Stratified Sequence and Relative Chronology at Toll-e Gap Kenareh, Marvdasht plain, Iran

The site of Toll-e Gap Kenareh is located ۵ Km southwest of Persepolis, ۳ Km northeast of Marvdasht city inthe Kur River Basin. The first season of excavation at Toll-e Gap was conducted in Sept/Oct ۲۰۱۲ to identifythe cultural stratified sequence of the site and to get relative and absolute dating for the ۳rd millennium BC. Fars.Two trenches (A and B) were excavated during this season of excavation on the east and west sides of the siteand reached the virgin soil at ۵.۳ m depth. According to the recovered potsherds and comparing them to the othersites of the Kur River Basin, it can be inferred that the chronological sequence found in Toll-e Gap Kenarehdisplays early Islamic, Sasanian, early Kaftari, transitional Banesh / Kaftari and Banesh (early, middle, and late?)periods. Toll-e Gap Kenareh opens new horizons in the archaeology of Fars during the ۳rd millennium BC., aboveall for the transition between the well-known Banesh and Kaftari periods.

Keywords:

Fars , Marvdasht plain , ۳rd millennium , Banesh , Kaftari , Sasanian period , early Islamic period