Ancient Arms Race : Antiquity's Largest Fortresses and Sasanian Military Networks of Northern Iran : A Joint Fieldwork Project by the Iranian Center for Archaeological Research, the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism and the University of Edinburgh (2014-20) / Eberhard Sauer, Jebrael Nokandeh, and Hamid Omrani Rekavandi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sauer, Eberhard W., 1970- author.

Nokandeh, Jebrael, author.

Rekavandi, Hamid Omrani, author.

Series:

British Institute of Persian Studies archaeological monographs series ; Volume VII.

British Institute of Persian Studies, Archaeological Monograph Series ; Volume VII

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sassanids--History, Military.

Sassanids.

Fortification--Iran--History.

Fortification.

Excavations (Archaeology)--Iran.

Excavations (Archaeology).

Iran--History--To 640.

Iran.

Iran--Antiquities.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (928 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford, England : Oxbow Books, [2022]

Language Note:

Contributions in English; added title page, table of contents, and abstracts in Persian.

Summary:

Which ancient army boasted the largest fortifications, and how did the competitive build-up of military capabilities shape world history? Few realise that imperial Rome had a serious competitor in Late Antiquity. Late Roman legionary bases, normally no larger than 5 ha, were dwarfed by Sasanian fortresses, often covering 40 ha, sometimes even 125-175 ha. The latter did not necessarily house permanent garrisons but sheltered large armies temporarily - perhaps numbering 10,000-50,000 men each. Even Roman camps and fortresses of the Early and High Empire did not reach the dimensions of their later Persian counterparts. The longest fort-lined wall of the late antique world was also Persian. Persia built up, between the fourth and sixth centuries AD, the most massive military infrastructure of any ancient or medieval Near Eastern empire - if not the ancient and medieval world. Much of the known defensive network was directed against Persia's powerful neighbours in the north rather than the west. This may reflect differences in archaeological visibility more than troop numbers. Urban garrisons in the Romano-Persian frontier zone are much harder to identify than vast geometric compounds in marginal northern lands. Recent excavations in Iran have enabled us to precision-date two of the largest fortresses of Southwest Asia, both larger than any in the Roman world. Excavations in a Gorgan Wall fort have shed much new light on frontier life, and we have unearthed a massive bridge nearby. A sonar survey has traced the terminal of the Tammisheh Wall, now submerged under the waters of the Caspian Sea. Further work has focused on a vast city and settlements in the hinterland. Persia's Imperial Power, our previous project, had already shed much light on the Great Wall of Gorgan, but it was our recent fieldwork that has thrown the sheer magnitude of Sasanian military infrastructure into sharp relief.

Contents:

Cover

Book Title

Copyright

Contents

Volume 1

Acknowledgements

Section A: Preliminaries

Chapter 1. Introduction

1.1. An ancient arms race - shaping world history to the present day?

1.2. Scope and context of the project

Section B: Terrestrial excavations and survey

Chapter 2. Sasanian landscapes of the Gorgan Plain: new insights from remote sensing and field survey

2.1. Introduction

2.2. The Gorgan Wall Survey 2014-2016

2.3. Sasanian site types: geometric fortified sites

2.3.1. Geometric fortified enclosures over 6 ha

2.3.2. Geometric fortified enclosures of 2-6 ha

2.3.3. Geometric enclosures of 1 ha or less

2.4. Sasanian rural settlements: intensive survey at GWS-79

2.5. Investigations of features in the vicinity of Gorgan Wall Forts

2.6. Hydrological features associated with the Gorgan Wall and geometric fortified sites

2.7. Conclusion

Chapter 3. The Gorgan Wall

3.1. Introduction

3.2. The Gorgan Wall Bridge and a Sasanian reservoir between Forts 2A and 2

3.2.1. Sasanian hydraulic installations in the Sari Su River Valley

3.2.2. A new section of the Gorgan Wall, discovered by geophysical and pedestrian survey, leading towards a bridge

3.2.3. The Gorgan Wall Bridge (Trench b)

3.2.4. Bridge design

3.2.5. Protecting the bridge from erosion

3.2.6. Alluvial deposits and circumstantial evidence for a Sasanian barrage and reservoir in the Sari Su River

3.2.7. Chronology

3.2.8. The purpose of the reservoir

3.2.9. Brick robbing and sedimentation in post-Sasanian times

3.3. Drone survey of the Gorgan Wall

Chapter 4. Forts on the Gorgan Wall

4.1. Fort 2

4.1.1. Introduction

4.1.2. Remote, pedestrian, magnetometer and topographical survey of Fort 2

4.1.2.1. The fort defences

4.1.2.2. Interior occupation

4.1.2.3. Results.

4.1.3. Excavation of an interval tower of Fort 2 (Trench c)

4.1.4. The barracks in Fort 2 (Trench d)

4.1.4.1. Introduction

4.1.4.2. Construction and layout of the barracks, phase 1 (Trench d)

4.1.4.2.1. The original barracks

4.1.4.2.2. Attempted quantification of mud-bricks needed for barracks construction

4.1.4.2.3. Barracks extension via annexes

4.1.4.3. Chronology of barracks construction and occupation in Trench d

4.1.4.4. The history of occupation of the barrack rooms

4.1.4.4.1. The original barracks: rows 2 and 3

4.1.4.4.1.1. The western row of rooms (2) in the original barracks

4.1.4.4.1.2. The eastern row of rooms (3) in the original barracks

4.1.4.4.1.3. Characteristics of the original barracks (rows 2 and 3)

4.1.4.4.2. The western annexe: rows 0 and 1

4.1.4.4.2.1. The eastern row of rooms (1) in the western annexe

4.1.4.4.2.2. The western row of rooms (0) in the western annexe

4.1.4.4.3. The eastern annexe: rows 4 and 5

4.1.4.4.3.1. The western row of rooms (4) in the eastern annexe

4.1.4.4.3.2. The eastern row of rooms (5) in the eastern annexe

4.1.4.4.4. The area outdoors to the west of the barracks

4.1.4.4.5. The area outdoors to the east of the barracks

4.1.4.5. Life in Sasanian barracks on the Gorgan Wall

4.1.4.5.1. Heating and cooking in Sasanian barracks

4.1.4.5.2. Food storage

4.1.4.5.2.1. Storage pits

4.1.4.5.2.2. Storage vessels and possible reforms in provisioning the army

4.1.4.5.3. Finds distribution over space and time

4.1.4.6. The chronology of Fort 2's occupation (Trench d)

4.1.4.6.1. The start of occupation

4.1.4.6.2. The end of occupation

4.1.4.6.3. Occupation density over time

4.2. Barracks in Fort 15

4.3. Barracks in Fort 25

4.4. Barracks in Fort 26.

4.5. Geophysical survey at a compound on the north side of the Great Wall: GWS-65 near Fort 28

4.6. Remote survey of forts along the Great Wall

4.6.1. Introduction

4.6.2. Satellite survey

4.6.3. Drone survey

Chapter 5. The Tammisheh Wall and associated forts

5.1. Introduction

5.2. Underwater survey of a submerged fort

5.3. Remote survey of the Tammisheh Wall

Chapter 6. Post-Sasanian barriers

6.1. The Jar-e Kulbad Earthwork: a basic clone of the Tammisheh Wall, decisive in modern warfare

6.2. The Forud Wall near Kalat in Khorasan Meysam Labbaf-Khaniki, Eberhard W. Sauer, Kristen Hopper, Davit Naskidashvili, Bardia Shabani and David Gagoshidze

6.2.1. The Forud Wall

6.2.2. The Arg-e Forud

6.2.3. Pedestrian and aerial survey of the Forud Wall

6.2.4. A sondage within the Arg-e Forud (Trench j)

6.2.5. A sondage within a watchtower on the Forud Wall (Trench k)

6.2.6. The date, historical context and function of the barriers around Kalat

6.3. The valley of Landar Meysam Labbaf-Khaniki and Kristen Hopper

6.4. Walls, towers and a fort or caravanserai at Mozdouran Meysam Labbaf-Khaniki, Kristen Hopper and Eberhard W. Sauer

Chapter 7. Hinterland forts

7.1. Forts on the Gorgan Plain

7.2. Buraq Tappeh

7.2.1. Buraq Tappeh: siting and research potential of a strategic guard-post

7.2.2. Geophysical survey

7.2.3. Aerial and pedestrian survey

7.2.4. A sondage at Buraq Tappeh (Trench g)

7.2.4.1. Introduction

7.2.4.2. Fort construction and the architecture of interior buildings

7.2.4.3. Early occupation within the fort

7.2.4.4. Levelling and living on higher ground

7.2.4.5. Oven construction

7.2.4.6. A new fireplace as a focus for domestic activities

7.2.4.7. Temporary site abandonment and decay?

7.2.4.8. Reoccupation with a reduced garrison living nearby?.

7.2.4.9. Latest occupation and renewed oven construction

7.2.4.10. Disturbed horizons above the abandoned fort

7.2.4.11. Garrison size

7.2.4.12. History and chronology of Buraq Tappeh's occupation

7.3. Habib Ishan: a hinterland fortification with a corner citadel?

7.4. Forts on the Old Gorgan River: parts of a Sasanian defensive network? The purpose of the Sasanian forts south of the Great Wall

Chapter 8. Campaign bases

8.1. Introduction

8.2. Qal'eh Pol Gonbad-e Kavus: the largest Sasanian fortress on the Gorgan Plain

8.2.1. Introduction and comparative analysis of Qal'eh Pol Gonbad-e Kavus and other campaign bases

8.2.2. The towered and gated walls

8.2.3. The moat

8.2.4. Surface scatter of finds

8.2.5. Geophysical survey

8.2.6. A section through the defences (Trench a)

8.2.7. The stratigraphy of the ditch system

8.2.8. The earliest ditches (1-4)

8.2.9. The fifth ditch

8.2.10. The sixth ditch

8.2.11. The seventh ditch

8.2.12. The Sasanian-era topsoil and land surface

8.2.13. The wall

8.2.14. Dimensions of the defences in phase 1

8.2.15. The modern field boundary ditches

8.2.16. The date of Qal'eh Pol Gonbad-e Kavus

8.3. Gabri Qal'eh: from Sasanian campaign base to Ilkhanid town

8.3.1. Introduction and topographical survey

8.3.2. Geophysical survey

8.3.3. A busy bazaar street in a medieval town (Trench e)

8.3.4. The causewayed access to Sasanian and medieval Gabri Qal'eh (Trench f)

8.3.5. Gabri Qal'eh's origins and significance

8.4. Qal'eh Kharabeh

8.4.1. Geophysical survey

8.4.2. Drone survey

8.4.3. Recalibration of radiocarbon samples

8.5. Campaign bases on the Gorgan Plain

Chapter 9. Qal'eh Iraj: a campaign base/command centre of the army's northern division? Mahdi Mousavinia, Mohammadreza Nemati and Eberhard W. Sauer

9.1. Introduction.

9.2. Excavations within the south-eastern gate

9.2.1. The first field seasons

9.2.2. Dating the fortress: excavations within the south-eastern gateway in 2016

9.2.2.1. Excavations in the gateway (Trench h)

9.2.2.2. A side chamber of the south-eastern gate (Trench i)

9.3. Geophysical survey

9.3.1. Introduction

9.3.2. Site A

9.3.3. Sites B-D

9.4. New insights into the fortress's history of occupation: excavations on the southern fortress

9.4.1. Introduction

9.4.2. Trench F128

9.4.3. Trench F129

9.4.4. Trench G129

9.4.5. Discussion

9.5. The chronology of Qal'eh Iraj

9.6. Qal'eh Iraj: nerve centre of northern Persia's defensive network?

Chapter 10. A Sasanian city: fire temple, brick pillar avenues and residential quarters: geophysical and aerial surveys at Dasht Qal'eh

10.1. Introduction

10.2. Remote surveys

10.3. A fire temple

10.4. Roads and residential quarters

10.5. The region's capital?

Section C: Marine survey

Chapter 11. Discovering unknown sections of the Great Wall of Gorgan near the shores of the Caspian Sea C. Richard Bates, Martin R. Bates and Hamid Omrani Rekavandi

11.1. Introduction

11.2. Aims of the survey

11.3. Methodology

11.4. Results

11.4.1. Survey results near the westernmost known location of the Gorgan Wall and the associated ditch (section 1)

11.4.2. Geophysical survey of remains of the Gorgan Wall and its associated ditch exposed in an irrigation trench

11.4.3. Survey results (section 2)

11.4.4. Survey results (section 3)

11.5. A bathymetric and sub-bottom investigation in the Caspian Sea across the alignment of the Gorgan Wall

11.5.1. Introduction

11.5.2. Sidescan sonar

11.5.3. Sub-bottom profiling

11.5.4. Results

11.6. Discussion.

Chapter 12. A bathymetric and sub-bottom investigation of the Tammisheh Wall's northernmost section submerged in the Caspian Sea C. Richard Bates, Hamid Omrani Rekavandi and Hossein Tofighian.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9781789254655

1789254655

9781789254631

1789254639

OCLC:

1373346243