David Stronach–Michael Roaf

Nush-i Jan I – The Major Buildings of the Median Settlement

Peeters, Leuven, 2007

 

This second published fascicule of the Final Report on the excavations at Tepe Nush-i Jan, in western Iran, provides a summary log of the five seasons of excavation conducted between 1967 and 1977 as well as a comprehensive description of the nature of the monumental, exceptionally well preserved buildings of the site's main Median occupation. The excavations at Tepe Nush-i Jan were sponsored by the British Institute of Persian Studies and the present account is co-authored by David Stronach, who directed the project from its inception, and by Michael Roaf, who served as the assistant director for all but the first of the five seasons. At a time when most of the colorful Herodotean version of Median history is being increasingly doubted, and at a moment when even the existence of a unified pre-Achaemenid Median kingdom is being seriously questioned, the authors contend that one of the best guides to the contributions that the Medes themselves made to the history, religion and material culture of Iran in the 7th and 6th centuries BC is likely to come from the identification and excavation of further sites from western and northern Iran that can be shown to share certain of the more distinctive characteristics of the extensively excavated Median settlement at Tepe Nush-i Jan.