A new volume about Tappeh Sialk has recently been published by the Iran Heritage Foundation.
Sialk on the outskirts of modern Kashan is arguably the most important ancient site in Iran before the rise of the Persian Empire in 550 BC. Excavations here by Roman Ghirshman in 1933-1937, by Sadegh Malek Shahmirzadi in 2001-2005, by Hassan Fazeli Nashli and Robin Coningham in 2008-2009, and by Mohsen Javeri in 2015 have cast light on the history of Sialk from 6000 BCE onwards, spanning the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age periods. Crucial evidence has been discovered for prehistoric settlement in Iran, for the arrival of Iranian-speaking tribes in about 1200 BC, and for the build-up to the Achaemenid period. These results have been so significant that Tappeh Sialk has become a ‘type-site’ for Iranian archaeology and has provided a chronological framework against which other sites in Iran can be measured. In addition, the spectacular finds from two cemeteries at Sialk now grace museums in Tehran and Paris as well as in other parts of the world. In spite of all this there is still much to learn about Sialk, and for this reason two international conferences were held at Asia House in London in 2017 and 2018 with the intention of reviewing what is known about the site and the directions that future research might take. Participants came from Iran, France, Germany, the USA, and the UK. The first of these conferences was partly sponsored by BIPS.
A selection of papers delivered at the first two conferences is published in this volume. They include papers by Hassan Fazeli Nashli and Jebrael Nokandeh; Roger Matthews; Armineh Kaspari-Marghussian; Barbara Helwing; Michael Danti; Reza Naseri and Mehrdad Malekzadeh; Stephan Kroll; Hengameh Ilkhani , Alexandra Livarda and Hassan Fazeli Nashli; Marjan Mashkour and Céline Bon; François Bridey and Julien Cuny; Mohsen Javeri; and Hossein Mahlouji, with an introduction by John Curtis.
The book costs £25 + P&P. Copies can be ordered from the distributor, Email: contact@bourchier.org, Telephone: +44 (0)1666 503242.