Iran - Shiraz

Geophysical surveys at Pasargadae

The magnetic survey carried out in the area around the gardens has provided many different clues. The magnetic image obtained from the area around palace S shows the stone banks built along the sides of the river that flowed under the bridge in some detail. A new section of canal, located outside the well-known garden rectangle, shows that the layout of the garden was more complex. The path providing access to the bridge that ran alongside palace S is also clearly visible and may have been the main thoroughfare through the garden or park. Lastly, a whole series of other structures, revealed by very slight magnetic responses, completes the group.

A huge stone building was also identified close to the tower called Zendan-i Solaiman, which is therefore no longer considered an isolated feature; the magnetic image also showed traces of structures (ditch? enclosure?) that may have marked the boundaries of an open space with the same orientation as the gardens. These various components are therefore part of the same spatial planning scheme and show that the gardens discovered extend way beyond the palaces and at least to the foot of the citadel.

We previously believed that there were no structures in the part of the site delineated by the fortified wall; however, a survey in that area has shown that there were a number of buildings on the slopes of the hills. Their function (military? administrative?) has not yet been identified, but they are the first non-royal buildings discovered at the Pasargadae site.

Findings at the Pasargadae site demonstrate the benefits of using geophysical methods for research at particularly large sites when searching for archaeological clues that have often left only slight traces. Geophysical images are furnishing us with completely new information that is already transforming the traditional and generally accepted vision that we have of the site. As a result, these images are challenging and causing us to re-examine the image that we have of other residences such as Persepolis.

Rescue excavations in the Tang-e-Bolaghi Valley, 2005-2006

In 2006, excavations focused on a pavilion, a high percentage of which was visible prior to 2002 but which was subsequently pillaged by unauthorised excavators and then by a bulldozer. This structure is located in the narrow part of the valley (where the width of the gorge is 150m), 6km south of Cyrus’s tomb at Pasargadae. Overlooked by a cliff that rises to over 100m, the pavilion is established on a 130m x 80m natural terrace, 15m above the Pulwar river bed. The site will not be flooded by water from the dam, but the water level will make it vulnerable and inaccessible.

The pavilion is laid out according to a very familiar pattern at Pasargadae: there is a rectangular room with at least one portico to the west. The whole structure is fairly small, at 15.5m long. The room’s support structures were destroyed by the bulldozer. The portico would have been supported by four pillars on stone bases, which were found to have been moved; only their foundations remained in place. The walls were built with adobe bricks. The floors, which had all been destroyed in the excavated section, would have been arranged on adobe-brick bases.

Soundings on the terrace about 60m from the pavilion showed that there were deep ditches, two inhabited areas and ashy zones with many shards, including fragments of baked bricks and of scorched and over-fired earth. According to the artefacts discovered, this occupation dates back to the same period as the pavilion. In theory, the deep ditches may have been due to earth being removed for the production of bricks (adobe and/or baked), which would have been used for building, and the inhabited areas containing artefacts would have been the site of builders’ workshops. Excavations on this pavilion in the context of its environment provide an interesting update to what we know about the distribution of royal occupation and of the elite in the Pasargadae region during the Achaemenid era. The pavilion’s layout is similar to other pavilions in Pasargadae built under Cyrus; however a campaniform column base, with an oval and raised line pattern, echoes the art from Darius’s era at Persepolis.

Surveys in the Persepolis plain

Surveys in the area around Persepolis have so far focused on two objectives, which include locating surface traces of Achaemenid occupations using on-foot survey methods, and carrying out geophysical surveys on some of these sites in order to quantify the areas occupied and, if possible, study the layout of selected sites.

To date, all on-foot surveys have focused on the Achaemenid sites identified in the 1960s by American archaeologists; a large proportion of these sites were destroyed by extensive farming. At the same time, detailed surveys were carried out across zones that were less affected by increased farming activity in order, on one hand, to add to the number of Achaemenid sites required for a study of regional occupation and, on the other hand, to locate intact sites for subsequent geophysical surveys.

We thus carried out geophysical tests in the area located 3km west of the Persepolis terrace, which contained traces of some sophisticated buildings from the Achaemenid era, separated, each from the next, by about 100 metres. This structural group, which can definitely be linked to the existence of a centre at Persepolis, would probably have corresponded to a particular “district”, but its function remains a mystery (whether it was residential or administrative, etc.) The findings obtained show strong responses due to the use of baked bricks as a construction material, which have helped us to identify the outline of what seems to be a square building. Surveys were intentionally extended outside the tepe to get an idea of peripheral developments. Scanning these areas was quite difficult due to surface disruption, but we have identified two anomalies in one direction almost within a straight line. Elsewhere, very slight responses indicate that other archaeological structures may exist.

At the same time, we carried out detailed on-foot surveys across two foothill areas. These areas remain fairly well protected from the extension of farmlands; in fact, there are many patches of rather infertile soil due to stony conditions and sloping lands that cannot easily be irrigated. Archaeological clues on the surface, in particular quantities of ceramics, have been located in great number on a more or less ongoing basis. With regard to the Achaemenid era, we have not located visible clues of occupations in these two sectors, but we are still in the process of sorting through the data. However, the presence of sites dating to the Neolithic period proves that there was very early activity in these foothills. According to early archaeological work, which focused in particular on the tepes in the plain, the foothills seemed deserted. Nevertheless, our research allows us to prove that there was significant activity in these areas which were attractive since they were close to the arable land in the plain but also to mountain pastures. In addition, we observed that, according to regional geomorphology, there were frequent temporary upwellings and permanent springs at the foot of mountains in the Persepolis plain.