IRANIAN AZERBAIJAN PATHWAY FROM THE ZAGROS TO THE CAUCASUS, ANATOLIA AND NORTHERN MESOPOTAMIA: DAVA GÖZ, A NEW NEOLITHIC AND CHALCOLITHIC SITE IN NW IRAN

Abstract

The settlement of Dava Göz situated about 15km SW of Khoy and 1.5km north of the Dizaj Diz town in NW Iran. Dava Göz is a small site at north of the Lake Urmia, measuring about 100×100m (ca. 1ha). The first sea- son of archeological excavation primarily aimed to clarifying the chronology, settlement organization, and respond to some of the fundamental questions such as the transition process from Late Neolithic to Early Chalcolithic (Hajji Firuz to Dalma) and identifying different cultural horizon including Late Chalcolithic (LC1 and LC2 periods) and also outlining cultural condition of the region during prehistoric periods. The present paper is intended to expose briefly the main stratigraphic, architectural and material data from the site. The stratigraphy of the settlement is now well understood and covers the Late Neolithic/Transitional Chalcolithic (Hajji Firuz/Dalma=Period I) and Chalcolithic (Pisdeli=LC1=Period II and Chaff-Faced Ware horizon=LC2=Period III) phases of the regional culture of north of the Lake Urmia Basin. Actually, Dava Göz is one of the scant well excavated settlements that give new and fresh information on the developments of the Lake Urmia Basin communities between the sixth to fourth millennium BC (5400-3700/3600 BC), and on their relationships with the contemporary Caucasian cultures as well as with those located further west and south, in Eastern Anatolia and in the Syro-Mesopotamian region. The first preliminary result of excava- tion, suggest special function for Dava Göz. It seems clear that this site could be consider as winter land for some agro-pastoral groups of Lake Urmia Basin who trying to find some pasturelands and preparing same raw materials like obsidian for the settlements of Urmia region The implications of the findings will discuss along with limitations and future research directions.