Materiality of two vessels in southern turkmenian style from Shahr-i Sokhta (Sistan, Iran, c. 3100-2900 BC)

We present part of the results of an experimental conservation project on selected samples of Buff Ware ceramics from the early urban site of Shahr-i Sokhta (Sistan, Iran, 3rd millennium BC), kept in the Museo delle Civiltà - Museo Nazionale d'Arte Orientale in Rome (or MNAO). The conservation project included an in-depth investigation of the composition of the ceramics, through petrographic study of thin sections, XRD, SEM-EDX, TGA and FTIR, and X-ray radiography. The comparison between the raw materials of two vessels made in the style of the contemporary early Bronze age sites of Kopet Dag piedmont in southern Turkmenistan (Shahr-i Sokhta period I = Namazga III period in Turkmenistan) and the pots made according to the local styles demonstrates that the former are local products. The evidence thus requires the abandonment of explanatory models based upon long-distance trade or transport of pots, and the search for different historical explanations.