# Observations on the environmental setting of the agricultural development and occupational history of Achaemenid Persepolis

Sébastien Gondet

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Sébastien Gondet. Observations on the environmental setting of the agricultural development and occupational history of Achaemenid Persepolis. ISIMU, 2023, Landscapes, Scriptures, Symbols and Architectures of Ancient Iran, 26, pp.89-107. 10.15366/isimu2023.26.006. halshs-04651393

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# Observations on the environmental setting of the agricultural development and occupational history of Achaemenid Persepolis

Sébastien Gondet

► To cite this version:

Sébastien Gondet. Observations on the environmental setting of the agricultural development and occupational history of Achaemenid Persepolis. ISIMU, 2023, Landscapes, Scriptures, Symbols and Architectures of Ancient Iran, 26, pp.89-107. 10.15366/isimu2023.26.006. halshs-04651393

HAL Id: halshs-04651393

https://shs.hal.science/halshs-04651393

Submitted on 17 Jul 2024

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access
archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci-
entific research documents, whether they are pub-
lished or not. The documents may come from
teaching and research institutions in France or
abroad, or from public or private research centers.

L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est
destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents
scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non,
émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de
recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires
publics ou privés.

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Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike 4.0 International License
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ISIMU

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REVISTA SOBRE ORIENTE PRÓXIMO Y EGIPTO EN LA ANTIGÜEDAD

Volumen 26

2023

Paisajes, escrituras, símbolos y arquitecturas del antiguo Irán
Landscapes, Scriptures, Symbols and Architectures of Ancient Iran

F. Escribano Martín, C. del Cerro Linares, C. Fernández Rodríguez y F. L. Borrego Gallardo
(Coordinadores)

<figure><img src="image_6.png" /></figure>

SERVICIO DE PUBLICACIONES
UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DE MADRID

<figure><img src="image_7.png" /></figure>

CENTRO SUPERIOR DE ESTUDIOS
DE ORIENTE PRÓXIMO Y EGIPTO
# ÍNDICE

Fernando Escribano
Martín, Carmen del Cerro
Linares, Carlos Fernández
Rodríguez y Francisco L.
Borrego Gallardo

Presentación................................................................................9

## I- ARTÍCULOS

Silvia Balatti
I materiali scrittori dell'Iran achemenide..................17

Pierfrancesco Callieri
Babilonesi a Persepoli. Nuovi studi sull'architettura dell'Antica Persia..................29

Fernando Escribano
Martín
El jardín persa, intento de explicación y búsqueda de orígenes y trascendencias..................53

Carlos Fernández
Rodríguez
La gestión del agua y la habitabilidad del sur de Irán durante la Edad del Hierro..................69

Zahara Gharekhani
Criaturas híbridas de la Persia preislámica. Reflexiones y simbolismo..................................79

Sébastien Gondet
Observations on the environmental setting of the agricultural development and occupational history of Achaemenid Persepolis................................................................................89

Alireza Khounani
The Vineyards of Parthian Arsacid Nisa (151–15 BCE): Rent Farming and Cash Crop Agriculture from the Perspective of the Ostraca................................................................................109

Giulio Maresca
An overview of the pottery from Sistan in the Late Iron Age/Achaemenid period..................129

Negin Miri and
Cyrus Nasrollahzadeh
Another bulla of Weh-Šāpur, Ērān-Spāhbed of Kust-i-Nēmrōz from the Treasury of Mostazafan Foundation's Cultural Institution of Museums in Tehran........145
**Davide Salaris and**
**Roberto Dan**

Exploring the archaeology and significance
of Masjed-e Soleyman: a reassessment of
the Elymaean Temple and its socio-cultural
context in southwestern Iran................................157

II- RESEÑAS

**Alicia Alonso García**

Julie Scott-Jackson, *Qatar: Evidence of the Palaeolithic Earliest People Revealed*, Archaeopress, 2021..................189

**Juan Álvarez García**

Anas al Khabour, *Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Properties in Arab States*, Archaeopress Archaeology, Oxford, 2023.........191

**Fernando Escribano**
**Martín**

Alejandro Jiménez Cid, *Paisajes del Inframundo. La leyenda del agua en la Novela de Alejandro*, UAM Ediciones / Editorial Universidad de Sevilla, 2023..................196

**Paula Gómez Sanz**

Joy McCorriston, *Persistent Pastoralism. Monuments and settlements in the archaeology of Dhofar*, Archaeopress: Muscat, 2023..................................................198

**Beatriz Jiménez Meroño**

Christina Riggs, *Treasured. How Tutankhamun Shaped a Century*, Atlantic Books: Londres, 2022..................202

NORMAS DE PUBLICACIÓN....................................................................................209

SECCIÓN EN ÁRABE....................................................................................................217
INDEX

Fernando Escribano
Martín, Carmen del Cerro
Linares, Carlos Fernández
Rodríguez and Francisco
L. Borrego Gallardo

Foreword................................................................................9

I- ARTICLES

Silvia Balatti Writing Materials in Achaemenid Iran..................17

Pierfrancesco Callieri Babylonians in Persepolis. New Studies on the Architecture of Ancient Persia..................29

Fernando Escribano
Martín
The Persian garden, an attempt of explanation and search of origins and transcendences................................................53

Carlos Fernández
Rodríguez
Water Management and the Habitability of the South of Iran during the Iron Age..................69

Zahara Gharekhani Hybrid beings of pre-islamic Persia. Thoughts and symbolism........................................79

Sébastien Gondet
Observations on the environmental setting of the agricultural development and occupational history of Achaemenid Persepolis................................................................................89

Alireza Khounani
The Vineyards of Parthian Arsacid Nisa (151-15 BCE): Rent Farming and Cash Crop Agriculture from the Perspective of the Ostraca................................................................................109

Giulio Maresca
An overview of the pottery from Sistan in the Late Iron Age/Achaemenid period..................129

Negin Miri and
Cyrus Nasrollahzadeh
Another bulla of Weh-Šāpur, Ērān-Spāhbed of Kust-i-Nēmrōz from the Treasury of Mostazafan Foundation's Cultural Institution of Museums in Tehran........145
**Davide Salaris and**
**Roberto Dan**

Exploring the archaeology and significance
of Masjed-e Soleyman: a reassessment of
the Elymaean Temple and its socio-cultural
context in southwestern Iran................................157

II- BOOK REVIEWS

**Alicia Alonso García**

Julie Scott-Jackson, *Qatar: Evidence of the Palaeolithic Earliest People Revealed*, Archaeopress, 2021....................189

**Juan Álvarez García**

Anas al Khabour, *Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Properties in Arab States*, Archaeopress Archaeology, Oxford, 2023.........191

**Fernando Escribano**
**Martín**

Alejandro Jiménez Cid, *Paisajes del Inframundo. La leyenda del agua en la Novela de Alejandro*, UAM Ediciones / Editorial Universidad de Sevilla, 2023............196

**Paula Gómez Sanz**

Joy McCorriston, *Persistent Pastoralism. Monuments and settlements in the archaeology of Dhofar*, Archaeopress: Muscat, 2023................................................198

**Beatriz Jiménez Meroño**

Christina Riggs, *Treasured. How Tutankhamun Shaped a Century*, Atlantic Books: Londres, 2022....................202

GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS................................................................................209

ARABIC SECTION................................................................................................................217
OBSERVATIONS ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING OF
THE AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT AND OCCUPATIONAL
HISTORY OF ACHAEMENID PERSEPOLIS

Sébastien Gondet

CNRS – Université Lyon 2; UMR 5133 Archéorient –
FR 3747 Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée

ABSTRACT

This article deals with the environmental setting of Persepolis during the Achaemenid period (6th – 4th cent. BC). In addition to its symbolic and administrative functions as a central place, Persepolis was the result of a large-scale development project over at least a dozen square kilometres implemented in successive stages, which left large spaces for farming activities attested in the Fortification Archives. Following a review of the regional geographical setting, data focusing on the properties of soils and hydrography provide a more precise picture of the natural landscape of Persepolis. The hydraulic installations, known thanks to archaeological fieldwork, appear to be adapted to the properties of soils and suitable for developing intensive farming. Studies of hydrographic conditions show that the Pulvar river channel running through the region would have been less incised into its floodplain than in modern times, with consequences for the availability of water at Persepolis and its occupational history.

KEYWORDS

Iran, Fars, Persepolis, Pulvar, palaeoenvironment, soils properties, hydrography, land-use, hydraulic
facilities, farming.

RESUMEN

Este artículo trata del entorno medioambiental de Persépolis durante el periodo aqueménida (ss. VI-IV a.C.). Además de sus funciones simbólicas y administrativas como lugar central central, Persépolis fue el resultado de un proyecto de desarrollo a gran escala que abarcó al menos una docena de kilómetros cuadrados y se llevó a cabo en etapas sucesivas, que dejó amplios espacios para las actividades agrícolas, como atestiguan los Archivos de la Fortificación. Tras una revisión del entorno geográfico regional, los datos centrados en las propiedades de los suelos y la hidrografía proporcionan una imagen más precisa del paisaje natural de Persépolis. Las instalaciones hidráulicas, conocidas gracias a los trabajos arqueológicos parecen estar adaptadas a las propiedades de los suelos y adecuadas para el desarrollo de la agricultura intensiva. Los estudios de las condiciones hidrográficas muestran que el cauce del río Pulvar, que atraviesa la region, habría estado menos encajado en la llanura aluvial que en época moderna, con consecuencias para la disponibilidad de agua en Persépolis y en la historia de su ocupación.

PALABRAS CLAVE

Irán, Fars, Persépolis, Pulvar, paleoambiente, propiedades del suelo, hidrografía, uso del suelo, instalaciones hidráulicas, agricultura.

1. Persepolis, a central place and a landscaping project

Discussions of the role of Persepolis have for a long time focused on the monumental
terrace founded under the rule of the Great Achaemenid King Darius I in the early part of
his reign (520-486 BC). The construction of the Persepolis Terrace in the homeland of the
Persians, and of the 50ha Royal Area surrounding it<fnref n="1" />, was a huge and long-term building project which bore manifold symbolic and political meanings<fnref n="2" />. The architectural program of the terrace and its surroundings served at first to symbolize Achaemenid power over imperial space. The discovery of thousands of inscribed clay tablets at the beginning of the 1930s on the terrace, and their still ongoing translation and analysis, have also shed light on the role of Persepolis as an administrative centre<fnref n="3" />. Dated back to the reign of Darius, the Persepolis Fortification Archive record activities of officials in charge of land management within a region corresponding mainly to the present extent of Fars province. Persepolis, or Parsa as it is named in the archives, was a central place and the region's capital “city”<fnref n="4" />. On a more local scale, the archives show that the land surrounding the terrace was cultivated and permanently populated by a variety of inhabitants (members of the aristocracy, agents of the administration, soldiers, craftsmen, farmers, semi-dependant workers...).

<figure><img src="image_8.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 1. Simplified map of the Persepolis Settled Zone, showing the distribution of clusters of Achaemenid settlements (adapted from Gondet 2018: 198-Fig. 4, with modifications; CAD S. Gondet).</figcaption></figure>

<footnote n="1">¹ Mousavi 2012: 10-50 provides a detailed presentation of the results of the successive archaeological campaigns undertaken on the terrace and in its surroundings as from the 1930s.</footnote>

<footnote n="2">² Among an extensive list of references on this topic, see the following publications: Briant 1996: 99, 183-184; Kuhrt 2007: 469-471; Mousavi 2012: 51-56; Root 2015: 3-11; Canepa 2018: 32-35; Boucharlat 2020; Matthews, Fazeli Nashli 2022: 483-487.</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³ See Henkelman 2017 for a detailed analysis of the Persepolitan institutional landscape reconstructed thanks to the archives; see Henkelman, Kaniuth, Mohammadkhani 2023: 228-229 for a concise overview of the archives' content and of the bibliography related to their current study.</footnote>

<footnote n="4">⁴ The term “city” linked to “capital” or “centre” is used to characterize Persepolis by Kuhrt 2007: 470; Mousavi 2012: 55-56; Root 2015: 13. See discussions on the use of these terms in *ibid.*: 11-14; Gondet 2018: 186-189; Askari Chaverdi, Callieri 2020: 178; Boucharlat 2020: 59; Callieri 2022.</footnote>
Given the intricate nature of Persepolis, archaeologists have long tried to reconstruct the
physical reality of Achaemenid occupation at Persepolis beyond the Royal Area<fnref n="5" />. The spatial
organization of Persepolis needs to be approached at a scale of several square kilometres
encompassing the known complexes of Achaemenid monuments or the clusters of settlements
known around the terrace<fnref n="6" />. The area, which we have suggested calling the Persepolis Settled
Zone<fnref n="7" />, is bounded to the south by the Royal Area, by the royal necropolis of Naqsh-e Rustam
6km to the north, and by the modern village of Firuzi 5km to the west (Fig. 1). During
the last twenty years, a succession of archaeological projects, implemented in the frame of
programs led by the Parsa Research and Conservation Centre, have focused their efforts on
the exploration of fields west of the terrace. Despite the destruction of archaeological sites
caused by agricultural encroachment, a combination of large-scale mapping works —based
on pedestrian surveys and remote sensing techniques (geophysics)— with targeted excavations
has revealed parts of the preserved traces of the Achaemenid layout<fnref n="8" />. Fieldwork focused
mainly on the Persepolis Northwest and Bagh-e Firuzi areas. In the Persepolis Northwest,
the surveys and excavations revealed a mosaic of built-up spaces and others left unbuilt,
distributed within a rectangular grid system of ditches mapped over more than 120ha
(Fig. 2). In the Bagh-e Firuzi, at least eleven Achaemenid sites —nine displaying remains of
monumental architectural features— are distributed across a surface of at least 150ha, spaces
between them appearing as unbuilt and cut through by ditches. It appears that Persepolis is
the result of a large-scale and certainly long-term development project following a peculiar
layout that can be characterized as diffused<fnref n="9" />. Spaces around the Royal Area presented an
open landscape characterized by multi-centred clusters with low density of buildings, the
setting for daily-life activities of the permanently settled population, and by the prevalence
of green areas<fnref n="10" />. The settled areas were criss-crossed by drainage facilities, dating back to
the Achaemenid period<fnref n="11" />, demonstrating that they were carefully landscaped over dozens of
hectares.

The morphology of Persepolis raises manifold challenges and questions. One
can hardly define and analyse occupation around Persepolis by following the standard
approaches of studies in urbanism. The archaeological data revealed that the Persepolis
micro-region was subjected to a large-scale landscape development project rather than
the construction of a densely built-up city within well-defined boundaries. Consequently,

<footnote n="5">⁵ In an article presenting his excavation program at Persepolis, Herzfeld 1929 provides an early attempt to describe the remains of the city around the terrace. Sixty years later, Sumner 1986 published a review of the archaeological data on the Achaemenid settlement in the plain and on the “city or town” (ibid.: 9) around the terrace.</footnote>

<footnote n="6">⁶ See the comments of Boucharlat 2003: 264-265 published before the recent resumption of archaeological work at Persepolis and based on a revaluation of the data published by Sumner 1986. See also Kuhrt 2007: 470 connecting Naqsh-e Rustam to the city.</footnote>

<footnote n="7">⁷ Boucharlat, De Schacht, Gondet 2012; Gondet 2018; Boucharlat 2020; Askari Chaverdi, Callieri 2020; Matthews, Fazeli Nashli 2022: 480. Alternatively, the area is called “Territory of Parsa” in Talebian 2008: 182-Fig. 10; “Greater Persepolis” in Root 2015: 12-13; “Persepolis region” in Henkelman, Stolper 2021: 173 and in Henkelman 2021: 142.</footnote>

<footnote n="8">⁸ Talebian 2008; Boucharlat, De Schacht, Gondet 2012; Askari Chaverdi, Callieri 2012; Askari Chaverdi, Callieri, Matin 2014; 2017; Askari Chaverdi, Callieri (eds.) 2017; Gondet, Mohammadkhani, Askari Chaverdi 2018. See review of the results in Gondet 2018: 197-201; Boucharlat 2020: 59-65; Askari Chaverdi, Callieri 2020; Callieri 2022; Matthews, Fazeli Nashli 2022: 480-483.</footnote>

<footnote n="9">⁹ Root 2005: 13; Canepa: 2018: 25-26; Gondet 2018: 205; Askari Chaverdi, Callieri 2020: 185; Callieri 2022: 133.</footnote>

<footnote n="10">¹⁰ Boucharlat 2020 attempts to provide a comprehensive reconstruction of the landscape of Persepolis as it appeared to the eyes of visitors.</footnote>

<footnote n="11">¹¹ Askari Chaverdi, Callieri 2012: 236-237, 2020: 183; Callieri 2022: 128.</footnote>
Persepolis must also be studied by considering its natural landscape, how the latter was managed and transformed. Recent results coming from textual, palaeoenvironmental, and archaeological sources provide insights on two topics that the present article examines in that perspective. The first is the nature of unbuilt spaces, so far vaguely described as green areas, while recent publications have demonstrated intensive agrarian activities—especially tree cultivation— in the Persepolis area. The second topic concerns the chronology of the development of Persepolis, on which archaeological work in the Bagh-e Firuzi area provides new hypotheses. After a presentation of these results and their outcomes, the article deals with the general environmental setting and focuses on the questions of soil fertility and hydrographic conditions during the Achaemenid period. In some respects, the cross-analysis of various data on these two factors could enlighten aspects of agrarian development at Persepolis and its occupational history.

<figure><img src="image_9.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 2. Layout of Achaemenid to Post-Achaemenid remains in the Persepolis Northwest area west of the Persepolis Terrace, reconstructed thanks to the results of the Iranian-French (2005-2008) and Iranian-Italian (2008-present) archaeological projects (adapted from Gondet, Mohammadkhani, Askari Chaverdi 2018: 3-Fig. 1, with modifications; CAD S. Gondet).</figcaption></figure>
## 2. Data on Persepolis seen as an agrarian area and on its development chronology

Data published in the last decades from textual and archaeological sources prove that the lands around the terrace of Persepolis were fertile and intensively cultivated during the Achaemenid period<fnref n="12" />. Recent articles based mainly on the analysis of two tablets from the administrative archives of Persepolis<fnref n="13" /> provide insights into the nature of agricultural development around the Royal Area. They show that thousands of fruit trees, of various species, were planted in the Persepolis region during the reign of Darius<fnref n="14" />. They also demonstrate that the trees were cultivated and the harvested fruit was stored in plantations located close to Persepolis<fnref n="15" />. Data from the archives allow one to be more precise about the nature of some of the lands left unbuilt within the Persepolis Settled Zone, an area that among other crops included large orchards. When looking at the number of trees recorded and considering the large quantity of fruits possibly produced, the archives reveal a deliberate strategy of the administration to build and maintain significant farming facilities at Persepolis<fnref n="16" />. As discussed extensively in the above-mentioned publications, the development of arboriculture in the Persepolis region echoes palaeobotanical analyses of pollen trapped in the sediment archives of Lake Maharlu located in the south part of the Shiraz sedimentary basin (Fig. 3a). A first analysis hypothesized a peak of pollens of cultivated trees during the 1st millennium BC<fnref n="17" />. A recent revision of the chronology of the sediment deposits in lake Maharlu<fnref n="18" /> dates the peak to the late Sasanian/Early Islamic period<fnref n="19" />. The results nevertheless show that cultivation of various species of trees and the grapevine in the region began as early as the Pre-Achaemenid/Achaemenid period<fnref n="20" />. The data should also be interpreted in the light of the peculiar environmental condition in the Shiraz basin<fnref n="21" /> where little is known so far on Achaemenid settlements<fnref n="22" />. However, the combination of textual and environmental data demonstrates a regional development of tree cultivation as from Achaemenid times. In addition to the manifold functions of the site, Persepolis may be seen as an area of intensive farming development that would have called for specific environmental conditions and land management schemes.

Regarding the area's occupational history, the study of written sources has long demonstrated that Persepolis was not an *ex-nihilo* new foundation of Darius. The Persepolis Settled Zone was at that time already populated —and probably cultivated— and the seat of an important town<fnref n="23" />. The Iranian-Italian archaeological work in Bagh-e Firuzi undertaken during the last decade have provided crucial contributions to this topic. The excavation of a monumental gate at Tol-e Ajori revealed the remains of a building whose plan and decorated wall faces of glazed bricks are similar to those of the Neo-Babylonian Ishtar Gate at Babylon<fnref n="24" />.

<footnote n="12">¹² Root 2015: 13; Boucharlat 2020: 65. Review of textual evidence on efforts related to cultivation in the Persepolis region, see Henkelman 2021: 133-136.</footnote>

<footnote n="13">¹³ Henkelman, Stolper 2021; Henkelman 2021; Stolper 2021; Henkelman, Kaniuth, Mohammadkhani 2023: 234-235.</footnote>

<footnote n="14">¹⁴ Henkelman, Stolper 2021: 169; Henkelman 2021: 142.</footnote>

<footnote n="15">¹⁵ Henkelman, Stolper 2021: 173; Henkelman 2021: 145-146.</footnote>

<footnote n="16">¹⁶ Henkelman, Stolper 2021: 177.</footnote>

<footnote n="17">¹⁷ Djamali *et al.* 2009; 2010.</footnote>

<footnote n="18">¹⁸ Brisset *et al.* 2019.</footnote>

<footnote n="19">¹⁹ Saeidi Ghavi Andam *et al.* 2021: 605.</footnote>

<footnote n="20">²⁰ *ibid.*: 604-607; Djamali, Saeidi Ghavi Andam, Poschlod 2021.</footnote>

<footnote n="21">²¹ On the variety of climatic conditions across the Fars province, see Ricci *et al.* 2023: 85.</footnote>

<footnote n="22">²² Askari Chaverdi 2023 provides data concerning Achaemenid occupation at a site located north of Shiraz.</footnote>

<footnote n="23">²³ Briant 1996: 99. Detailed review of all the available data on this topic in Askari Chaverdi, Callieri 2020: 196-198. Concerning archaeology, see comments of Sumner 1986: 28 and a review of the data on the Firuzi area available before the launching of the Iranian-Italian project in Boucharlat, De Schacht, Gondet 2012: 264-267.</footnote>

<footnote n="24">²⁴ The team has regularly reported on the results of archaeological campaigns at and around Tol-e Ajori in Askari Chaverdi, Callieri, Gondet 2013; Askari Chaverdi, Callieri, Matin 2014; 2017. Summary in Askari Chaverdi, Callieri 2020: 186-196.</footnote>
Surveys undertaken and trenches excavated at and between surrounding sites demonstrated that the gate was part of larger monumental complex that followed an open layout akin to that defined at Pasargadae<fnref n="25" />. The spaces between buildings, located several hundreds of meters from one another, are crossed by parallel ditches sharing the same orientation as the constructed features. As at Persepolis Northwest, the Bagh-e Firuzi area was equipped with drainage facilities. Based on the gathering of chronological evidence, both relative and absolute, the foundation of the Bagh-e Firuzi complex is dated to the Early Achaemenid period, therefore predating the terrace's construction<fnref n="26" />. Moreover, the orientations of buildings and drainage facilities between Bagh-e Firuzi and Persepolis Northwest/Royal Ara are different. They result certainly from two distinct phases of land development<fnref n="27" />. In Early Achaemenid times, a first nucleus associating town and monumental complex may have existed in the Firuzi area<fnref n="28" />, and during the reign of Darius, the core of the Persepolis Settled Zone was shifted 3km to the east. This displacement represents a deep change in the occupational history of the micro-region during the Achaemenid period, a change with obvious political and historical meanings, which could also be read in terms of environmental factors.

### 3. Environment setting of Persepolis: overview

One of the intermontane basins along the Zagros chain in Southwestern Iran, which are favourable regions for settlement and farming<fnref n="29" />, the Persepolis plain shows some of the best potential for agricultural development<fnref n="30" />. Surrounded by limestone ranges, the plain is a northwest-southeast oriented sedimentary basin more than 100km long and 30km wide (Fig. 3a)<fnref n="31" />. Consequently, the region was able to supply a large number of fields for crops. The mean altitude of the plain is above 1600m —1610m at the foot of the Persepolis Terrace — and its slope gradient is low (less than 0.06%)<fnref n="32" />. The climate of the Persepolis region is semi-arid and defined as continental Mediterranean with a strong influence of altitude<fnref n="33" />. It is characterized by high inter-seasonal variability with cold and humid winters and long dry seasons lasting up to 8 months, marked by hot summers. Records of rainfall demonstrate a climatic gradient across the plain, annual mean precipitation value being 448mm at Dorudzan in the northwest and 199mm at Neyriz in the southeast (Fig. 3b)<fnref n="34" />. At Marvdasht, not far from the Persepolis

<footnote n="25">²⁵ Gondet 2018: 201; Boucharlat 2020: 41, 65; Askari Chaverdi, Callieri 2020: 199. On the morphology and the layout of Pasargadae, based on archaeological work carried out as from the late 1990s, see Benech, Boucharlat, Gondet 2012; Boucharlat 2014; Gondet 2018: 193-197; Gondet et al. 2019; 2021.</footnote>

<footnote n="26">²⁶ Askari Chaverdi, Callieri 2020: 196-200.</footnote>

<footnote n="27">²⁷ Boucharlat, De Schacht, Gondet 2012: 267; Gondet 2018: 201; Askari Chaverdi, Callieri 2020: 196; Callieri: 2022: 131-132.</footnote>

<footnote n="28">²⁸ The existence of another early nucleus at Dasht-e Gohar (Fig. 1) is also presumed. In the absence of firm new evidence on the chronology and the nature of the occupation in this area, Dasht-e Gohar has not been integrated into the present development scenario of the Persepolis Settled Zone. See Boucharlat, De Schacht, Gondet 2012: 258 on the difficulties in interpreting results of surveys carried out at this location. For reviews on the data available for the Dasht-e Gohar complex, see: Bessac, Boucharlat 2010: 30-36; Askari Chaverdi, Callieri 2020: 199.</footnote>

<footnote n="29">²⁹ Planhol 2000; Kehl, Rafiei-Alavi, Alizadeh Ketek Lahijani 2023: 22; Ricci et al. 2023: 85.</footnote>

<footnote n="30">³⁰ Kortum 1976: 257; Moameni 1999: 73; Hartnell 2014: 183-185; Caiserman, Amiraslani, Dumas 2021: 1.</footnote>

<footnote n="31">³¹ Overview of the physical and environmental setting of the plain in: Kortum 1976: 31-68; Moameni 1999: 5-16; Kehl, Frechen, Skowronek 2009: 58-61; Djamali et al. 2018: 1159-1161. See also Gondet 2011: 31-88 which, updated with recent publications, provides part of the material used in this article.</footnote>

<footnote n="32">³² Kehl, Frechen, Skowronek 2009: 58; Djamali et al. 2018: 1159.</footnote>

<footnote n="33">³³ Rigot 2010: 62-63; Djamali et al. 2018: 1159; Caiserman, Amiraslani, Dumas 2021: 2; Rigot et al. 2022: 85.</footnote>

<footnote n="34">³⁴ Until the early 2010s, the data for the Dorudzan and the Neyriz stations were available on the website of the Iranian Meteorological Organization for the period 1961-2000 (http://www.irimo.ir). The website is no longer accessible. The data for the years 1990-2017 published by Caiserman, Amiraslani, Dumas 2021: 2 provide almost the same values.</footnote>
Terrace, mean annual rainfall is about 330mm<fnref n="35" />. The Kur river is the mainstem draining the plain from northwest to southeast, from the Dorudzan area upstream towards the playa complex of lakes Tashk and Bakhtegan downstream. The Pulvar river<fnref n="36" /> is its main tributary, flowing from the northeast and the Pasargadae region, crosses the Persepolis Settled Zone, and joins the Kur southwest of the modern city of Marvdasht. The value of the Kur's annual discharge is much higher than the Pulvar's<fnref n="37" />, defining from afar the Kur as the principal stream draining and watering the Persepolis plain. Karstic springs are also a major component of the regional hydrosystem; at least 148 springs are recorded on the 1:25000 topographic maps of the region, and among them 14 main springs or complexes of springs have been detected<fnref n="38" />.

<figure><img src="image_10.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 3. Environmental setting of the Persepolis plain. (a) Physical map and hydrography; (b) Ombrothermic diagrams for the north (above) and south sectors (below) of the plain; (c) Location of the studied area (ASTER STRM for the terrain basemap; IRIMO for climatic data; CAD S. Gondet).</figcaption></figure>

We shall take a closer look at the Persepolis Settled Zone and the palaeoenvironment of the plain during the Achaemenid period. From a geographical point of view, its position is strategic, since it is located at the outlet of the Pulvar river in the Persepolis Plain and at the intersection of two natural circulation highways, i.e. the northwest/southeast Kur basin and the southwest/northeast Pulvar valley. The natural landscape of the area contributed various resources to Persepolis. Surrounding by mountain ranges, providing construction materials like stone<fnref n="39" /> and wood, as well as extensive pastures<fnref n="40" />, the Persepolis Settled Zone includes wide spaces of flat lands available for agricultural activities. The plain's present environmental and climatic conditions, as detailed above, are suitable for the development of agriculture,

<footnote n="35">³⁵ Moameni 1999: 8.</footnote>

<footnote n="36">³⁶ According to vernacular toponymy, it is alternatively called the Sivand when it reaches the valley upstream of the Persepolis plain. See Duva 2018 for a review of the names given to the rivers of the region according to various historical sources.</footnote>

<footnote n="37">³⁷ 30 times higher in Kortum 1976: 50-51; 15 times higher in Moameni 1999: 14.</footnote>

<footnote n="38">³⁸ Djamali *et al.* 2018: 1161-1163.</footnote>

<footnote n="39">³⁹ Gondet 2015.</footnote>

<footnote n="40">⁴⁰ Saeidi Ghavi Andam *et al.* 2021: 601-603 on proxy data from the Maharlu sedimentary archives relating to intensification of pastoral activities and deforestation as from the 1st millennium BC.</footnote>
but subject to several constraints. The main one relates to water availability. Although present mean annual rainfall values allow dry agriculture, precipitations are unevenly distributed over the year. According to recent paleoclimatic reconstructions, seasonal variability affected Southwestern Iran during the entire Holocene and consequently in the Achaemenid period<fnref n="41" />. Yet during the Holocene, climatic changes occurred in the amount and yearly distribution of precipitations. Their reconstruction may vary according to the nature and location of studied palaeoenvironmental archives<fnref n="42" />. In the Central Fars area, the Achaemenid period would have been a long phase of lower aridity and fairly stable hydro-climatic conditions<fnref n="43" />. While probably carried out in more favourable conditions, farming activities during the Achaemenid period required irrigation, especially in the spring and the summer seasons. This is illustrated by archaeological data gathered in the Pasargadae and Persepolis regions, which attest the development on a regional scale of large hydraulic infrastructure during the Achaemenid period to tap water from the various local resources<fnref n="44" />. In addition to water, agrarian development also needs suitable croplands to cultivate and harvest desired species. In the following sections of this article, a closer look at soil fertility will permit a better definition of the agrarian potential in the Persepolis Settled Zone and explanations on how it was managed during the Achaemenid period. This is combined with a review of data recently obtained on the Pulvar river's morphology in the past, with consequences for the hydrographic context of agricultural activities in the Persepolis area, and possibly for its occupational history.

4. Regional soil conditions, consequences for land improvement and land-use at Persepolis

Since the Persepolis Plain was a strategic region for agricultural production in Fars, it was subjected to large land development programs and farming intensification, mainly linked to the construction in the early 1970s of a reservoir dam across the river Kur, upstream from the plain at Dorudzan (Fig. 3a). As from that date, pre-existing land-use patterns have deeply changed, and the present state of the agrarian landscape differs almost entirely from the pre-existing traditional one<fnref n="45" />. This project of development was preceded by precise surveys of the plain's agricultural potential and, among other features, the soil's properties<fnref n="46" />. The soil map drawn on this occasion (Fig. 4) provides an overview of potential cropland quality over a surface of about 100,000ha in the northwestern part of the Persepolis plain. This document is an inventory of soil conditions prior to agricultural intensification in the last decades. Its analysis is of great utility for the reconstruction of large-scale land-use patterns in the past and for defining agrarian potential in the Persepolis Settled Zone. While at present appearing

<footnote n="41">⁴¹ Rigot *et al.* 2022: 98.</footnote>

<footnote n="42">⁴² Kehl, Rafiei-Alavi, Alizadeh Ketek Lahijani 2023: 26-29.</footnote>

<footnote n="43">⁴³ Saeidi Ghavi Andam *et al.* 2021: 601; Rigot *et al.* 2022: 99; Ricci *et al.* 2023: 86. See Matthews, Fazeli Nashli 2022: 396-398, 497-498 assessing suitable climatic conditions in the Iron Age, based on an overview of the palaeoenvironmental data available for the large Southwest Asia region. This general view is, however, counterbalanced by the occurrence of a possible episode of drier climate around 550 BC, recorded in the archives of the Maharlu lake, see Ricci *et al.* 2023: 88. This result clearly demonstrates the rapid and localized climate changes that may have occurred during the Late Holocene, as discussed by Kehl, Rafiei-Alavi, Alizadeh Ketek Lahijani 2023.</footnote>

<footnote n="44">⁴⁴ Boucharlat, De Schacht, Gondet 2012; De Schacht *et al.* 2012; De Schacht 2018; Shobairi 2018; Chambrade *et al.* 2020.</footnote>

<footnote n="45">⁴⁵ Kortum 1976: 237-250; Moameni 1999: 75-84. On modern changes in the landscape and their consequences on the archaeology, see Boucharlat, De Schacht, Gondet 2012: 254-257.</footnote>

<footnote n="46">⁴⁶ Justin, Courtney 1966 provides a comprehensive report which has been extensively used by Kortum 1976; Moameni 1999. Kehl, Frechen, Skowronek 2009: 59-Fig. 2 published another version of a soil map of the area based on survey of the early 1970s.</footnote>
as a large fertile region entirely covered by croplands, the Persepolis plain has to cope with
several constraints for agriculture. They are mainly linked to the low slope gradient and
slow permeability of soils, which imply a shallow groundwater table, the presence of large
swamps and extensive problems of salinization<fnref n="47" />.

<figure><img src="image_11.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 4. Soil map and description in the northwestern part of the Persepolis plain (adapted from Justin & Courtney 1966, with modifications; CAD S. Gondet).</figcaption></figure>

West and south of Persepolis, large areas of lands are described as non-arable because of slow permeability, salinization, and waterlogging issues (Class 5 on Fig. 4)<fnref n="48" />. These regions correspond for the most part to large swampy areas, which were dominant elements of the landscape before the modern campaigns of extensive drainage, linked to the new irrigation scheme designed following the Dorudzan dam’s construction. In the region of the modern town of Bayza northwest of the Persepolis plain, the landscape was dominated

<footnote n="47">⁴⁷ Kortum 1976: 33; Moameni 1999: 11-12; Kehl, Frechen, Skowronek 2009; Djamali *et al.* 2018.</footnote>

<footnote n="48">⁴⁸ Justin, Courtney 1996: D-17.</footnote>
by swamps, which are a result of the combination of shallow groundwater and clusters of karstic springs<fnref n="49" />. The wetlands, which extended over several square kilometres<fnref n="50" />, have poor agricultural potential but may have been of economic interest, as demonstrated by studies on Anshan, the Bronze Age Elamite capital of the Iranian highlands. Whether the Bronze Age city's economy was mainly based on farming, datasets have shown the growing interest of its inhabitants in resources of the surrounding wetlands —i.e. aquatic plants and waterfowls— as well as in water supplied by the numerous springs (given that the site is located far from the main rivers)<fnref n="51" />. The southeastern part of the plain has been environmentally speaking less studied than the northwest, because it is considered as less fertile. It comprises large areas of salty and swampy lands surrounding the complex of shallow and semi-permanent saline lakes of Tashk and Bakhtegan (Fig. 3a). This general statement should be balanced by archaeological data, which show for instance that several Late Bronze Age settlements were distributed along the Kuh-e Rahmat range southeast of Persepolis<fnref n="52" />. The western part of the southeastern plain has also been subjected to agricultural development since at least the Sasanid/Early-Islamic era, as seen in the construction of a diversion dam across the Kur river at Band-e Amir; this dam supplies networks of canals located downstream<fnref n="53" />. In the vicinity of Band-e Amir, several Achaemenid sites were recorded in the past but have certainly been destroyed<fnref n="54" />. It is still true nonetheless that large amounts of land located southeast of the plain have poor soil quality, due to the combined effects of lower slope gradient, shallow water tables, flow of spring water with high saline content<fnref n="55" />, resulting in a process of extensive salinization of soils. These instances of apparently barren lands dominating the plain's southeastern part may have rather been suitable for extensive pastoralism, but not for intensive farming activities in the absence of considerable drainage and irrigation projects<fnref n="56" />.

When compared to Bronze Age Anshan, the foundation of Persepolis in the central part of the plain reflects a change in regional occupational history. The Persepolis Settled Zone was part of a large area of lands suitable for irrigation and crop production (Class 2 soil around the Persepolis Settled Zone on Fig. 4). The micro-region is also crossed by the river Pulvar, which provides large and perennial amounts of water. Located in the most fertile part of the plain, between the extensive wetlands in the northwest and the salty lands in the southeast, the Persepolis Settled Zone's natural landscape provides good conditions for an intensive and extensive development of agriculture (Fig. 5). Farming activities in the area face several difficulties, however. The soil survey has characterized the land surrounding the area as having slow permeability, a shallow water table, and a slight salinity problem<fnref n="57" />. Intensive agricultural production hence demands irrigation and well-developed drainage facilities. Considering soil conditions in the Persepolis Settled Zone, the network of ditches recorded at Persepolis Northwest and Bagh-e Firuzi (Fig. 2 and Fig. 6) seems essential to improve farming productivity. It provided water for people and irrigation and, above all, drained excess water and the shallow ground water whose stagnancy

<footnote n="49">⁴⁹ Djamali *et al.* 2018.</footnote>

<footnote n="50">⁵⁰ Cornwallis 1968 provides an inventory of the wetlands in the region and p. 154-155 assesses the swampy lands along the southwestern Kuh-e Lapui range to be to 120 km² in area. Kortum 1976: 32 gives almost the same estimation for this large wetland.</footnote>

<footnote n="51">⁵¹ Djamali *et al.* 2018: 1168-1169.</footnote>

<footnote n="52">⁵² Sumner 1994.</footnote>

<footnote n="53">⁵³ Hartnell 2014: 196-199; Duva 2018: 107-108.</footnote>

<footnote n="54">⁵⁴ Sumner 1986: 9-10. See also Djamali *et al.* 2018: 1169-1170 on the remains of a supposed Achaemenid reservoir dam near the north-western shore of Lake Tashk.</footnote>

<footnote n="55">⁵⁵ *ibid.*: 1169.</footnote>

<footnote n="56">⁵⁶ Kortum 1976: 33-34.</footnote>

<footnote n="57">⁵⁷ Justin, Courtney 1966: D-16. Moameni 1999: 148 underlines that more than 50% of the lands in the plain's northwestern part are affected by salinization.</footnote>
could increase salinization<fnref n="58" />. In addition, the crop evapotranspiration during spring and summer could also play a significant role into the salinization process, as well as on having an influence on the balance between water availability and consumption<fnref n="59" />. Taking into account present climatic regional conditions, it has been demonstrated that orchards are the most suitable crop to reduce the effects of the evaporation<fnref n="60" />. This result is echoed by the focus on arboriculture during the Achaemenid period documented by textual and palaeoenvironmental studies, since orchard cultivation appears as cropland particularly well-adapted to the environmental conditions of the Persepolis region.

<figure><img src="image_12.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 5. View, from the Kuh-e Rahmat slope southwest of the Persepolis terrace, of the surrounding cultivated plain (S. Gondet, fall of 2005).</figcaption></figure>

**5. Hydrographic conditions at Persepolis during the Achaemenid period: consequences on water availability and occupational history**

The Persepolis Settled Zone includes various hydraulic installations<fnref n="61" />. In the Royal Area, drainage networks protected the constructions from washout and diverted the water to cisterns and tanks<fnref n="62" />. These hydraulic facilities are related to a local use for people living in the Royal Area and for the gardens that probably surrounded the monuments. Further away, the

<footnote n="58">⁵⁸ Boucharlat, De Schacht, Gondet 2012: 256, 278-279 have already suggested dual functions for the networks of ditches. See also the general remarks in Matthews, Fazeli Nashli 2022: 398 on the impact of intensive agricultural production on soil salinity during the early imperial period.</footnote>

<footnote n="59">⁵⁹ Caiserman, Amiraslani, Dumas 2021.</footnote>

<footnote n="60">⁶⁰ *ibid.*: 9.</footnote>

<footnote n="61">⁶¹ Boucharlat, De Schacht, Gondet 2012: 276-279.</footnote>

<footnote n="62">⁶² See Mousavi 2012 for a description and related bibliography concerning the drainage systems on the terrace, on the Kuh-e Rahmat slope, and in the Southern Quarter. Asadi 2018 has published a report on the recent excavation of the drainage system in the south part of the terrace.</footnote>
water used for the settlements and the croplands were certainly supplied through the networks
of ditches mapped at Persepolis Northwest and Bagh-e Firuzi. The origin of the water and
the channels through which it was drained towards the networks of ditches is currently under
discussion. Recent results on the reconstruction of the Pulvar river's dynamics during the
Holocene provide a new frame to look deeper into this topic. Today the Pulvar river flows in
the Persepolis region at some 11m under the level of the plain floor at Bagh-e Firuzi and at
about 15m under near Istakhr (Fig. 6). Study of the thick alluvial deposits in the Pasargadae
region, upstream from Persepolis, has demonstrated that the Pulvar riverbed was certainly
less incised in the floor of the sedimentary basins during the Achaemenid period than it is
today<fnref n="63" />. The absolute luminescence dating obtained on several Pulvar sedimentary sequences
leads to the suggestion that the main phase of river incision began at the turn of the 1st
millennium BC.<fnref n="64" /> Regarding the data obtained in the Pasargadae region, it is likely that
the flow level of the Pulvar in the Persepolis plain was also higher during the Achaemenid
period. Although this hypothesis needs to be confirmed by precise analysis of the Pulvar
deposits in the Persepolis plain<fnref n="65" />, it should be taken into consideration when considering
water availability in the Persepolis Settled Zone. It could also provide elements of context
relevant to discussion of the region's occupational history.

<figure><img src="image_13.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 6. Map of water resources and hydraulic installations in the Persepolis Settled Zone, with elevations of the terrain and some features related to the waterscape; CAD (S. Gondet).</figcaption></figure>

It has been suggested that the drainage network in the Persepolis Northwest area was
supplied with water via the open-air canal of which preserved sections, mainly rock-cut, are

<footnote n="63">⁶³ Rigot *et al.* 2022. This result allows one to refine previous geomorphological studies, suggesting that the Pulvar was already deeply incised during the Achaemenid period, cf. Kehl, Frechen, Skowronek 2009; Rigot 2010; De Schacht *et al.* 2012; Boucharlat, De Schacht, Gondet 2012: 277; Boucharlat 2020: 66-67. The hypothesis was also based also on the historic account of Quintus Curtius Rufus, *Alex*, 5.4.7 on the geography of Fars describing the Pulvar as “[...] sunk deep in the soil [...]”. But, as Duva 2018: 110 emphasizes, the river which he describes may probably not be the Pulvar.</footnote>

<footnote n="64">⁶⁴ Rigot *et al.* 2022: 97.</footnote>

<footnote n="65">⁶⁵ See the discussion in *ibid*.: 97-98 on the differences in results and hypotheses between earlier and most recent studies on changes in the Pulvar river during the Holocene. They could be linked to differences in river dynamics from one sedimentary basin to another.</footnote>
known to run along the Kuh-e Rahmat foothills, from the site of Istakhr towards the terrace (Fig. 7)<fnref n="66" />. The geophysical survey carried out in the fields along the foothill and north of the terrace has not revealed a connection between the network of ditches and the canal. The construction of an asphalted road and the digging of *qanats*—wells and related underground aqueducts— probably of later date than the Achaemenid period, have certainly destroyed the remains of earlier hydraulic infrastructures<fnref n="67" />. The canal’s relative dating can be surmised when considering the fact that upstream, next to the site of Istakhr, it is associated with an enigmatic construction made of finely cut ashlars probably dating to the Achaemenid period. As a matter of fact, the location and the route taken by the canal constitute the most robust evidence for its use in supplying the drainage facilities in the Persepolis Northwest area. It ran along and above the fields sprawling along the Kuh-e Rahmat foothills, and was thus suitable for providing water for irrigating them. The question of the water’s origin (i.e. the canal’s intake) must consider the canal’s topographical location on the foothills, between 4m and 7m higher than level of the plain (Fig. 7). If one looks at the Pulvar’s present morphology, one notices it is incised more than 10m deeper under the mean valley floor level, and it would seem unlikely that the canal was connected to the Pulvar. The analysis of old satellite imagery has led our team to suggest, therefore, that the water for the canal was drained from the complex of karstic springs complex, located 10km east of Istakhr near the modern village of Seidan (Fig. 6)<fnref n="68" />.

<figure><img src="image_14.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 7. View from the west of a rock-cut section of the Kuh-e Rahmat canal located southwest of Istakhr. Note its bottom, lying several meters higher than the plain on the left (S. Gondet, spring 2005).</figcaption></figure>

<footnote n="66">⁶⁶ Boucharlat, De Schacht, Gondet 2012: 276-279. Based on the analysis of maps published in the 19th century, Shobairi 2018: 153 and Boucharlat 2020: 65-67 suggest that the water would have been supplied by a canal connected to the Pulvar and running across the flat lands along the Kuh-e Rahmat. The canal, which has vanished today, diverted the water from the river, whose bed was incised, and raised it to the level of the floor of the plain. The canal corresponds to an irrigation scheme adapted to the hydrographic conditions of the 19th century. According to the data obtained on the changes in the Pulvar, the conditions would have been different during the Achaemenid period. The higher flow level would have permitted to build canals at higher topographic level. See discussion on modern irrigation scheme versus morphology of the Achaemenid networks in the plain of Pasargadae in Rigot *et al*. 2022: 91-92.</footnote>

<footnote n="67">⁶⁷ Gondet, Mohammadkhani 2017: 21-22.</footnote>

<footnote n="68">⁶⁸ Boucharlat, De Schacht, Gondet 2012: 277-278. Moradi-Jalal *et al*. 2010 make the same assumption.</footnote>
Since the Pulvar was probably less incised in the Achaemenid period, the hypothesis of a canal intake site in the riverbed should nevertheless be reconsidered under the proviso that a diversion dam was erected across the river upstream from the Kuh-e Rahmat<fnref n="69" />. However, the role of the karstic springs for the Persepolis Settled Zone's water supply, from the Seidan area or closer to the terrace from Cheshmeh Ali (Fig. 6)<fnref n="70" />, deserves our continued attention. A recent study on the karstic springs undertaken at a regional scale has demonstrated that they were an important source of fresh water during the entire Holocene<fnref n="71" />. The origin of the water for irrigating croplands in the Persepolis Settled Zone remains an open question, and the choice to use hydrological resources from the river or from the karstic springs would have depended on the quality and the amount of water available, as well as on its suitability as regards the soil conditions. The use of water with less mineral content would be more suitable for preventing the process of salinization. Further analysis of present-day water quality and of the sedimentary archives next to the springs could be useful for a more objective approach to these matters.

When compared to the Persepolis Northwest and Royal areas, Bagh-e Firuzi is closer to the Pulvar and to perennial water resources<fnref n="72" />. Water was certainly directly supplied to the area from the streambed, quite easily in fact since it would have been less incised. Further survey over the fields located between Bagh-e Firuzi and the Pulvar may provide data on the connection of the old drainage network with the river. The higher level of the Pulvar flow would also put the Firuzi area at a higher risk of frequent flooding<fnref n="73" />. The choice of the Kuh-e Rahmat foothills for a monumental new complex placed at a higher elevation and further away from the Pulvar might have also been aimed at protecting constructions from the river's overflow. Bagh-e Firuzi would have been regularly exposed to natural hazards<fnref n="74" /> that could partly explain the shift of the main monumental core of Persepolis 3km to the east. Further studies of the Pulvar alluvial sequence in the Persepolis Settled Zone, particularly at Bagh-e Firuzi, could provide data on the frequency of flooding episodes in the region. Taking the environmental setting into consideration could contribute to the definition of the Persepolis' occupational history, i.e. the issues of the abandonment of Bagh-e Firuzi or the coexistence of two monumental complexes during the Achaemenid period.

**6. Advantages and constraints of the setting of Persepolis: remarks and perspectives for future research**

An overview of the Persepolis region's environmental setting shows that choice of location of the Achaemenid centre was probably partly driven by the project to develop intensive farming in the vicinity. The agrarian function of much of the lands of Parsa —alternately the Persepolis Settled Zone or the Persepolis region— is proven by the administrative archives dealing with arboriculture and by the archaeology revealing a loosely built-up landscape around the terrace complex, with large areas left available for croplands.

<footnote n="69">⁶⁹ Malekzadeh 2007 publishes evidence of several dams along the Pulvar valley, but they are not precisely located.</footnote>

<footnote n="70">⁷⁰ On the possible role of Cheshmeh Ali in the water supply, see observations of Shobairi 2018: 153-154 and Boucharlat 2020: 65-66. The geophysical survey undertaken in the area has shown evidence of hydraulic installations connected to the spring, but these are certainly later than the Achaemenid period, cf. Gondet, Mohammadkhani 2017: 21-22.</footnote>

<footnote n="71">⁷¹ Djamali *et al.* 2018. See also Moradi-Jalal *et al.* 2010: 92-94 for estimation of the present outflow of springs near Seidan.</footnote>

<footnote n="72">⁷² Boucharlat 2020: 61.</footnote>

<footnote n="73">⁷³ Saeidi Ghavi Andam *et al.* 2021: 601 record frequent floods during the Mid- to Late Elamite periods in the Shiraz basin.</footnote>

<footnote n="74">⁷⁴ Along with possible flooding, Askari Chaverdi, Callieri, Matin 2017: 227-228 have published evidence of an earthquake event, which occurred in the earliest occupational phases of the building excavated at Tol-e Ajori.</footnote>
The area of the Persepolis Settled Zone includes the region's most fertile lands, as well as various water resources. Paleoenvironmental studies have shown that during the Achaemenid period, the climate was rather favourable to the development of agriculture, and that water was more easily accessible than today since the flow level in streams was probably higher. This setting was also subject to many constraints. Soil properties, combined to semi-arid climatic conditions, warranted careful management of irrigation and efficient drainage, in order to secure crop yields and prevent the onset of salinization. The networks of ditches, revealed in the Persepolis Settled Zone or the Bagh-e Firuzi area, were suitable drainage facilities for optimal land-use during the Achaemenid period. The suitability of the Achaemenid land-use pattern is also demonstrated by its resilience, as it would have been maintained long after the fall of the empire<fnref n="75" />. Moreover, the Pulvar's hypothetical lower incision would have resulted in more frequent episodes of flooding, which could have affected the Early Achaemenid Bagh-e Firuzi cluster of monumental constructions located next to the riverbed. At the time of Darius, the choice to create the new terrace complex several kilometres further east, at an elevated position and at the edge of the floodplain, may have been partly driven by hydrographic conditions during the Achaemenid period.

The large-scale development project of Persepolis deserves to be analysed by considering its environmental setting. Soil conditions, water availability and quality, hydrography and past land-use patterns are all topics that would require further combined investigations of sedimentary archives and archaeological remains<fnref n="76" />. Judging from the variability of the environmental conditions at the scale of the Persepolis basin and, more broadly, from one sedimentary basin to another across the Fars, further pluridisciplinary studies should focus on the micro-regional scale of the Persepolis Settled Zone to gather data relevant on setting and impact of its development<fnref n="77" />.

## Bibliography

Asadi, A., 2018, “General Architectural System and New Related Findings in the Southeast of Persepolis Terrace; Underground Waterways”, *Journal of Iran Pre-Islamic Archaeological Essays* 4(1), pp. 149-172. (In Persian).

Askari Chaverdi, A., 2023, “Achaemenid Settlement in Shiraz Plain: Tol-e Sefid Sadra”, *Historia i Świat* 12, pp. 47-58.

Askari Chaverdi, A., Callieri, P., 2012, “The Activities of the Iranian-Italian Joint Archaeological Mission at Persepolis West (Fars, Iran). First Results of the Studies on the Pottery of Achaemenid and post-Achaemenid Age”, in G. P. Basello, A. Rossi (eds.), *Persepolis and its Settlements: Territorial System and Ideology in the Achaemenid State*, Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” Series Minor 77, Napoli, pp. 100-122.

<footnote n="75">⁷⁵ There is evidence of Post-Achaemenid occupation and continuity in land-use pattern in the Persepolis Settled Zone; see a review in Callieri, Askari Chaverdi 2013: 700-705. Recent data on the Post-Achaemenid occupation and land-use of the area are available in Askari Chaverdi, Callieri (eds.) 2017 and summarised in Gondet, Mohammadkhani, Askari Chaverdi 2018: 25-29; Askari Chaverdi, Callieri 2020: 182-183; Matthews, Fazeli Nashli 2022: 480. See also Henkelman 2021: 148 and Henkelman, Kaniuth, Mohammadkhani 2023: 242 on the resilience of the Persepolitan economy based on agricultural production. Palaeobotanical data in the Shiraz basin, published by Saeidi Ghavi Andam et al. 2021 place the Achaemenid period within a longer era of increasing farming activities extending from the Elamite to the Islamic period.</footnote>

<footnote n="76">⁷⁶ “[...] we are only at the beginning of our understanding of the city of Pārsa [...]” as observed by Askari Chaverdi, Callieri 2020: 199. See the presentation and the objectives goals of a recently launched project focusing on the Firuzi area in Colliva, Matin 2023.</footnote>

<footnote n="77">⁷⁷ See discussions of Djamali et al. 2018: 1171; Rigot et al. 2022: 101; Kehl, Rafiei-Alavi, Alizadeh Ketek Lahijani 2023: 27 on the needs of further paleoenvironmental studies in Fars focusing on the local scale.</footnote>
Askari Chaverdi, A., Callieri, P., 2017 (eds.), *Persepolis West (Fars, Iran). Report on the Field Work Carried out by the Iranian-Italian Joint Archaeological Mission in 2008–2009*, BAR International Series 2870, Oxford.

Askari Chaverdi, A., Callieri, P., 2020, “Tol-e Ajori and Takht-e Jamshid: A Sequence of Imperial Projects in the Persepolis Area”, *East and West N. S.* 1(1), pp. 177-204.

Askari Chaverdi, A., Callieri, P., Gondet, S., 2013, “Tol-e Ājori, a New Monumental Building in Pārsa: Preliminary Cross Interpretations from Recent Surveys and Excavations Works around Persepolis (2005-2012)” *ARTA* 2013.006, pp. 1-45. http://www.achemenet.com/document/ARTA_2013.006-Askari-Callieri-Gondet.pdf

Askari Chaverdi, A., Callieri, P., Matin, E., 2014, “Tol-e Ajori, a Monumental Gate of the Early Achaemenian Period in the Persepolis Area. The 2014 Excavation Season of the Iranian-Italian Project ‘From Palace to Town’”, *Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan* 46, pp. 223-254.

Askari Chaverdi, A., Callieri, P., Matin, E., 2017, “The Monumental Gate at Tol-e Ajori, Persepolis (Fars): New Archaeological Data”, *Iranica Antiqua* 52, pp. 205-258.

Benech, C., Boucharlat, R., Gondet, S., 2012. “Organisation et aménagement de l’espace à Pasargades. Reconnaissances archéologiques de surface, 2003-2008”, *ARTA* 2012.003, pp. 1-37. http://www.achemenet.com/document/2012.003-Benech_Boucharlat_Gondet.pdf.

Bessac, J.-C., Boucharlat, R., 2010, “Le monument à degrés de Takht-e Rustam, près de Persépolis dit ‘tombeau inachevé de Cambyse’: note technique et reconsiderations”, *ARTA* 2010.003, pp. 1-39. http://www.achemenet.com/document/2010.003-Bessac&Boucharlat.pdf

Boucharlat, R., 2003, “The Persepolis Area in the Achaemenid Period”, in N. F. Miller, K. Abdi (eds.), *Yeki Bud, Yeki Nabud: Essays on the Archaeology of Iran in Honor of William M. Sumner*, University of California Institute of Archaeology Monograph 48, Los Angeles, pp. 261-265.

Boucharlat, R., 2014, “Archaeological Approaches and their Future Directions in Pasargadae”, in A. Mozaffari (ed.), *World Heritage in Iran. Perspectives on Pasargadae*, Farnham, pp. 29-59.

Boucharlat, R., 2020, “Arriving at Persepolis, an Unfortified Royal Residence”, in E. R. M. Dusinberre, M. B. Garrison, W. F. M. Henkelman (eds.), *The Art of Empire in Achaemenid Persia: Studies in Honour of Margaret Cool Root, Achaemenid History* 16, Leuven, pp. 41-72.

Boucharlat, R., De Schacht, T., Gondet, S., 2012, “Surface Reconnaissance in the Persepolis Plain (2005-2008). New Data on the City Organisation and Landscape Management”, in G. P. Basello, A. Rossi (eds.), *Persepolis and its Settlements: Territorial System and Ideology in the Achaemenid State*, Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” Series Minor 77, Napoli, pp. 123-166.

Briant, P., 1996, *Histoire de l'Empire perse. De Cyrus à Alexandre*, Paris.

Brisset, E., Djamali, M., Bard, E., Borschneck, D., Gandouin, E., Garcia, M., Stevens, L., Tachikawa, K., 2019, “Late Holocene Hydrology of Lake Maharlou, Southwest Iran, Inferred from High-Resolution Sedimentological and Geochemical Analyses”, *Journal of Paleolimnology* 61, pp. 111-128.

Caiserman, A., Amiraslani, F., Dumas, D., 2021, “Assessment of the Agricultural Water Budget in Southern Iran Using Sentinel-2 to Landsat-8 Datasets”, *Journal of Arid Environments* 188, p. 104461.

Callieri, P., 2022, “A ‘Persian Conception of Urbanism’ as Seen from the Results of New Field Research in Fars (Southern Iran)”, in M. Ramazzotti (ed.), *The Historical and Cultural Memory of the Babylonian World: Collecting Fragments from the ‘Centre of the World’*, ARATTA 2, Turnhout, pp. 123-138.

Callieri, P., Askari Chaverdi, A., 2013, “Media, Khuzestan and Fars between the End of the Achaemenids and the Rise of the Sasanians”, in D. T. Potts (ed.), *The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran*, New York, pp. 690-717.
Canepa, M. P., 2018, *The Iranian Expanse. Transforming Royal Identity through Architecture, Landscape, and the Built Environment, 550 BCE – 642 CE*, Oakland.

Chambrade, M.-L., Gondet, S., Laisney, D., Mehrabani, M., Mohammadkhani, K., Zareh-Kordshouli, F., 2020, “The Canal System of Ju-i Dokhtar: New Insight into Water Management in the Eastern Part of the Pasargadae Plain (Fars, Iran)”, *Water History* 12(4), pp. 449-476.

Colliva, L., Matin, E., 2023, “Land of Persepolis, il rapporto preliminare della Campagna 2019”, in P. Ognibene, A. Panaino, A. Piras (eds.), *Studi Iranici Ravennati IV*, Indo-Iranica et Orientalia 25, Milano-Udine, pp. 227-250.

Cornwallis, L., 1968, “Some Notes on the Wetlands of the Niriz Basin in S. W. Iran”, in *Proceedings of a Technical Meeting on Wetland Conservation (Ankara-Bursa-Istanbul, 9 to 16 October 1967)*, IUCN Publication New Series 12, Morges, pp. 152-160.

De Schacht, T., 2018, “Unfinished Business? Traces of Apparent Discontinuity in the Pasargadae Countryside”, in S. Gondet, E. Haerinck (eds.), *L'Orient est son jardin. Hommages à Rémy Boucharlat*, Acta Iranica 58, Leiden, pp. 185-210.

De Schacht, T., De Dapper, M., Asadi, A., Ubelmann, Y., Boucharlat, R., 2012, “Geoarchaeological Study of the Achaemenid Dam of Sad-i Didegan (Fars, Iran)”, *Géomorphologie* 18(1), pp. 91-108.

Djamali, M., Saeidi Ghavi Andam, S., Poschlod, P., 2021, “An Update on the History of Arboriculture in Ancient Iran”, in S. Balatti, H. Klinkott, J. Wiesehöfer (eds.), *Paleopersepolis: Environment, Landscape and Society in Ancient Fars, Oriens et Occidens* 33, Stuttgart, pp. 121-132.

Djamali, M., Beaulieu, J.-L. de, Miller, N. F., Andrieu-Ponel, V., Lak, R., Sadeddin, M., Akhani, H., Fazeli, H., 2009, “Vegetation History of the SE Section of Zagros Mountains during the Last Five Millennia; A Pollen Record from the Maharlou Lake, Fars Province, Iran”, *Vegetation History and Archaeobotany* 18, pp. 123-136.

Djamali, M., Miller, N. F., Ramezani, E., Akhani, H., Andrieu-Ponel, V., Beaulieu, J.-L. de, Berberian, M., Guibal, F., Lahijani, H., Lak, R., Ponel, P., 2010, “Notes on the Arboricultural and Agricultural Practices in Ancient Iran Based on New Pollen Evidence”, *Paléorient* 36(2), pp. 175-188.

Djamali, M., Gondet, S., Ashjari, J., Aubert, C., Brisset, E., Longerey, J., Marriner, N., Mashkour, M., Miller, N. F., Naderi Beni, A., Pourkerman, M., Rashidian, E., Rigot, J.-B., Shidrang, S., Thiéry, A., Gandouin, E., 2018, “Karstic Spring Wetlands of the Persepolis Basin, Southwest Iran: Unique Sediment Archives of Holocene Environmental Change and Human Impacts”, *Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences* 55(10), pp. 1158-1172.

Duva, F., 2018, “Some Notes on the Different Names Applied to the Kur and Pulvār Rivers: From Classical Historiography to Modern European Travelers”, in M. V. Fontana (ed.), *Istakhr (Iran) 2011-2016. Historical and Archaeological Essays*, Quaderni di Vicino Oriente 13, Roma, pp. 107-126.

Gondet, S., 2011, *Occupation de la plaine de Persépolis au 1er millénaire av. J.-C. (Fars central, Iran)*, Ph.D. dissertation, Université Lumière Lyon 2.

Gondet, S., 2015, “Stratégies d’exploitation de la pierre à Persépolis. Nouvelles données archéologiques”, *Iranica Antiqua* 50, pp. 279-331.

Gondet, S., 2018, “Villes achéménides : essai de définition”, in S. Gondet, E. Haerinck (eds.), *L'Orient est son jardin. Hommages à Rémy Boucharlat, Acta Iranica* 58, Leiden, pp. 185-210.

Gondet, S., Mohammadkhani, K., 2017, “Reports on Magnetic and Electromagnetic Surveys over Persepolis West”, in A. Askari Chaverdi, P. Callieri (eds.), *Persepolis West (Fars, Iran). Report on the Field Work Carried out by the Iranian-Italian Joint Archaeological Mission in 2008–2009*, BAR International Series 2870, Oxford, pp. 10-25.
Gondet, S., Mohammadkhani, K., Askari Chaverdi, A., 2018, “A Newly Discovered Building Complex North of the “Frataraka” Complex. Consequence for the Spatial Definition of the Persepolis-Parsa Royal Area”, *ARTA* 2018.003, pp. 1-35. http://www.achemenet.com/pdf/arta/ARTA_2018.003-Gondet-Mohammadkhani-Askari.pdf

Gondet, S., Mohammadkhani, K., Djamali, M., Farjamirad, M., Gopnik, H., Ibnoerrida, N., Laisney, D., Notter-Truxa, F., Rigot, J.-B., Ubelmann, Y., 2019, “Field Report on the 2016 Archaeological Project of the Iran-French Project on Pasargadae and its Surrounding Territory”, *International Journal of Iranian Heritage Studies* 1(2), pp. 1-22.

Gondet, S., Mohammadkhani, K., Chambrade, M.-L., Djamali, M., Farjamirad, M., Ibnoerrida, N., Rigot, J.-B., 2021, “Approaching Past Landscape Management in the Field: Pluridisciplinary and Multiscalar Studies in the Pasargadae Region (Fars Province, Iran).” in S. Balatti, H. Klinkott, J. Wiesehöfer (eds.), *Paleopersepolis: Environment, Landscape and Society in Ancient Fars*, Oriens et Occidens 33, Stuttgart, pp. 95-119.

Hartnell, T., 2014, “Agriculture in Sasanian Persis: Ideology and Practice”, *Journal of Ancient History* 2(2), pp. 182-208.

Henkelman, W. F. M., 2017, “Imperial Signature and Imperial Paradigm: Achaemenid Administrative Structure and System across and beyond the Iranian Plateau”, in B. Jacobs, W. F. M. Henkelman, M. W. Stolper (eds.), *Die Verwaltung im Achämenidenreich – Imperiale Muster und Strukturen/Administration in the Achaemenid Empire – Tracing the Imperial Signature*, Classica et Orientalia 17, Wiesbaden, pp. 45-256.

Henkelman, W. F. M., 2021, “The Fruits of Pārsa”, in S. Balatti, H. Klinkott, J. Wiesehöfer (eds.), *Paleopersepolis: Environment, Landscape and Society in Ancient Fars, Oriens et Occidens* 33, Stuttgart, pp. 133-168.

Henkelman, W. F. M., Stolper, M. W., 2021, “Counting Trees around Persepolis”, in D. Agut-Labordère, R. Boucharlat, F. Joannès, A. Kuhrt, M. W. Stolper (eds.), *Achemenet. Vingt ans après. Études offertes à Pierre Briant à l’occasion des vingt ans du Programme Achemenet*, Persika 21, Leuven, pp. 169-199.

Henkelman, W. F. M., Kaniuth, K., Mohammadkhani, K., 2023, “Resilience in Centralized State Systems. The Persepolis Fortification Archive and Achaemenid Institutional Longevity”, in R. Bernbeck, G. Eberhardt, S. Pollock (eds.), *Coming to Terms with the Future: Concepts of Resilience for the Study of Early Iranian Societies*, Leiden, pp. 223-248.

Herzfeld, E., 1929, “Rapport sur l’état actuel des ruines de Persépolis et propositions pour leur conservation”, *Archaeologische Mitteilungen aus Iran* 1, pp. 17-40.

Justin, J., Courtney, P. H., 1968, *Final Report Doroodzan Multipurpose Project*, Tehran-Philadelphia.

Kehl, M., Frechen, M., Skowronek, A., 2009, “Paleosols Derived from Loess and Loess-Like Sediments in the Basin of Persepolis, Southern Iran”, *Quaternary International* 140-141, pp. 135-149.

Kehl, M., Rafiei-Alavi, B., Alizadeh Ketek Lahijani, H., 2023, “Holocene Paleoenvironmental Change and Phases of Drought in the Iranian Highlands. A Review”, in R. Bernbeck, G. Eberhardt, S. Pollock (eds.), *Coming to Terms with the Future: Concepts of Resilience for the Study of Early Iranian Societies*, Leiden, pp. 21-38.

Kortum, G., 1976, *Die Marvdasht-Ebene in Fars : Grundlagen und Entwicklung einer alten iranischen Bewasserungslandschaft*, Kieler Geographische Schriften Band 44, Kiel.
Kuhrt, A., 2007, *The Persian Empire. A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period*, London-New York.

Malekzadeh, M. J., 2007, “Dams of the Ancient City of Istakhr”, in: *Proceedings of the International History Seminar on Irrigation and Drainage (Tehran, May 2-5, 2007)*, Tehran, pp. 121-134.

Matthews, R., Fazeli Nashli, H., 2022, *The Archaeology of Iran from the Palaeolithic to the Achaemenid Empire*, London-New York.

Moameni, A., 1999, *Soil Quality Changes under Long-Term Wheat Cultivation in the Marvdasht Plain, South-Central Iran*, Ph.D. dissertation, Gent University.

Moradi-Jalal, M., Arianfar, S., Karney, B., Colombo, A., 2010, “Water Resource Management for Iran’s Persepolis Complex”, in L. W. Mays (ed.), *Ancient Water Technologies*, Dordrecht-Heidelberg-London-New York, pp. 87-102.

Mousavi, A., 2012, *Persepolis: Discovery and Afterlife of a World Wonder*, Boston-Berlin.

Planhol, X. de, 2000, “Fars i. Geography”, *Encyclopaedia Iranica on-line*. https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/fars-i

Ricci, A., Balatti, S., Brisset, E. Djamali, M., Naderi Beni, A., Azadi, A., Firoozbakhsh, P., 2023, “Water Stress and Imperial Politics in the Southern Zagros Mountains: An Interdisciplinary Approach in Long-Term Perspective”, in R. Bernbeck, G. Eberhardt, S. Pollock (eds.), *Coming to Terms with the Future: Concepts of Resilience for the Study of Early Iranian Societies*, Leiden, pp. 83-96.

Rigot, J.-B., 2010, “Dynamique de la rivière Poulvar et morphogenèse de la plaine de Tang-i Bulaghi (Fars, Iran) à l’Holocène. Premiers résultats”, *Géomorphologie* 16(1), pp. 57-72.

Rigot, J.-B., Gondet, S., Chambrade, M.-L., Djamali, M., Mohammadkhani, K., Thamó-Bozsó, E., 2022, “Pulvar River Changes in the Pasargadae Plain (Fars, Iran) during the Holocene and the Consequences for Water Management in the First Millennium BCE”, *Quaternary International* 635, pp. 83-104.

Root, M. C., 2015, “Achaemenid Imperial Architecture: Performative Porticoes of Persepolis”, in S. Babaie, T. Grigor (eds.), *Persian Architecture and Kingship: Strategies of Power in Iran from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis*, London-New York, pp. 1-63.

Saeidi Ghavi Andam, S., Djamali, M., Nelle, O., Naderi Beni, M., Haghighifard, M., Brisset, E., Poschlod, P., 2021, “Vegetation History of Maharlou Lake Basin (SW Iran) with Special Reference to Achaemenid Period (550-330 B.C.)”, *Vegetation History and Archaeobotany* 30, pp. 595-610.

Shobairi, S. A., 2018, “Beyond the Palace: Some Perspective on Agriculture and Irrigation Systems in the Achaemenid Heartland”, in B. Horejs, C. Schwall, V. Müller, M. Luciani, M. Ritter, M. Guidetti, R. B. Salisbury, F. Höflmayer, T. Bürge (eds.), *Proceedings of the 10th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East*, Vol. 2, Wiesbaden, pp. 149-162.

Stolper, M. W., 2021, “From the Persepolis Fortification Archive Project 7: Accounting for Fruit in the PFA”, *ARTA* 2021.001, pp. 1-195. http://www.achemenet.com/pdf/arta/ARTA_2021_001.pdf.

Sumner, W. M., 1986, “Achaemenid Settlement in the Persepolis Plain”, *American Journal of Archaeology* 90(1), pp. 3-31.

Sumner, W. M., 1994, “Archaeological Measures of Continuity and the Arrival of the Persians in Fars”, in H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg, A. Kuhrt, M. C. Root (eds.), *Continuity and Change, Achaemenid History* 8, Leiden, pp. 97-105.

Talebian, M. H., 2008, “Persia and Greece. The Role of Cultural Interaction in the Architecture of Persepolis-Pasargadae”, in S. M. R. Darbandi, A. Zournatzi (eds), *Ancient Greece and Iran. Cross-Cultural Encounters*, Athens, pp. 179-183.
# ISIMU – REVISTA SOBRE ORIENTE PRÓXIMO Y EGIPTO EN LA ANTIGÜEDAD

## Normas para la entrega de artículos

### Aspectos generales

Los artículos deben entregarse en archivos Word (`.doc` / `.docx`) y `.pdf`, a la dirección de correo electrónico de la revista y desde la dirección de correo electrónico con la que el autor mantendrá el contacto con los editores. Si la obra es colectiva debe especificarse el correo electrónico de cada autor y un teléfono de contacto. Las revisiones se enviarán a la dirección de correo electrónico facilitada. Ocasionalmente, se contactaría con el autor por teléfono en caso necesario.

### Formato requerido

**Tamaño de página:** por defecto de Word (ISO A4).

**Márgenes:** por defecto de Word.

**Tipo de Letra:** Times New Roman.

**Tamaño de letra:** 12 para el cuerpo de texto; 11 para el resumen, palabras clave y referencias finales; 10 para las notas.

**Interlineado:** 1,5.

**Párrafos:** justificados a izquierda y derecha y sin partición de palabras.

**Notas:** a pie de página; Word las creará por defecto en un cuerpo de letra 10.

El artículo se presentará sin número de páginas.

### Orden de elementos del artículo

El orden en el que deben figurar los elementos que conforman el artículo debe ser el siguiente:

1. Título, en dos lenguas (una de ellas en inglés; si la contribución está escrita en inglés el título debe estar también en español).

2. Autor(es).

3. Institución a la que pertenece el autor, entre paréntesis.

4. Resumen del artículo, en dos lenguas; una de ellas debe ser inglés, independientemente de la lengua en la que está escrito el artículo. Se recomienda no sobrepasar las diez u once líneas de extensión.

5. Palabras clave en las mismas dos lenguas que el resumen.

6. Texto del artículo, indicando en rojo y en mayúsculas los sitios en los que van las figuras en caso de haberlas e identificándolas: FIGURA 1, FIGURA 2, etc. Es posible que, una vez maquetado el artículo, las figuras deban situarse en otro lugar, pero se intentará mantener la situación señalada por el autor.

7. Referencias finales, siguiendo el formato que se indica en el sistema de referencias.

### Sistema de referencias

#### Referencias en nota al pie

Las referencias se consignarán indicando el apellido, año y páginas (si procede), según el siguiente modelo:
Dolce 2010: 14-15.

Boucharlat, Lombard 2001: 124-125.

Lhuillier, Bendezu, Lecomte, Rapen 2013: 357.

En caso de incluirse varias referencias en la misma nota, éstas se ordenarán cronológicamente desde la más antigua a la más reciente, separadas por punto y coma, según el siguiente modelo: Liverani 1995; Dolce 2017.

Si se incluyen varias referencias del mismo autor en una misma nota, su apellido solo se escribirá una vez, separando ambas referencias con punto y coma, del siguiente modo: Dolce 2010: 14-15; 2017: 23-26.

Referencias finales

Libro

Dolce, R., 2017, *Losing One's Head in the Ancient Near East: Interpretation and Meaning of Decapitation*, London.

Artículo de revista

Dolce, R., 2010, “The Structure and Significance of the Topography of Cult Places in Early Syrian Ebla. An Examination of Urban and Ideological Routes in the Mega-City”, *Mesopotamia* 45, pp. 13-30.

Capítulo en una obra colectiva

Dolce, R., 2012, “On Urban and Ideological Routes at Ebla. A look at the Topography of Cult Places in the Early Syrian City”, in R. Matthews *et al*. (eds.), *Proceedings of the 7 ICAANE, Vol. 1, London, pp. 35-52*.

Si se incluyen varias obras de un(a) autor(a), se sigue el mismo procedimiento, pero ordenándolas de la más antigua a la más moderna según el año de publicación.

Figuras

Las figuras han de ser enviadas en formato .jpg o .tiff, con una resolución mínima de 300 ppp. Cada uno de los archivos de la figura debe ir numerado (fig. 1, fig. 2, etc.). Se enviará cada una como un archivo independiente y nunca se incluirán dentro del texto.

Los pies de figura deberán ir numerados (pie fig. 1, pie fig. 2, etc.) y habrán de ser enviados en archivos aparte en formatos Word (.doc / .docx) y .pdf.

Sobre el autor recaerá completa y exclusivamente la responsabilidad de obtener los pertinentes derechos de autor por el uso de ilustraciones. La revista no acepta responsabilidad alguna sobre las consecuencias legales si los autores no cumplen esta condición.

Transliteraciones y caracteres especiales

Si se utilizan caracteres especiales, se invita encarecidamente a los autores a que empleen signos Unicode. En caso de no estar disponibles en dicho mapa de caracteres, la(s) fuente(s) tipográfica(s) que los incluya(n) deberá(n) entregarse también, en un archivo aparte, asegurándose el autor de que no se ha modificado al enviarlo a los editores.
En el caso del jeroglífico egipcio, se invita a los autores a que utilicen el editor informático JSesh.

## Tasas de publicación

Para publicar en la revista los autores están completamente de exentos de pago o tasa de ninguna clase.

## Reseñas

### Detalles del libro:

- Nombre del autor

- Título

- Lugar y año de publicación

- Número de páginas

- Medidas (en centimetros)

- ISBN

- Precio

### Ante cualquier consulta pueden dirigirse a

- Isimu editores.

- Módulo II, Despacho 3.6.

- Dpto. de Historia Antigua, Historia Medieval y Paleografía y Diplomática.

- Facultad de Filosofía y Letras.

- Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

- Campus de Cantoblanco. 28049 Madrid.

- Email: ed.isimu@uam.es

- Teléfonos: 91 497 45 69 - 91 497 66 49 - 91 497 76 70.
# ISIMU – REVISTA SOBRE ORIENTE PRÓXIMO Y EGIPTO EN LA ANTIGÜEDAD

## Guidelines for the submitting of contributions

### General aspects

The articles must be delivered in Word (`.doc` / `.docx`) and `.pdf` files, to the email address of the journal and from the email address with which the author(s) will maintain contact with the editors. If the paper is a collective one, the email address of each author and a contact telephone number must be specified. Revisions will be sent to the address provided. Occasionally, we will contact the author(s) by telephone if necessary.

### Format

**Pages:** by default in Word (ISO A4).

**Margins:** by default in Word.

**Type:** Times New Roman.

**Text size:** 12 points in main text; 11 points in abstract, key words and references at the end of the manuscript; 10 points for footnotes.

**Line spacing:** 1.5.

**Paragraphs:** left- and right-justified text, with no word-partition.

**Notes:** as footnotes; Word will create them by default in a 10 points size.

The text must not be paginated, that is, without page numbers.

### Order of elements in the contribution

The order of elements of the contribution should be as follows:

1. Title of the article, in two languages (one of them must be English; if your contribution is written in English we will translate the title into Spanish).

2. Author(s)

3. Institution the author belongs to, in brackets.

4. Abstract of the contribution, in two languages. One of them must be English, regardless of the language in which the article is written. It is recommended not to exceed ten or eleven lines in length.

5. Keywords of the article, in the same two languages as the abstract.

6. Main text, marking in red capital letters the place of the figures: FIG. 1, FIG. 2...

7. During the layout of the article, the figures might be placed in a different location, but we'll try to keep the author's options.

8. Final references, following the format indicated in the reference system.

### Reference system

#### References in footnotes

References should include surname, year and pages (if applicable), according to the following model:

Dolce 2010: 14-15.

Boucharlat, Lombard 2001: 124-125.

Lhuillier, Bendezu, Lecomte, Rapen 2013: 357.

If several references are included in the same note, they should be ordered chronologically from the oldest to the most recent, separated by semicolons, according to the following model: Liverani 1995; Dolce 2017.
If several references of the same author are included in the same note, the surname will
only be written once, separating both references with semicolons, as follows: Dolce 2010:
14-15; 2017: 23-26.

References at the end of the contribution

Book

Dolce, R., 2017, *Losing One's Head in the Ancient Near East: Interpretation and Meaning of Decapitation*, London.

**Article in scientific journal**

Dolce, R., 2010, “The Structure and Significance of the Topography of Cult Places in Early Syrian Ebla. An Examination of Urban and Ideological Routes in the Mega-City”, *Mesopotamia* 45, pp. 13-30.

**Chapter in a collective work**

Dolce, R., 2012, “On Urban and Ideological Routes at Ebla. A look at the Topography of Cult Places in the Early Syrian City”, in R. Matthews *et al*. (eds.), *Proceedings of the 7 ICAANE, Vol. 1, London, pp. 35-52*.

If several works by an author are cited, the same procedure is followed, but ordering them from the oldest to the most modern according to the year of publication.

**Figures**

Figures must be submitted in .jpg or .tiff format, numbered (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc.) and
must have a minimum resolution of 300 ppp. They will be sent, each one, as a separate file
and never included within the text.

Captions must be numbered (foot Fig. 1, foot Fig. 2, etc.) and sent in separate Word
(.doc / .docx) and .pdf files.

The author(s) will be fully and exclusively responsible for obtaining the relevant
copyright for the use of illustrations. The journal accepts no liability for legal consequences
if the authors do not comply with this condition.

**Transliterations and special characters**

If special characters are used, authors are strongly encouraged to use Unicode characters.
If they are not available in the character map, the font(s) that include them must also be provided
in a separate file, making sure that they are not modified when sending it to the editors.

In the case of the Egyptian hieroglyphs, authors are invited to use the JSesh computer editor.

**Publication Fees**

To publish in the journal the authors are completely exempt from payment or fee of
any kind.

**Books reviews**

**Book details:**

Author's name

Title

Place and year of publication

Number of pages

Measurements (in centimetres)

ISBN

Price
**Delivery Address:**

Isimu editores.

Módulo II, Despacho 3.6.

Dpto. de Historia Antigua, Historia Medieval y Paleografía y Diplomática.

Facultad de Filosofía y Letras.

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

Campus de Cantoblanco. 28049 Madrid.

Email: ed.isimu@uam.es

Teléfonos: 91 497 45 69 - 91 497 66 49 - 91 497 76 70.