IsMEO ACTIVITIES The archaeologicalexcavations and restorations of IsMEO in Asia, oi which a brief SUl'veyis g1ven below, were carried out thanks to the cooperation oi and a grant from the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR). * * * In the months oi September, October, November and December 1968~ the Archaeological Mission in Iran has continued work at Shahr-i Sokhta, the large Bronze age uroan settlement in Iranian 8istan. Tbe direction has been again entrusted to Dr M. Tosi, aidedby Mrs F. Bonardi, in charge of photography, Mr G. Graziani, assistant on the main excavation, Mr T. Tamagnini, topographer-draftsman, Mr R. Biscione, assistant on the staff and the collaboration of Mr L Yaghmai of the Museum Iran Ba'8tan of Tehran. A lal'ge amount of work has been done in order to prepare a detailed typology of the huge number of pots and sherds. A careful survey has been undertaken, and in the majority of cases it has been possible to i1!olate the features useful for the layout of the generaI typology. Neverthe!ess, the maLn effort has been put In the enlargement of the excavations. During the campaign of 1967 (see EW, XWI, pp. 344 fI.) salt sedimentation had permitted recognition of an extensi'Ve network oi walls Iying beneath ground level, without excavation. This network extends across the flat top of' a large clay mesa for over two thousand sq. km., overlooking a dry portion of tlÌe Hamun-i Hilmand, the swampy delta of the rwer Hilmand. The salt sedimentation has also sealed' the dèposit against any contact with air and moisture, contJ)i:buting in thi'.> way to tl1e wonderful preservation oi the finds and the sundried bricks. Excavations ,have been conducted in a flat area (1.800 sq. 1111.) at the centre of the mouna. A group oi rectartgul~r buiIdings was discovered~ four af thein concentrated in ah insula isolated on the four sides by winding alleyways, averagitig' 3 m. in width. The buiIdirigs have slx to ten rooms div'i'ded' by minor walls. , ' The uncovered walIs project to a height of over' 3 m. Doors, windows, fireplaces, staircases, furnaces, doorsockets, door-lintels and other aochitectural features are fine!y preserved. The very dry climate of Sistan has maintained in good condition also most of the wood remains: burnt roo£ bearns, str~w mats and tools.
In a deep trerich excavated down to the naturai soiI, some 200 m. south of the main excavation, three ovedying periods have been distinguished. The fi!rst one' from the bottom is lying cfuectly over a series of supedmposed layers of clay, sand and gravel 1.50 m. thick, showing the consequences of frequent and violent floods followed by quiet phases. Under these layers there is a very deep deposit of prysmatic reddish clay, probahly £ormed in a period wheti the wa1:ers of the lake were permanently lying at that leve!. We are probably facing here a: hydrological situation very similar to that of early southérn Mesopotamia~ namely the formation of sand gravel dunes slowly emerging from the drying swamps of a delta. The three building periods now uncovered are showiI1!g a continuous occupation of the site by the same people. The pottery presents no striking d1fferences: certain patterns and shapes seem to oocur more or less frequently in a period rather than in another. In generaI, we can onIy affirm that in the earliest period, red paint for the designs was preferred to the black-tobrown one, widely used in the later two. On the other hand, it does not seem that any considerable change had occurred in the techniques involved by the manufacture of the pottery and the other finds. This, on the strength of further study and fieldwork, wiIl confirm the existence of the long life of a people who settled at Shahr-i Sokhta, aIready possessed of a well-developed culture. All the buiIdings, uncovered at the main excavation, belong to the second and third periods. Unfortunately, the erosion has preserved very Iittle of the latest periodo Anyway, we can affirm that very Iittle change took pIace in the layout of rooms and buildings. The buiIdings of the intermediate period are directly overlying those of the earliest one, with some difference in the direction of the walls. The complete excavation of a single dweIling house of the second and third period has shown that the well-preserved walls were not constructed at one rime. PeriodicaIly, perhaps as a conseque11lCeof the Hilmand river fIoods, the leve! of this buiIdìng was raised, causing its rooms to be filIed with a very large riumber of vessels, pot~ shetds and bricks.Wallsind, .fireplaces were raised directly' onthose of the pii:iceding phase, earlier doors and windows were closed' by means of bri~ork and plaster: So far, four different phases o£. the second period can now be distinguished. In the' last one, most of the rooms were su:bdi'Vided and there is some evidence of an extensive destruction by fire. In the second phase, the plan of the house was enIarged to the south and the east, with two adjoined wings. Two main
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