The Emergence of Pottery in Southern Iran: Evidence from the Neolithic Site of Tol-e Sangi

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p> The emergence and spread of pottery production in Southwest Asia is a key topic in Neolithic archaeology, as it can provide valuable information about the technological developments and cultural changes of early societies. Archaeological excavations at the Tol-e Sangi in the Fars Cultural Zone have provided important evidence for investigating this process. Radiocarbon dates indicate that the earliest pottery in the Fars cultural zone appeared <jats:italic>c.</jats:italic> 6900 <jats:sc>bc</jats:sc> . The stratigraphic sequence of the site and the absence of any settlement hiatus between the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) and Pottery Neolithic (PN) layers indicate that pottery emerged within a continuous local cultural tradition and not as a result of population replacement or direct adoption of a fully developed ceramic tradition. The evidence from Tol-e Sangi supports a model that considers the emergence of pottery as a result of local development within the framework of a network of regional interactions. These results demonstrate the importance of the Fars cultural region as one of the key areas for understanding the origin, adoption and development of pottery technology in Southwest Asia. </jats:p>