TENTATIVE CHRONOLOGICAL SEQUENCE OF BOW-TIE DESIGNS IN BABA JAN III PAINTED WARE

Abstract

A peculiar painted pottery group, which was called Kite Ware, is known to have existed in Luristan. The excavation at Baba Jan by Clare Goff made it clear that the pottery group was dated about ninth - seventh century B.C., and she named them Baba Jan III Painted Ware. The purpose of this study is to investigate the regionality of Baba Jan III Painted Ware in the western part of Iran and to shed some light on the material cultures of the Iron Age in Luristan. Decorated designs of Baba Jan III Ware have been termed the "kite design" after their rhomb-shape designs. The most important point in this paper is the recognition that a rhomb and two triangles form two bow-tie-shaped designs. The kite design can also be considered an arrangement of bow-tie-shaped designs transversely. The bow-tie design is divided into ten patterns, the oldest pattern being the vertical bow-tie design (Pattern x) from around the Giyan II period (c. 1500-1200 B.C.). The bow-tie design is simplified from the early Baba Jan III phase to the late Baba Jan III phase. In the western part of the Iranian plateau and the Zagros Mountains, Gray Ware and beak-shaped spouted pottery began to be produced in about 1400 B.C. The new decoration style that came from outside of Luristan caused some important changes in the Luristan Iron Age culture. Yet the bow-tie design of Baba Jan III Painted Ware was an indigenous design in Luristan and lasted in the face of their new material cultures. The long tradition of the bow-tie designs suggests that the indigenous pottery culture survived despite repeated invasions by various ethnic groups into Luristan.