Tribute or Taxation; New Evidence of the Structure of Iran's Political Economy in the Proto-Elamite Period Based on a Proto-Elamite Tablet  from Tepe Yahya: TY.11, Kept in National Museum of Iran

Yazdani, Sahar; Yousefi Zoshk, Rouhollah

doi:https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.14754147

Tribute or Taxation; New Evidence of the Structure of Iran's Political Economy in the Proto-Elamite Period Based on a Proto-Elamite Tablet from Tepe Yahya: TY.11, Kept in National Museum of Iran

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Sahar Yazdani ¹

Rouhollah Yousefi Zoshk ²

¹ Department of Archaeology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

² Department of Archaeology, Isalamic Azad University of Pishva, Varamin, Iran

https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.14754147

Abstract

This study examines the political economy, social participation in financial interactions, and the position of Proto-Elamite communities at Tepe Yahya in the center of the Iranian plateau at the end of the second half of the fourth millennium BC. The elites of the Proto-Elamite period received a part of household surplus production as tribute, and in the form of a redistribution system, increased the accumulation of wealth among the ruling class. Centralized storage of information, administrative management techniques, and information registration and maintenance (seals and tablets) also support this theory. Tablet TY.11 from Tepe Yahya, which forms the focus of this article, offers some of the best evidence for the payment of tribute during this period. This article presents available information on economic transactions within the Yahya community in the form of tribute or taxation or offering, common economic resources, produced and consumed goods, and possible trading patterns that could have enabled the elites of Tepe Yahya (in the late fourth millennium) to interact with other sections of society. Also, changes in the level of complexity of these communities based on the tablets of the Proto- Elamite period mentioned in this article will be discussed as a possible indicator of complexity and social change.

Keywords

Taxation

Elites

Proto-Elamite

Tablet

Tepe Yahya

Subjects