Formative Period

  General Description   "The Formative Ceramic Phase. Soon after the initial Aceramic phase at Coga Bonut, plain and crude pottery vessels of simple shapes appeared, marking the beginning of the Formative Ceramic phase of the following Archaic period. During this phase, several classes of simple decorated pottery vessels, some with fugitive paint, can be observed (Alizadeh, pp. 43-47). The crude pottery of the Formative Ceramic phase (FIGURE 3) evolved into several outstanding classes of painted pottery, but the straw-tempered ware of the following Archaic Susiana 0 phase continued almost unchanged during the entire Archaic sequence.
The architectural evidence of the Formative Ceramic phase consisted of rectangular small houses with two or three rooms and usually an open court with some fire pits containing fire-cracked rocks. These simple nuclear family residences were built with the characteristic long, cigar-shaped mud bricks that continued to be used until the end of the Archaic period, and even into the Early Susiana period (ca. 5900 BCE). These architecturally awkward bricks have a surprisingly wide geographic distribution from the Susiana plain to southern and central Mesopotamia—for example, they have been found at Tell al-Owayli (Oueili; see Vallat, 1996, pp. 113-15, figs. 2-5) and at Čoḡā Māmi (Oates, p. 116, pl. 22:c)—and as far as Central Asia (Masson and Sarianidi, pp. 33-40, pl. 7). In addition to these peculiar bricks, stone and clay T-shaped figurines and a variety of simple coarse ware were shared by a number of early Neolithic cultures of southwest Asia. Exotic materials, not native to the region, consisted solely of obsidian blades and Persian Gulf shells. These non-local items may possibly have been procured by a trickle-down inter-regional exchange system.
No evidence of intramural burial was found at Coga Bonut during this and preceding phase. The absence of this crucial evidence renders it difficult to assess social status solely on the basis of the distribution of other artifacts, which seem homogeneous in all excavated areas. The evidence of architecture, however, points out to some type of social practice that, though not clearly understood, suggests communal activities at this early stage of social development. Two partially preserved buildings are all that were excavated from this phase (FIGURE 4). The better-preserved building may have had a non-domestic as well as domestic function. The plans of the buildings and the presence of numerous fire pits in them suggest non-domestic character or special status of these buildings as well, the nature of which can only be speculated. The possibility that an extended family resided in this building cannot be ruled out, however (Alizadeh, fig. 11)." ^[1]

[1]: (Alizadeh 2009, Encyclopedia Iranica Online, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/coga-bonut-archaeological-site)