page_title: Susa
section_title: Excavation history
hierarchical_section_title: Susa / Excavation history
caption_attribution_description: English: Assyria. Ruins of Susa, Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection (S03_06_01_017 image 2344).
context_page_description: Susa was an ancient city in the lower Zagros Mountains about 250 km east of the Tigris River, between the Karkheh and Dez Rivers. One of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East, Susa served as the capital of Elam and the Achaemenid Empire, and remained a strategic centre during the Parthian and Sasanian periods.
  The site currently consists of three archaeological mounds, covering an area of around one square kilometre. The modern Iranian town of Shush is located on the site of ancient Susa. Shush is identified as Shushan, mentioned in the Book of Esther and other Biblical books.
context_section_description: The site was examined in 1836 by Henry Rawlinson and then by A. H. Layard.
  In 1851, some modest excavation was done by William Loftus, who identified it as Susa.
  In 1885 and 1886 Marcel-Auguste Dieulafoy and Jane Dieulafoy began the first French excavations. Almost all of the excavations at Susa, post 1885, were organized and authorized by the French Monarchy.
  Jacques de Morgan conducted major excavations from 1897 until 1911. The excavations that were conducted in Susa brought many artistic and historical artifacts back to France. These artifacts filled multiple halls in the Museum of the Louvre throughout the late 1890s and early 1900s. These efforts continued under Roland De Mecquenem until 1914, at the beginning of World War I. French work at Susa resumed after the war, led by De Mecquenem, continuing until World War II in 1940. To supplement the original publications of De Mecquenem the archives of his excavation have now been put online thanks to a grant from the Shelby White Levy Program.
  Roman Ghirshman took over direction of the French efforts in 1946, after the end of the war. Together with his wife Tania Ghirshman, he continued there until 1967. The Ghirshmans concentrated on excavating a single part of the site, the hectare sized Ville Royale, taking it all the way down to bare earth. The pottery found at the various levels enabled a stratigraphy to be developed for Susa.
  During the 1970s, excavations resumed under Jean Perrot.
caption: Assyria. Ruins of Susa, Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection
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