Eastern Iran in the Achaemenid Period

The author deals with the archaeological evidence of the Achaemenid period in eastern Iran. This evidence is limited, rare and contradictory with regard to the historical importance of the eastern provinces of the Empire. The territorial extent of the Achaemenid Empire is ambiguous too and in this regard the cultural background of the different provinces, as well as relationships between center and periphery, were crucial factors affecting the visibility of the Achaemenid empire in its eastern-most regions. Similarly, the geographic definition of ‘eastern Iran’ requires clarification as well because, as a geomorphological unit. Thus at least four different aspects of interpretation should be considered when considering the evidence of the Achaemenid empire in the east:

1. the dynastic - identifiable by inscriptions, coins and seals
2. the ethnic - possibly detectable on both physical anthropological and cultural grounds
3. the political/imperial - recognizable both in macroscopic architectural and art historical remains and in the material traces of settlement patterns and economic investments, e.g. to secure the water supply
4. the chronological - interpretable in the differing horizons connected to the period of Achaemenid political-dynastic dominion in the area
.