Location: Farsan County, Chahar Mahal va Bakhtiyari province, Iran
Other Names: تپه بردنکون
Date:
Type of building:
Material: Seal, Metal, Glass, Coins
Fieldwork:
Description:
In 2017, Alireza Khosrowzadeh and Aliasghar Noruzi conducted two salvage excavations to investigate the multiperiod archaeological site of Tappe Bardnakoon, which had been marred by years of illegal digging. Situated on a natural hill, the oval-shaped site spans 150m in diameter and rises 30m above the surrounding plain. The excavations focused on two trenches, A and B, extending to the final southern edge.
Trench A revealed the presence of two plastered walls, each 2.5m thick, oriented in a north–south and east–west direction. Additionally, three narrow corridors aligned in a north–south orientation were uncovered within the east–west-tending wall. Meanwhile, Trench B exposed the lower course of one wall and fragments of another, both with a north-east–south-west orientation. The scientific examination of the stratigraphy at Tappeh Bardnakōn is challenging due to the disrupted state of the cultural layers, making it difficult to assess comprehensively. Most of the clay sealing were uncovered at Trench B.
In addition to pottery, clay bullae, and various artifacts, a drachma of Khosrow II and a distinctive turquoise alkaline glaze (TURQ) bowl were among the findings. Notably, approximately 559 clay bullae and sealings adhered to late Sasanian artistic, royal, administrative, and political conventions. The archive yielded twenty-two administrative bullae which identifies the site as the administrative centre of the late Sasanian canton of Rāwar-kust-ī-rōdbār located in the province of Gay in Spahān region. Extensive collections of glass and metallurgical slags, along with fragments of glassware and metal tools, serve as compelling evidence of the industrial activities that transpired at the site.
Bibliography:
– Khosrowzadeh, Alireza, Aliasghar Norouzi, Mahmod Haidarian and Khosrow Ahmadi. ” The First Season of Excavations at Tappe Bardnakoon.” In The Sixteenth Symposium on Iranian Archaeology, 157- 159. Edited by Rouhollah Shirazi. Tehran: Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, Crafts and Tourism, 2018. (PDF)
– Khosrowzadeh, Alireza, Aliasghar Norouzi, and Hossein Habibi. “A Newly Discovered Administrative Center of the Late Sasanian Empire: Tappe Bardnakoon, Farsan, Iran.” Near Eastern Archaeology 83, 4 (2020): 222-233. (link)
– Khosrowzadeh, Alireza, Aliasghar Norouzi, Rika Gyselen, and Hossein Habibi. “Administrative Seals (muhr-ī pad kārframān dāštan) Found at Tappe Bardnakoon.” in Res Orientales 28, ed. Rika Gyselen, 9–39. Bures-sur-Yvette: Groupe pour l’Étude de la Civilisation du Moyen-Orient, 2020.
– Joolaee, Vahed. “Determining the area and proposing the boundary of Tappe Bardankoonn, Farsan city, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province.” In Proceedings of the 17th Annual Symposium of the Iranian Archaeology. Tehran: Research Institute of Cultural Heritage & Tourism, 2019. (PDF)