emergence of pre-governmental institutions in central iranian plateau: ruling lords in the proto-elamite period at pishva’s tepe sophalin

the present article investigates the administrative structure of the pottery mound from an administrative management point of view. data obtained from excavation of the pottery mound has generated an extensive archeological databank relating to the beginning of the historical era with a focus on the emergence of management and administrative systems in the central iranian plateau. in the proto-elamite period, major changes are observed in the economic systems, as well as shifts from a kinship-based society towards one of a class-based nature, which contributed to the rise in the number of economic entities and the organizational growth of the labor force. as a specialized center for administrative management located in the northern area of the central iranian plateau, the pottery mound was managed by a group of economic and social elites, i.e. the proto-elamite lords, supervised the production and exchange of merchandise, and embraced all the criteria necessary for a pre-governmental society. the pottery mound expands our knowledge of the role played by commercial exchanges in the development and progress of complicated societies within the area of the central iranian plateau. according to the administrative and management data on the pottery mound region, the power hierarchy of this society, on whose foundation was an elite or a group of social elites, served to coordinate various decisions, while also organizing and controlling other contemporary societies with the pottery region as the center within the location of rey plain. drawing on the management data obtained in the course of four seasons of investigations into the pottery mound, the present article seeks to study the developmental trend of the pre-governmental institutions in the central iranian plateau and the economic as well as social status of the proto-elamite lords at the end of the fourth and beginning of the third century b.c.