ABSTRACT
The Chalcolithic period in Iran, coincides with the so-called climatic optimum with elevated levels of rainfall across Iran enabling both a spread of human settlement as well as the production of agricultural surpluses that came to underpin the development of complex and state-level societies at least in certain regions. The highly sophisticated, transregionally engaged societies of Early Bronze Age south-eastern Iran, in the Halil Rud, the fringes of the Dasht-e Lut, the Helmand delta, the Jazmurian basin and the Bampur valley, as well as those of north-eastern Iran, were all founded on the strength of this agricultural and pastoral bounty. The identity of Iran and its peoples, past and present, is a topic that consistently attracts attention, with the 1971 celebration at the Tomb of Cyrus of 2,500 years of Iranian monarchy frequently employed as a launchpad for such discussion.
