Archaeologists after new discoveries from Sassanid Empire at Gorgan Wall

RICHT quoted head of the joint Iran-Britain team in charge of the 8th exploration season within the territory of the grand Gorgan Wall, Hamid Omrani Rakavandi as saying the exploration was aimed at identifying the type of construction materials used in the castle 2 and preparing its geophysical map.

The archaeologist further remarked that the discovery of the access way to the sitting room, storage room, cooking room, the holes dug inside the room for food leftovers, and the daily handicrafts of the residents on the castle and other tools and instruments, the efficiency of the castle, the changes made in the next periods, chronological sampling and setting the duration of the construction of the castle and latter settlements are among the main targets of the team in this season.

Terming the results achieved as satisfactory, Omrani Rakavandi expressed the hope that after analyzing the laboratory results, cultural data and survey of architectural maps by making efforts to reconstruct the settlement pattern in Castle 2, another folio will be added to their knowledge of the Sassanid Empire within the territory of the Gorgan Wall.

According to him, in line with the study of the castle large and small cities in the southern side of the territory of the Gorgan Wall, clearing the illegal drilling ditch in 4x2 dimensions with a depth of 6 meters up to the surface, situated in the southeastern side of the castle known as Bouraq Tappeh, on the western part of the territory of the Gorgan Wall (the city of Aq Qala) are among programs that have been carried out in the 8th joint exploration season.

He said the measure was taken with an aim of drawing the architectural layers and collecting cultural samples, including pieces of clayworks, animal bones, coal and other organic materials for laboratory and chronological studies, and their analysis with the results obtained from explorations in Castle 2.

He announced the application of interdisciplinary science in archeological studies as undeniable, adding that it is highly important and effective in the Gorgan Wall project.

Omrani Rakavandi referred to the continuation of geophysical survey in Dasht-e Halqeh (Minoo Dasht city), one of the biggest castles of the Sassanid cities in the southern side of the territory of the Gorgan Wall, survey and identification of part of the direction of the Gorgan Wall and the old basin of one of the catchment branches of River Atrak into the sea in the western part and close to the eastern coasts of the Kaspi (Caspian) Sea (Gomishan city) which has been buried under the marine sediments with the use of GPS software are among topics on the agenda in this exploration season.

The archaeologist also pointed to the analysis of the magnetic data, the aerial shots of the castles of the Gorgan Wall, the ancient Gargaz Dam, a number of castles in the city in the southern side of the territory of the Gorgan Wall, continuation of the survey of the archeological landscape with the use of satellite images in the territory of the Gorgan Wall, and identification of a number of expanded city castles from the pre-historic era up to the historic and Islamic periods and study of geological changes and advancement of the Kaspi sea water and its effects on the Gorgan Wall in the western side of the territory of the Gorgan Wall as other measures taken by the archeological team.

According to him, collection, classification, washing and study of cultural-historical data (clayworks, animal bones, etc.), designing, photography, and generally documenting all the findings achieved in the survey, speculation, exploration and preparation of a data bank of the Gorgan Wall have been among other programs on the agenda of the joint team during the eighth exploration season.

The eighth exploration season was conducted under the joint chair of Hamid Omrani Rakavandi, head of the Gorgan Wall base, and Dr. Wolfram Eberhard Sauer, a faculty member of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, with the creation of the team of archeologists in Gonbad Kavoos city.

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