Page:History of Early Iran.pdf/25

Rh Shiraz, and Kashan in the central part of the plateau; and in Seistan and Baluchistan in the east.

All the available evidence indicates that the painted-pottery culture persisted steadfastly within Iran while Mesopotamia was undergoing a gradual and distinct evolution. Susa alone on the border of the plateau felt the impact of the development on the west, and recent excavations have revealed the presence at this site of the typically Mesopotamian wares. Thus superimposed upon the pottery of Susa I are sherds which belong to the earliest period of Mesopotamian archeology, namely, the al-ʿUbaid period; can above these again are fragments which can be assigned in turn to the Uruk and to the Jemdet Nasr periods. One group of pottery vases does not, however, belong with the Mesopotamian objects but has its closest parallels in far-off Seistan and Baluchistan. This is the generally monochrome