Archaeological History of Iran: the Post-Achaemenid and Hellenistic Time (Archaeological Horizon in Fārs in Late Iron Age, or Iron Age IIIIV). A Review-Article

The use of the concept of ‘Late Iron Age’ within the scientific debate related to the archaeological horizons of ancient Iran, going back to the 70s of last century, is strictly connected to the one of Iron Age III (Achaemenid Age) and IV (post- Achaemenid). It was, also, resumed by Italian scholars dealing with Yaz horizons in south Turkmenistan. This set of denominations and definitions applied to the post-Achaemenid and Hellenistic age in Iran may seem a little stretch, and finds its reason for being, nonetheless, in a long debated difficult and complicated attempt to put at the same level the historical documentation and the archaeological horizons. This use, of course questionable, is very much in line with new trends of a so called ‘militant’ archaeology. The use of this denomination here has been emphasized within this review-article particularly in some crucial points of a very well done and documented art-historical and historical approach addressed by the Author. The volume in itself presents a detailed analysis in those grounds of research and the fact that the archaeological horizons are practically not existent at all (and this is certainly not due to the Author), makes sometimes very difficult to deal with them. In writing this review-article the author has considered worth remembering his teacher Umberto Scerrato to whom he was indebted along the whole course of his professional life and who practically initiated the Archaeology of Iran of the historical time in Italy. He also was teaching in the Università "L'Orientale" till 1975 and contributed very much together with other prestigious scholars (Maurizio Taddei, Gherardo Gnoli) to the realization of a modern University where the archaeological studies found their own collocation. It also seems to me beloved to remember that in 80s He asked me to take care of the Achaemenid period in Fars and especially to start studying the Persepolis plain since the pioneering studies of Sumner