Rante Rocco, Collinet Annabelle. Nishapur Revisited: Stratigraphy and Ceramics of the Qohandez

Oxbow Books, 2013. — 233 p.Nishapur in eastern Iran was an important Silk Road city, its position providing links to central Asia and China, Afghanistan and India, the Persian Gulf and the west. Despite previous excavations there are many unresolved questions surrounding the site; when was the city founded? Is Nishapur a Sasanian city? Was it founded by the Sasanian king Shapur I or II? The question of chronology of occupation and the ceramic sequence is also problematic particularly for late antiquity and the medieval period, as well as a complete topography of the site. The Irano-French archaeological mission at Nishapur (2004 to 2007) (CNRS-MAEE-Musée du Louvre) focused on the Qohandez, or citadel, the oldest part of Nishapur. Excavations were conducted in different areas of the mound, in order to address these questions. After an introduction to the site and the former American and Iranian excavations, this book presents the stratigraphy and the pottery of the site. The difficulties involved in establishing a precise history of the site, as well as the complexities of studying the pottery led to a program of analysis undertaken by the Research Centre of French Museums (C2RMF). Chemical and petrographic analysis, thermoluminescence (TL) dating and archaeomagnetism analysis as support to the TL results were done. A pottery database has been created regrouping the stratigraphical and laboratory analyses data, in order to manage and present an organised corpus of 1000 samples. The combination of the data from the stratigraphical and laboratory analyses gives an accurate and completely new chronology of the site. Moreover, the study also brought to light a new typological sequence of the ceramic, as well as new data about the pottery production at Nishapur.Historical and Geographical Background
Geographical setting
American and Iranian excavation synthesis
Historical settingThe Excavation and the Absolute Chronology
Introduction to the Irano-French Excavation
Dating Problems
Thermoluminescence Analysis (TL)
Sample preparation
Measurement apparatus
Luminescence tests
Palaeodose
Annual dose
Numerical simulation
Results
4. The Archaeomagnetism Analysis as TL support for dating
The Archaeomagnetism Analysis
Sample collection and magnetic properties
Intensity experiments
Archaeointensity results5. The Stratigraphical sequence
Test B
Test 10
Test 26
Test 27
6. Interpreting the Occupation Chronology and the Urban developmentPottery study and analyses
Recording methodology
Questioning the material: the ceramic analysis program
Preliminary comments
The fabrics:
Petrographic and chemical analyses
The clayey fabrics
The fritwares
The glazed wares: physical and chemical analyses
Where were the ceramics made?
Interpretating the analyses : the ceramic groups and their productionChronology of the Qohandez pottery
Introduction to the Tests
Chronological sequence of the Qohandez pottery
Period I
Period II
Period IIIa
Period IIIb
Comparative study with the main Khorasanian sites