Bibliographia Iranica

A predominantly bibliographic blog for Iranian Studies

Tag: Archaeology

  • Ancient Iran in the ISAC Museum

    Ancient Iran in the ISAC Museum

    Alizadeh, Abbas. 2026. Ancient Iran in the ISAC Museum: From Prehistory to the Achaemenid Period (ISACMP 3). Chigago: University of Chigago Press.

    Discover the splendor of ancient Iran through a stunning selection of artifacts from the Robert and Deborah Aliber Persian Gallery at the University of Chicago’s Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (ISAC) Museum. Featuring a wide array of objects—from finely worked metal and ceramics to monumental stone carvings—this volume reveals the artistic achievements and cultural depth of a region that flourished for millennia. Most of the objects were excavated between 1931 and 1972 during ISAC’s expeditions, which investigated sites ranging from the prehistoric settlements of Chogha Mish, Tall-e Bakun A and B, and Tall-e Geser to Surkh Dum-i-Luri in Luristan and the imperial center of Persepolis. Together, they form the largest and most comprehensive collection of ancient Iranian material in the United States. At once visually striking and academically rigorous, this volume highlights the richness of ancient Iran’s many traditions and the enduring impact of its artistic and cultural achievements.

  • Indo-Aryans in the Bronze Age

    Indo-Aryans in the Bronze Age

    Grigoriev, Stanislav. 2026. Indo-Aryans in the Bronze Age. Bicester: Archaeopress.

    This book challenges the steppe-origin theory of Indo-Aryans, arguing their homeland was in NW Iran. Using linguistic, genetic, and archaeological data, it traces migrations from Iran to Central Asia, India, and beyond during the 3rd millennium BC, shaping Indo-Aryan dialects.

    This volume is devoted to the origins and early history of the Indo-Aryans. According to the generally accepted theory, they originated in the Eurasian steppe, from where they subsequently migrated to the Indian subcontinent and the Iranian plateau. However, evidence to support these developments is lacking. The author has collected linguistic, palaeogenetic and archaeological data to reconstruct the processes that occurred in the Eneolithic and Bronze Age over large areas of Eurasia, demonstrating that the ancestral homeland of the Indo-Iranians was in Northwestern Iran. From there some migrated to Southeastern Iran, which led to the emergence of Indo-Aryan dialects around the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. From the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, the migration of Indo-Aryan tribes to the north-east of Iran and Central Asia began, which later culminated with migration to India, as well as to the Near East, Eastern Europe, the Southern Urals and, occasionally, to Southern Siberia.

  • The Achaemenid cemetery of Mersin

    Malekzadeh, Mehrdad, Reza Naseri, Elena Fausti, Andrea Cesaretti & Roberto Dan. 2026. The Achaemenid cemetery of Mersin (Semnan Province, Iran): local identities and imperial connections on the northern Iranian plateau. Antiquity. Published online 2026:1-9. doi:10.15184/aqy.2026.10317.

    Rescue excavations at Mersin (Semnan, Iran) reveal a tightly patterned Achaemenid-period cemetery. Thirty-four graves, excavated between 2014 and 2024, combine local mortuary traditions with imperial-era objects, demonstrating how provincial communities selectively adopted imperial markers to negotiate identity and refining narratives for the empire’s north-eastern interior.

  • Gold, Silver and Glass

    Gold, Silver and Glass

    Simpson, St John (ed.). 2026.Gold, silver and glass: Power networks, cultural identities, technology transfers and agency across the old world (7th century BC – 1st century AD). Bicester: Archaeopress.

    This volume explores how precious materials shaped power, identity and cultural exchange in the ancient world from the 7th century BC to early Roman times. Growing out of the British Museum special exhibition Luxury and Power: Persia to Greece, it brings together new perspectives on technology, value and artistic interaction from Greece to China.

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  • Reaching the Persian Gulf from the Kur River Basin

    Matin, Emad. 2025. Reaching the Persian Gulf from the Kur River Basin: Patterns of an Intermittent Connectivity. East and West 65 (1).

    The paper at hand explores the connectivity between Central Fars and the Persian Gulf over a long period of time from protohistory to the Early Islamic era. In doing so, it focuses on the three areas of the Kur River Basin, Dashtestan and the Bushehr Peninsula and reviews the rise and fall of settlements in these areas—within the limits of the existing bibliography. The paper thus demonstrates that these areas, i.e. the Highland, the Hinterland and the Coastline, had played a significant role in the aforesaid communication network for centuries. Furthermore, the pattern of this connectivity is reconstructed using archaeological and historical sources. The most innovative conclusion put forth is that for the first time it is possible to confirm the existence of intermittent connectivity with a very similar pattern among these areas, especially in the Elamite, Achaemenid and Sasanian eras.

  • Near Eastern Archaeology (vol. 88)

    In two issues of volume 88 of Near Eastern Archaeology, several articles address topics in Iranian archaeology. The following list compiles all Iran-related contributions:

  • Achaemenid court logistics between royal capitals of Susa and Persepolis

    Achaemenid court logistics between royal capitals of Susa and Persepolis

    Salaris, Davide. 2025. ‘Royal’ road, ‘royal’ needs: a GIS-based approach to Achaemenid court logistics between royal capitals of Susa and Persepolis. Antiquity. Published online 2025:1-8.

    This article redefines the concept of the Achaemenid ‘Royal’ Road using GIS-based route modelling to reconstruct possible roads between Susa and Persepolis. By integrating logistical and environmental parameters, it shows how royal mobility required a specialised infrastructure—distinct from ancillary roads—tailored to the operational scale of the Achaemenid court.

  • Parthica (vol. 26)

    Parthica (vol. 26)

    Volume 26 of the journal Parthica (2024) contains several contributions of relevance to Iranian Studies.

    • R. PALERMO – E. FRANCO – M. LA PORTA – C. RASMUSSEN: Exploring the Hellenistic period in North Mesopotamia landscape studies and excavations at Gird-I Matrab (Iraqi Kurdistan), p. 9
    • C. LIPPOLIS – V. MESSINA – G. PATRUCCO – A. SPANO: Rapid digital documentation of endangered archaeological contexts. A case-study from Seleucia on the Tigris (central Iraq), p. 29
    • M. MORIGGI: Aramaic graffiti in the houses of Hatra: The epigraphic point of view, p. 41
    • A.A. CHAVERDI: Two newly discovered artifacts from the city of Gur, Ardaxsir-Xwarrah, Firuzabad, p. 47
    • F. IZZI: Ain Sinu (Ninawa, Iraq): A military outpost on the Sasanian western limes? New studies on the military architecture of the Sasanian empire, p. 55
    • K. MAKSYMIUK – P. SKUPNIEWICZ: A silver plate with an ostrich hunt scene from the Wyvern Collection, p. 85
    • E. RASHIDIAN: The landscape elements of a dastgerd according to the Bozpar Valley and similar case studies in the Iranian highlands, p. 103
  • Weaponry and a healed wound from the Parthian era

    Weaponry and a healed wound from the Parthian era

    Eghdami, Mohammad Reza, Majid Gholamzadeh Roudbordeh & Meysam Navaeiyan. 2025. Weaponry and a healed wound from the Parthian era (247 BCE to 224 CE): Insights from the Liyarsangbon cemetery, Guilan, Iran. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology Early View. 1–9.

    The current research examines the health and medical treatment implications associated with an iron arrowhead found among the skeletal remains of an individual unearthed from the Parthian cemetery at Liyarsangbon, Iran. This site is dated to the period between 247 bc and ad 224, as determined through relative dating methods. Non-invasive testing methods, including XRF and Quantometer analysis, established the elemental composition of grave artifacts, while CT Hounsfield scans assessed damage around the arrowhead within the bone. The soil exhibited a pH level of 8.67, signifying its alkaline nature. Among the metallic residues surrounding the subject of investigation, iron was identified as the predominant metal, with average concentrations of 89.93 (XRF) and 90.93 (Quantometer). A Hounsfield unit measurement of 4000 suggested a metallic object within the bone. This study focuses on the production of iron artifacts and examines their practical effectiveness. The intricate design of the arrowhead, characterized by its sharp precision, underscores the advanced level of craftsmanship within the toolmaking industry and reflects a high degree of expertise in metallurgy. Its ability to penetrate deeply into the lateral condyle of the right tibia serves as a testament to the skill and technological sophistication involved in its creation. Conversely, the inability to remove the embedded arrowhead from the bone reveals the constraints and shortcomings in the surgical practices of this particular society, shedding light on the limitations of medical techniques during that era.

    Abstract

  • The Assyrian Provincial Seal of Surkh Dom-i Luri, a pattern for Darius I’s Seal

    Alibaigi, Sajjad. 2025. A Clue to a Puzzle: The Assyrian Provincial Seal of Surkh Dom-i Luri, a pattern for Darius I’s Seal. Arta 2025.004.

    This short article examines the iconographic origins of the famous seal of Darius I, for which an Egyptian provenance has been proposed and now in the British Museum (BM 89132). Although the influence of the glyptic art of the first millennium BC on Achaemenid seal-carving is well evident, scholars have paid less attention to this influence on the cylinder seal of Darius I. Among the Assyrian seals and impressions of the second and first millennia BC, there are important examples that are iconographically similar to the seal of Darius, but the provincial seal of Surkh Dom provides the most clues to the connection between the seal of Darius and the Assyrian style seals. This seal, which was found from the excavations of the Surkh Dom shrine, is more similar to Darius’ seal than any other. It seems that the Assyrian provincial style of Surkh Dom-i Luri seal should also be added to the long list of influences of Neo-Assyrian art on Achaemenid and considered as a pattern for the seal of Darius I.