Newly Discovered Bronze Age Archaeological Sites on Qeshm Island, Iran

Archaeological surveys of Qeshm Island conducted in 2006 and 2012 have identified a total of 191 archaeological sites dating from prehistoric to late Islamic times and provided new insights into the ancient settlement of the island. Among the identified sites, seven (three settlements and four cemeteries) can be attributed to the Bronze Age, representing the first archaeological sites from this period to have been identified on the Iranian islands of the Persian Gulf. Although only a preliminary reconstruction of the social and economic aspects of the third-millennium BC settlement of Qeshm Island is possible from these two seasons of survey, it appears that communities practised both agricultural production and the exploitation of marine resources. Material remains collected during surface survey indicate cultural, economic and technological connections between the Bronze Age inhabitants of Qeshm Island and neighbouring communities in south-eastern Iran and south-eastern Arabia.