Project Details
Transformation of Institutional Landscapes at Dehqāed (Bushehr region)
Applicant
Zohreh Zehbari, Ph.D.
Subject Area
Prehistory and World Archaeology
Term
since 2023
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 516387240
The large site Dehqāed in the Borāzjān floodplain, southern Iran, was over centuries located on the most important route connecting the highland of Fārs with the coastal region. The landscapes of the ancient area have transfigured due to reasons such as social collision, institutional authorities and water management. The written and archaeological evidence reflects the importance of Dehqāed from the Achaemenid to Sassanian periods. Despite its great research potential, the site has hardly been investigated and was never perceived as a comprehensive system. The project concentrates on the Sassanian era and proposes a bottom-up approach to inquire about the site textually and archaeologically. The main objectives of the project are three aspects: the resilience strategy, regional developments, and interregional networks. It aims to collate all available archaeological and textual data on the Sassanid settlements of Dehqāed, and to perform new field research. The fieldwork aims at the exploration of the urban context of Dehqāed in an archaeological survey, and excavations of the Tappe Tol-e Bagh-Mil that will be a major part of the project. It will shed light on the institutional control, the settlement alteration and displacement as an adaptive strategy in the frame of resilience theory in the area. On other hand, the project plans to better realize the pottery typology and chronology of the region by studying an existing ceramic collection (AFAB) housed in Borāzjān in conjunction with the planned excavations.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
International Connection
Iran