"Investigating Waterscapes of Ancient Persia: The Contribution of the Persepolis Expedition Archives"
Marie-Laure Chambrade
Associate Researcher, Archéorient-CNRS, Université de Lyon
OI Collections Research Grant Recipient
Monday
February 18, 2019
3:30 PM
LaSalle Banks Room of the Oriental Institute
Access to water is a long-time critical issue in middle-eastern arid and semi-arid areas and water exploitation has historically shaped large-scale hydraulic landscapes. Most of these landscapes, often modified through time, are also badly damaged since the agricultural policies of the 1950-60s. Therefore, older data recording, especially aerial photographs, appear to be very useful complementary to field investigation. In some areas like Pasargadae and Persepolis plains, the aerial or satellite images from the 1960s-70s were almost taken too late but the records from the Persepolis Expedition in the 1930s, even with a much targeted coverage, are valuable for filling some gaps.
Image: Dam and canals in the Persepolis plain (Schmidt, 1937)
