whole unit. Color changes and floor surfaces were noted, and four floor types were defined. These were 1) very well-prepared floors that had a base of some sort and were then plastered; 2) ordinary floors that were covered only in mud plaster; 3) simple floors that were only compact surfaces that were not covered or protected in any way, and 4) ephemeral floors that were discontinuous compacted surfaces that were both with and without coverings. The stratigraphy was relatively clear and was multi-colored, allowing for good control. Only once was control lost, and this was due to the cross-cutting of a green staining, which is believed to have been the result of the percolation of ancient sewage (Wright 1981:6).
    When features were found they were isolated, drawn in plans, photographed, numbered, and then removed. All debris from the excavations was sifted, with the exception of the debris from the from the cleaning of the sections, known mud brick walls and known animal burrows. When there was any question, the debris was screened. This allowed for the recovery of bone fragments, chipped stone and small samples of bitumen that were used in statistical analysis of the site. A serial excavation catalogue was used to record the artifacts found.
    Mud brick wall stubs were the most common type of feature. When a wall stub was found brick alignment was noted then isolated by removing any refuse or collapsed brick from the wall down to floor level. Working from the sides, the brick face or plaster was searched for, although this was no always possible. If it was determined to be a wall and not just a pile of loose brick, the feature was numbers, meassured and mapped. Other features included pits, hearths, postholes, piles of brick and stone and burials (Wright 1981:6-7).
    Sampling was another important aspect of the excavations. Water flotation was used to recover carbonized plant remains, as well as retouch flakes, rodent bones, and any other small item susceptible to flotation. Any charcoal found was collected for radiocarbon testing to determine age, and earth samples were cut for pollen analysis (Wright 1981:7).
    During the last few days of excavation, a third trench was dug, this time further out on the northeast slope. This was an extension of the original sounding down on the first days at the site. The purpose of Excavation C, as it was named, was to provide data on the outer perimeter of the central mound. The one meter wide trench was stepped down the slope, cleaned and recorded. Most of what was found consisted of small buildings that dated to the second millennium. Artifacts that were found in the small trench were kept as samples to used for dating purposes. Excavations were closed on April 30, 1968.
    The original idea had been to study the rise of organized states due to competition and trade. However, during excavation, it became apparent that there were few, if any, direct traces of conflict at Farukhabad. Weapons were not found and there were no surviving defensive walls. Any defensive structures that there might have been were eroded away long ago. But even though Wright was not able to realize his goal of examining competition and conflict at Tepe Farukhabad, he was very pleased with the data on trade. Relative increases in the quantities of imports were found as he had surmised. Local materials of lower quality than those imported allowed for speculation on the value of certain imported material relative to the local wares (Wright 1981:3). For example, Excavation A, which contained a greater proportion of well-maintained structures on mud brick platforms and public storehouses, also contained a greater amount of high quality imported chert, while in Excavations B, which contained more modest domestic structures, more low quality chert of local origin were found (Wright 1997:182). Also, waste products form certain processes, such as bitumen processing, were found and measured, giving an indirect measure of the amounts of exports flowing from Farukhabad that would not have been possible otherwise (Wright 1981:3). Finally, the excavations at Farukhabad, as well as those elsewhere, produced direct evidence of the activities of the administrators. For a project that lasted only two months, a sizable amount of data was collected. Although he was unable to follow up on the regional confict portion of the excavation, Wright was satisfied with the results (Wright 1981:3-8), and one original goal of the excavation, to increase the knowledge of interregional trade, was fulfilled.
 
 
 
 

Bibliography

Wright, Henry
        1981    An Early Town on the Deh Luran Plain: Excavations at Tepe Farukhabad. Ann Arbor: Regents
        of The University of Michigan.

Wright, Henry
        1997 Tepe Farukhabad. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Ancient Near East, 5:181-183.
        New York: The Oxford University Press.
 
 

Info