New Radiocarbon Evidence from Shahdad and the Earliest Datable Linear Elamite Text

Abstract In this paper, we report two 14 C-AMS dates obtained from samples of lead-based cosmetics found in two graves of Cemetery A at Shahdad (Kerman, Iran). Combined with ceramic comparisons, these new dates provide strong evidence that this graveyard was in use for most of the 3 rd millennium BCE. The earliest of the two funerary contexts – Grave 30 – dated by radiocarbon analysis to between the 30 th and the 27 th century BCE, also contained a ceramic vessel bearing a Linear Elamite inscription, which can thus be attributed to the early centuries of the 3 rd millennium BCE. This contradicts the traditional view that this writing system was created at the time of Puzur-Sušinak (second half of the 22 nd century BCE) and points instead to a many centuries-long history of Linear Elamite use during the Early Bronze Age on the Iranian Plateau.