Bytes from Ink/Ink from Bytes: the Complexity of Data from the Italian Archaeological Activities at Dahāne-ye Gholāmān, Qal‘a-ye Sam and Qal‘a-ye Tepe

In the autumn of 1959, IsMEO (Istituto per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente) started its archaeological activities in the eastern Iranian region of Sistan (1959-1978) with a survey carried out by its Founder and President, Prof. Giuseppe Tucci. After two preliminary campaigns (1960 and 1961), from 1962 the attention of the IsMEO focused on the site of Dahāne-ye Gholāmān, in the vicinity of the village called Qal‘a-ye Now, at about 30 km south-east from Zabul. There, the late Prof. Umberto Scerrato directed several seasons of excavations and restoration activities (1962-1965 and 1975-1977), revealing a huge complex of monumental buildings of a possible Achaemenian age (VI-IV century BC), which could have represented the main urban centre of ancient Drangiana and one of the few archaeologically documented sites on the Iranian Plateau for the Achaemenian period. Beside the main archaeological activities at Dahāne-ye Gholāmān, the scientific interest of the IsMEO team headed by Prof. Scerrato was attracted by two other smaller sites. In 1961 and 1962 soundings were carried out at the fortified citadel of Qal‘a-ye Tepe (20 km north-east of Zabul), while in 1964 some trenches were carried out at the fortified citadel of Qal‘a-ye Sam (located some kilometres east of Dahāne-ye Gholāmān). Those activities had the aim to investigate the development both of the settlement pattern and the ceramic sequence during post-Achaemenian phases of the historical period (Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian) in that area