Tag: Archaeology

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The Goddess on Lion at Hasanlu

Letteria Grazia Fassari & Raffaella Frascarelli. 2022. Embodying the Past: The Case of the Goddess on Lion at Hasanlu. In: Katrien de Graef et al. (eds.), The Mummy Under the Bed . Essays on Gender and Methodology in the Ancient Near East, 253-287. Münster: Zaphon.

Rooted within the Central Asian iconography of the sacred from the 3rd millennium BCE until the arrival of Islam, also related to the mixed pantheons that combine Central Asian, Iranian, Buddhist, Hindu and Chinese divinities, the image of the goddess riding a lion in the Hasanlu bowl offers the chance to investigate its origin. Posture, attire, lion, divine emblems mark her belonging to a cultural horizon that seems to allude to the nomadic peoples of the Eurasian steppe. The Iranian, Assyrian, Syro-Hurrite, Elamite, Hurro-Urartian, Transcaucasian influences make Hasanlu a privileged observatory to analyze the regulatory apparatus affecting gender hierarchies. Eluding the boundaries imposed by the binary vision, the nomadic lifestyle seems to free the body in favor of fluid strategies necessary to deal with harsh natural conditions. Indeed, some iconographic details of the Hasanlu bowl might reveal a social dimension related to an unconventional gender performativity caused by the mobilization of cultural resources that identified nomadism. Furthermore, the presence of the riding goddess at Hasanlu suggests scrutinizing the cyclical infiltration of nomadic cultures within Anatolia and Mesopotamia. Exploring gender, questioning its epistemic boundaries, enquiring how gender stereotypes have crystallized over time, this paper proposes an inception towards a different history whose traces may have been lost in the unwitting binarism of expertise.

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Books

Sasanian Archaeology

Simpson, St John. 2022. Sasanian archaeology: Settlements, environment and material culture. Oxford: Archaeopress.

The Sasanian empire was one of the great powers of Late Antiquity, and for four centuries ruled the vast region stretching from Syria and the Caucasus to Central Asia. Classical, Armenian, Jewish and Arab written sources throw light on its history, and studies of its rock reliefs, stuccoes, silver, silks, coins and glyptic have created a picture of a rich courtly culture with a strong Iranian character. However, the everyday material culture is much less understood, as is the economy which sustained and supported the Sasanian empire and underpinned its consistent military superiority over its western rivals. This collection of essays looks at these aspects and offers an approach based almost entirely on archaeological and scientific research, much presented here for the first time. This book is divided into three parts which in turn examine evidence for Sasanian sites, settlements and landscapes, their complex agricultural resources, and their crafts and industries. Each section is preceded by an essay setting out the wider research questions and current state of knowledge. The book begins and ends with a general introduction and conclusion setting out why this new approach is necessary, and how it helps change our perceptions of the complexity and power of the Sasanian empire.

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Articles

An Elamite Duck Weight

Wicks, Yasmina & Javier Álvarez-Mon. 2022. An Elamite Duck Weight in the Susa Museum: New evidence for the Behbahan Plain in the late seventh/early sixth century BCE. Arta 2022.004.

Arjan duck-shaped weight, Susa Museum. Photographs kindly provided by: [a, b, d] Ehsan Yaghmaie and [c, e, f] Loghman Ahmadzadeh, courtesy of the Susa World Heritage Base.

The importance of the Behbahan plain within the political framework of Elam was assured by its geographic position as a crossroads of routes connecting Susiana, Fars, and the Persian Gulf. However, the only archaeological cited for this view remains the elite late seventh/early sixth century BCE tomb unearthed near Arjan during the damming of the Marun river in 1982. Another find from the area that adds evidence for the role of the plain at this time is an inscribed limestone duck weight in the Susa Museum, recently published erroneously as coming from Susa. This paper corrects the provenience of the weight, clarifies its date, describes its iconography and manufacture, and contemplates its significance for evaluating the history of the Behbahan plain and the pre-Achaemenid Elamite administration.

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Journal

Journal of Iran National Museum

The second volume (2021) of Journal of Iran National Museum is published. Whereas the previous volume was published in Persian, its current issue contains paper in English. This is an open-access journal.

Table of contents:

  • Sarah Piram: André Godard’s Archives at the Louvre Museum and Their Significance for the Study of the National Museum of Iran
  • Sepehr Zarei: Quartz Usage as a Raw Material and Its Influences on the Strategy of Lithic Technology: Thibault’s Survey Assemblage at the Northern Littoral of Strait of Hormuz 1977; Collection of Iran National Museum
  • Laura Manca; Marjan Mashkour; Sanaz Beizaee Doost; Roya Khazaeli: The technical knowledge of Early Neolithic Iranian Societies. The bone industries of Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq and Tepe Abdul Hosein, Iran National Museum
  • Steve Renette; Omolbanin Ghafoori; Sirvan Mohammadi Ghasrian: The Mahidasht Survey Project (1975-78) Revisited: Initial report of new collaborative efforts to catalogue and publish legacy data at the National Museum of Iran
  • Judith Thomalsky: Foliate lithic points from the Bronze Age of NE Iran, A techno-typological analysis
  • Omid Oudbashi; Mathias Mehofer; Sepehr Bahadori; Javad Tayyari: Technical Studies on Two Copper-Based Objects from the Bronze Age of Iran
  • Ali Zalaghi; Sepideh Maziar; Bayram Aghalari; Marjan Mashkour; Mozhgan Jayez: Kohne Tepesi: A Kura-Araxes and Parthian settlement in the Araxes River Basin, Northwest Iran
  • Sara Khalifeh Soltani: Antemortem Health Indicators And Burial Status: A Summary of Thesis Research of the Tepe Hasanlu Bronze- Seleuco-Parthian Period Burials, Iran.
  • Yasmina Wicks: Two Elderly Funerary Figurines and Related Models from Susa: A Case Study in Engaging with the Legacy Records of Roland de Mecquenem
  • Javier Álvarez-Mon: Between Picasso and Piradi On tour with Saltimbanques and Musicians from ancient Iran (c. 600 Bc)
  • Bruno Genito; Lucia Cerullo: Aspects of “Median” and Neo-Elamite Archaeology. New Considerations on Some Aržan, Jubaji, and Kalmakarra’s Metal Findings
  • Zahra Alinezhad: A Plated Seleucid-type Coin in National Museum of Iran
  • Gunvor Lindstroem: The Portrait of a Hellenistic Ruler and Other Bronze Sculptures from Kal-e Chendar/Shami. Results of the 2015 and 2016 studies in the National Museum of Iran
  • Cyrus Nasrollahzadeh: *Sadārap [Sadāraf/b] of *P/Frēnag”, Ardaxšēr ī Papagān’s brother or his son, Another inscription of *Sadārap [Sadāraf] on Silver Plate in National Museum of Iran.
  • Ali Aghaei; Michael Josef Marx: Carbon Dating of Seven Parchment Qurʾān Manuscripts and One Syriac Bible of the National Museum of Iran
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Books

The Archaeology of Iran from the Palaeolithic to the Achaemenid Empire

Matthews, Roger & Hassan Fazeli Nashli. 2022. The archaeology of Iran from the palaeolithic to the Achaemenid Empire. London: Routledge.

The Archaeology of Iran from the Palaeolithic to the Archaemenid Empire is the first modern academic study to provide a synthetic, diachronic analysis of the archaeology and early history of all of Iran from the Palaeolithic period to the end of the Achaemenid Empire at 330 BC.

Drawing on the authors’ deep experience and engagement in the world of Iranian archaeology, and in particular on Iran-based academic networks and collaborations, this book situates the archaeological evidence from Iran within a framework of issues and debates of relevance today. Such topics include human–environment interactions, climate change and societal fragility, the challenges of urban living, individual and social identity, gender roles and status, the development of technology and craft specialisation and the significance of early bureaucratic practices such as counting, writing and sealing within the context of evolving societal formations.

Richly adorned with more than 500 illustrations, many of them in colour, and accompanied by a bibliography with more than 3000 entries, this book will be appreciated as a major research resource for anyone concerned to learn more about the role of ancient Iran in shaping the modern world.

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Journal

Iranica Antiqua, Volume 56

The table of contents of the latest issue (56) of the journal Iranica Antiqua:

  • RENETTE, Steve, KHAYANI, Ali, LEVINE, Louis D.: Chogha Maran. A Local Center of the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age in the Central Zagros
  • YEGANEH JAMSHIDI, Sepideh: Correlation of Sealings and Content on Proto-Elamite Tablets. Four Unpublished Sealings in the National Museum of Iran
  • BRITE, Elizabeth Baker: Khorezm’s Dark Age in the 3rd to 6th Centuries CE
  • FATTAHI, Morteza, SHARIFI, Mahnaz: OSL Dating of Submerged Ancient Jareh Bridge-Dam (South-West of Iran)
  • YOUSOFVAND, Younos, NEISTANI, Javad: The Cobblestone Road of Mirorah. Evidence from the Late Sassanid and Early Islamic Centuries’ Road-Building in Western Iran (Luristān Province)
  • ASKARPOUR, Vahid, KHALILI, Mohaddese, MOTTAGHI, Neshat, SANGARI, Esmaeil, MOGHADDAS, Amirhossein: Bull Sacrifice at Esfanjān, a Case of Ritual Syncretism

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Journal

Iran, Volume 60, Issue 1 (2022)

The table of contents of the latest issue (60/1) of the journal Iran:

  • Marta Ameri: Who Holds the Keys? Identifying Female Administrators at Shahr-i Sokhta
  • Soheila Hadipour Moradi & Bita Sodaei: Two Bronze Coins of Alexander Balas Recently Discovered in Luristan (Iran)
  • Bertille Lyonnet: New Insights into Sogdiana during the Classical Period (from the end of the 4th c. BCE to the 3rd c. CE)
  • Ruben S. Nikoghosyan: Where Did the Battle Between Wištāsp and Arǰāsp Take Place?
  • Andrea Squitieri: The Sasanian Cemetery of Gird-i Bazar in the Peshdar Plain (Iraqi Kurdistan)
  • Atri Hatef Naiemi: The Ilkhanid City of Sultaniyya: Some Remarks on the Citadel and the Outer City
  • Soli Shahvar: “Abbas Mirza’s Invitation to Europeans to Settle in Nineteenth-Century Iranian Azerbaijan: Reasons, Causes and Motives”
  • Ladislav Charouz: Naser al-Din Shah’s 1873 Visit to the World’s Fair in Vienna
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Books

Pottery Making and Communities During the 5th Millennium BCE in Fars

Miki, Takehiro. 2022. Pottery making and communities during the 5th millennium BCE in Fars province, Southwestern Iran. Oxford: Archaeopress.

This book explores pottery making and communities during the Bakun period (c. 5000 – 4000 BCE) in the Kur River Basin, Fars province, southwestern Iran, through the analysis of ceramic materials collected at Tall-e Jari A, Tall-e Gap, and Tall-e Bakun A & B. Firstly, it reconsiders the stratigraphy and radiocarbon dates of the four sites by reviewing the descriptions of excavation trenches, then presents a new chronological relationship between the sites. The book sets out diachronic changes in the the Bakun pottery quantitatively, namely the increase of black-on-buff ware and the gradual shift of vessel forms. It also presents analyses of pottery-making techniques, painting skills, petrography, and geochemistry and clarifies minor changes in the chaînes opératoires and major changes in painting skill. Finally, the book discusses the organisation of pottery production from a relational perspective. It concludes that the more fixed community of pottery making imposed longer apprenticeship periods and that social inequality also increased.

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Books

The canal of Darius in Egypt

Mahlich, Elena. 2020. Der Kanalbau unter Dareios I. Ein achämenidisches Bauprojekt in Ägypten (Bonner Ägyptologische Beiträge 11). Berlin: EB-Verlag Dr. Brandt.

Aus dem achämenidenzeitlichen Ägypten liegen trotz einer vergleichsweise langen Herrschaft der Perser während der 27. Dynastie, die von der Eroberung Ägyptens durch Kambyses II. bis zum Jahr 404 v. Chr. dauerte und somit mehr als ein Jahrhundert umfasst, nur wenige keilschriftliche Quellen vor. Zu den besonders bemerkenswerten Funden ist das Konvolut der Kanalstelen zu nennen, die Dareios I. zum Anlass der Einweihung eines Kanals aufstellen ließ. Die Stelen berichten über den Bau dieses Kanals, der den Pelusischen Nilarm mit dem Roten Meer verband. Der vollendete Kanal wies eine Länge von 200 Kilometern auf, womit seine Ausmaße mit dem des modernen Suezkanals vergleichbar sind.

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Journal

Persica Antiqua

The first issue of Persica Antiqua: The International Journal of Iranian Studies is released. The papers are freely at disposal on the journal’s website.

Persica Antiqua is the official journal of Tissaphernes Archaeological Research Group. Persica Antiqua is an international, peer reviewed journal, publishing high-quality, original research. The journal covers studies on the cultural and civilization of pre-Islamic Persia in its broadest sense. Persica Antiqua publishes on Persian Studies, including archaeology, ancient history, linguistics, religion, epigraphy, numismatics and history of art of ancient Iran, as well as on cultural exchanges and relations between Iran and its neighbours.

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