Reevaluating Late 4th Millennium BC Occupation at Godin Tepe: New Insights into the Architecture, Artifact Assemblages, and Intercultural Dynamics in Iran and Mesopotamia

The late fourth millennium BC marks an era of radical socio-cultural and technological transformations across the Middle East, during which cities emerged and bureaucracy developed, foreshadowing our present-day way of life. This time has been extensively studied but our understanding of indigenous communities in other regions beyond southern Mesopotamian centers, such as Uruk and Susa, is limited. Godin Tepe in Central Western Iran represents one of the sites that so far has been discussed primarily in relation to its connections with Uruk or Susa. The widely accepted interpretation of Godin's late fourth millennium (Period VI:1) occupation as a segregated community with a foreign Uruk/Susa colony at the 'Oval Compound' has reinforced its perceived passive peripheral role in local developments and interregional exchanges. This dissertation is based on a thorough examination of the Godin Project’s excavation archive at the Royal Ontario Museum. My reconstruction of Godin VI:1’s archaeological history involves a re-evaluation of stratigraphic and architectural data of the Deep Sounding (DS) and Brick Kiln-Cut (BKC), a comprehensive analysis of floor assemblages, a re-examination of artifacts in their respective cultural contexts, and the integration of recalibrated radiocarbon dates. A reevaluation of the Kangavar Valley Survey provides a correlation of Godin’s substantial expansion during the late fourth millennium BC with the contemporary emergence of settlements in its surrounding area. My results significantly modify our understanding of Godin’s VI:1 settlement from a defensive 'Oval Compound' for a foreign elite alongside simple ‘local’ village houses towards an integrated cosmopolitan community in which local and foreign inhabitants interacted economically and socially. Sharing distinct late fourth-millennium cultural traditions, the Godin inhabitants integrated diverse elements and styles from southern Mesopotamia with the local cultures from the Iranian Plateau, reflecting a cultural continuity that spans from Late Uruk/Susa II to Proto-Elamite/Susa III traditions. This challenges the rigid cultural and historical periodization, showing overlaps between once-perceived distinct periods in the occupation of Godin’s Period VI:1. While Godin Tepe lacks the prominence of sites such as Susa and Uruk, its geopolitical placement at the crossroads of numerous cultural traditions highlights its significance for our understanding of late fourth-millennium regional transformations.

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