Archaeologically, eastern Iran is poorly known compared to the other regions of Iranian Plateau. Hence, there are many unanswered questions regarding the prehistoric chronological table of this region. The present knowledge of prehistoric cultures and chronology of Southeastern Iran is mostly through based on the 1960s archaeological excavations. In particular, the common chronology of the Chalcolithic period in SE Iran is exclusively based on the dates from old excavations at two sites of Tepe Yahya in Soghun valley and Tal-I Iblis in Bardsir plain. Due to the exciting discovery of major Bronze Age urban centers in southeastern Iran, such as Shahr-e Sokhte, Shahdad and Konar Sandal (Jiroft), most scholarly attention has been given to the 3rd millennium BC. As a result, the cultures preceding and posterior the Bronze Age have been often neglected. Recent project of Dasht-e Lut resulted in new information on the chronology of the prehistory of SE Iran. This paper is intended to expose 10 radiocarbon data from recent excavations at two prehistoric sites on the west of Lut desert, Shahdad area in Kerman province. Recent excavations at Tepe Dehno and Tepe East Dehno in Shahdad plain have revealed levels dating back a period from the early 5th to early 3rd millennium BCE based on 14C absolute dates. Tepe Dehno is a large site is located about one kilometer from the east of the Bronze Age urban site of Shahdad. It is a shallow large mound, surrounded by several small solitaire mounds. It is founded on the top of a natural hill. The site is approximately 20 hectares in extent and rises 8 m above the level of the surrounding land. In term of occupational sequence, excavation at Tepe Dehno established three main occupation periods so far which they are labeled from the oldest to the youngest Dehno I-III. These periods were distinguished based on ceramic evidence and absolute dates. Dehno I period as the earliest occupation corresponds to late fifth millennium BC (4250-4000 B.C) was identified in trench IV. The second period was documented through excavations at trenches I & II; Dehno II period is related to mid to late fourth millennium BC (3700-3300 BC), known as Aliabad (Iblis IV) culture. Dehno III period (3200-2900/2800 BC) is a hitherto unknown period that came from 2 charcoal samples from Trench III. Tepe East Dehno is a prehistoric site located 700m east of the site of Tepe Dehno. Two radiocarbon dates from this trench indicate that the occupation of Tepe East Dehno falls into the first half of the fifth millennium. In this paper, based on both new absolute dates and comparative relative chronology, I attempted to appraise critically the chronology of the Chalcolithic period of SE Iran and finally an updated chronological table of the period was presented. A total of 10 radiocarbon charcoal samples from the mentioned excavated sites were analyzed using Accelerator Mass Spectrometer (AMS) method. Radiocarbon determinations from the excavated sites have provided this opportunity to revise the prehistoric chronology of South-East Iran. Evidence illustrated that the old chronology of Southeastern Iran needs a principal revision.

After half a century, a new excavation project was launched in Orzu’iyeh (Soghan valley), south-eastern Iran where the well-published Tepe Yahya is located. Tepe Yahya was discovered in 1967 by a survey team from Harvard University under the direction of C.C. Lamberg-Karlovsky. It was occupied, with interruptions, from the late Neolithic to the early Sasanian period. Indeed, Tepe Yahya remains the main controlled excavation carried out to date within south east Iran. According to the cultural sequence of Tepe Yahya, periods VI and V appeared to be the Chalcolithic levels of the site (6th-4th Millennium BC). This paper intends to present the results of a new excavation project in this area. Due to the exciting discovery of major Bronze Age urban centers in south-eastern Iran, such as Shahr e Sukhteh (Sistan), Shahdad and Konar Sandal (Jiroft), most scholarly attention has been given to the 3rd millennium BC. As a result, the cultures preceding the Bronze Age have been often neglected, whereas the Bronze Age cultures had developed from the Chalcolithic ones. Tepe Vakilabad, as a Chalcolithic key site in the south-eastern Iran, would help us to recognize better the cultures of this era. This mound is located in the Orzu'iyeh district in the south west of Kerman province, south-eastern Iran. The area of Orzu'iyeh is known in the archeology of Iran due to the presence of Tepe Yahya and also to its strategic location. This area is a natural corridor drawn in the east-west direction connecting south of Kerman province to Fars. The eastern part of this plain includes Soghun Valley (where Tepe Yahya is situated), and the middle and western parts are respectively Dowlatabad and Vakilabad plains. This mound contains more than 4 meters of cultural layers belonging to the chalcolithic periods which reveal how important this site could be, but unfortunately, it is badly damaged and bulldozed. This paper states the results of the stratigraphy excavation of Tepe Vakilabad, where a total of 6 C-14 radiocarbon charcoal samples were collected from the only trench of this mound and analyzed by the Accelerator Mass Spectrometer (AMS) method in the laboratory of university of Lyon, France. Since the chronology of south-eastern Iran is based on the old and not very precise results of Tepe Yahya and Tal-Iblis excavations, it needs the revision. The main objective of this study was to go through the chronology table of south-eastern Iran and discuss it critically with the aid of Vakilabad and the other recent excavations results of the region, such as Tepe Dehno Shahdad. According to a comparative analysis based on the ceramics of this excavated settlement site, it could be concluded that Vakilabad belongs to Yahya V culture, and based on the absolute dating results (mostly ceramics), this site dates back to the early fifth millennium BC to the mid-fifth millennium BC. Finally, the Chalcolithic cultures of the southern Iran will be discussed in a broader context of Near East. It is obvious that the reappraisal of the chronology of this vast cultural region needs further studies, where the present paper may be able to collaborate in these researches.

In today's archaeological studies, the use of absolute chronology by radiocarbon or carbon 14 dating is common and can even reduce errors due to incorrect stratigraphy and disturbed layers. The measurement accuracy of this method is very high with proper sampling, and with the advancement of science and technology, software programs were created to perform specialized and lengthy calculations to convert and calibrated the results. One of these programs is OxCal, which seems to be useful for researchers both online and offline. In this article, in addition to a brief explanation of how to perform this sorting, we will teach you how to use this program for single data, phases, subphases (adjacent phases) and overlapping phases in a very simple way without need for coding. The basis of archaeological studies is to know and understand the sequence of events and activities that are obtained from the archaeological findings. There are numerous dating methods in modern archeology around the world that are constantly being updated. One of the most common and popular chronological methods is radiocarbon dating analysis, which is better known as carbon 14 dating.