: Using the word in two different senses is extremely confusing, and contributes to the sort of historical thinking that leads to squabbles over which current polity "owns" a past civilization. Frex, Pakistan and India both claim the Indus valley civilization. Anchaeologists are running into nationalist passions in many countries and are writing books about their travails, thus Historical Archaeology and Archaeology under Fire. It would be much better to specify that by Iranian is meant speakers of an Indo-Iranian language.