Bibliographia Iranica

A predominantly bibliographic blog for Iranian Studies

Tag: Archaeology

  • East and West (vol. 65)

    East and West (vol. 65)

    The latest volume of East and West contains several interesting articles, some of which deal with aspects of (ancient) Iran.

    • F. Grenet, F. Ory, A Preliminary Note on a Painting from Kuh-e Khwāja in the New Delhi National Museum
    • E. Matin, Reaching the Persian Gulf from the Kur River Basin: Patterns of an Intermittent Connectivity
    • S. Belelli, Contact Change and Dialect Convergence in the Kurdish of Khanaqin
    • E. Morano, E. Shavarebi, Irano-Semitica minora: 1. Gaza, 2. wādī
    • M. Labbaf-Khaniki, The Last Image of the Last King: A Sasanian Scene from the Bāzeh Hūr Fire Temple

  • On Achaemenid-era metalworkers based on the Persepolis tablets

    Zehbari, Zohreh. 2025. The men who wrought the metals: On Achaemenid-era metalworkers based on the Persepolis tablets. Iran, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/05786967.2025.2551493

    While varied attempts have been made to study Achaemenid metal artefacts, we still know little about the craftsmen who wrought the metals. Metalworkers manufactured various products for different social classes and for different contexts, and must have played a notable role in the society of the Achaemenid period. The present paper aims to address the various textual and archaeological evidence attesting metallurgical specialisations, and to collect information regarding goldsmiths, silversmiths, blacksmiths, and bronze/coppersmiths who worked and travelled within the Persian empire, tracing different aspects of their activities and lives such as their status, wage, gender, and ethnicity. In addition, some previously unknown facts about the smiths’ condition will be presented according to the available documents and relevant comparisons with the neighbouring regions.

  • Another clay tag with Achaemenid Seal Impressions

    Treuk, Matheus. Another clay tag with Achaemenid seal impressions in the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of the University of São Paulo, Brazil (MAE/USP). Arta 2026.001.

    Presented here is a clay tag bearing Achaemenid seal impressions, preserved at the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of the University of São Paulo, Brazil, and identified by registration number 0816 4-00235. The tag originally formed part of the so-called ‘Banco Santos’ or ‘CidCollection’. It clearly belongs to the dossier of 42 items previously published by Henkelman, Jones, and Stolper (ARTA 2004.001), as well as two additional items more recently published by Ignacio Márquez Rowe (ARTA 2025.001). The MAE clay tag was first published by the Brazilian Assyriologist Katia Maria Paim Pozzer in a 2004 catalogue accompanying a Brazilian exhibition of the CidCollection.

  • 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.