The Dez-Karun-Confluence in Lower Susiana (SW Iran) in the Last Millennia : a Case Study for the Human-Environment-Interaction

Abstract

Dez and Karun are two perennial rivers originating from the Zagros mountains in highland Iran, flowing into the riverine landscape of the Susiana Plains in southwestern Iran. They are crucial elements of the landscape and central to the region’s archaeology, especially regarding agriculture and trade, at least since the late Neolithic. The oldest known settlements of the Susiana date back to the seventh millennium BCE in the flood plains of these two rivers. This long and continuous interaction of rivers and human settlements is worth understanding. The current Dez- Karun-confluence is assumed to be very young, especially given the very straight channel of the joint rivers directly after their confluence – for about 20 kilometers (km) to the south – before it regains a meandering character. In this paper, I propose that their current confluence is recent and explore this proposition based on archaeological evidence, historical accounts, and newly generated geoarchaeological data, as well as OSL dating. Then, I discuss the implications of this environmental change, making a case for the hybrid nature of this change as an event within the framework of human-environment-interaction.