Friends of Persepolis Fortification Archive Project(PFAP) & World Association of International Studies (WAIS) 11 October 2009
Persepolis (Pârsa) Fortification Archive
In 1933, archaeologists from the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute found clay tablets, fragments, and seal impressions in two buried storerooms in the northeast corner of the fortification wall at the edge of the great stone terrace of Persepolis.
There were tens of thousands of tablets and fragments, mainly of four different kinds:
;Pieces with texts in cuneiform script and Elamite language, the remains of about 15,000 - 18,000 original documents
;Pieces with texts in Aramaic script and language, the remains of about 1,000 or fewer original documents
;Pieces with no texts, but with seal impressions, the remains of about 5,000 - 6,000 original documents
;And some oddities (a tablet in Greek, a tablet in Phrygian, a tablet in Old Persian, tablets marked with Greek or Persian coins in lieu of seals, and others)
These were records produced by the operations of a single administrative organization in the years around 500 BCE, all bits and pieces of a single information system. At first, the discovery of these clay documents, collectively known as the “Persepolis Fortification Archive (PFA),” created tremendous excitement among scholars. But the excitement soon faded when initial translations of the poorly understood Elamite tablets revealed the routine administrative nature of the archives: just everyday records of an ancient bureaucracy. Most of the Fortification tablets came to the Oriental Institute in 1936, on loan for study and analysis. The results of long, painstaking work - especially the late Richard T. Hallock’s magisterial analysis of 2,087 Elamite texts - were far-reaching. These ordinary records of storage and outlay of food--grains, fruit, meat, poultry, beer and wine--to workers employed by the imperial administration, slowly have become a rich source of information on gods, art, language, culture, customs, and the fascinating interworkings of the complex and sophisticated administration of the Persian Empire. The PFA has fundamentally changed every aspect of the study of Achaemenid Iranian languages, art, institutions and history. In 2004, a lawsuit was brought in the Federal Court in Illinois to collect on the judgment of a civil legal case, and the court was asked to confiscate the remaining “Persepolis Fortification Archive,” still in care of the Oriental Institute, to compensate the plaintiffs with property of the Islamic Republic of Iran. After five years of legal wrangling, the Persepolis Fortification Archive is still caught in the net of American legal system. Meanwhile, the measured academic pace of Oriental Institute’s scholarly research on Persepolis Fortification Archive has finally turned into a feverish race against time. Here is the story...
Speakers
Matthew W. Stolper
Head of Persepolis Fortification Archive Project
the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago
Nema Milaninia
President of the Iranian American Bar Association
Glenn Schwartz Professor of Archeology Johns Hopkins University Representative of Archaeological Institute of America
Followed by:
Roundtable Discussion
Moderated by: Richard Saller
Dean of Humanities and Sciences
Stanford University
Partial List of Roundtable Participants:
Mitra Ara Founding Director, Persian Cultural Heritage Studies Initiative (PCHS) San Francisco State University
Touraj Daryaee Professor of the History of Iran and the Persianate World University of California, Irvine Renée Dreyfus Curator in Charge of Ancient Art and Interpretation Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Legion of Honor Museum
Babak Hoghooghi Executive Director Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA) Fredun Hojabri Former Academic Vice-President of Sharif (Aryamehr) University of Technology Gita Kashani Board Member National Iranian American Council (NIAC) Ali Mousavi Assistant Curator of Ancient Iranian & Near Eastern Art Los Angeles County Museum of Art Member of Academic Committee of Farhang Foundation Martin Schwartz Professor of Iranian Studies University of California, Berkeley
Friends of Persepolis Fortification Archive Project
The Persepolis Fortification Archive Project is a new phase in recording and distributing the documents of the PFA, using electronic equipment and media alongside the conventional tool-kits of philology and scholarship.
Project activities:
Capture and edit conventional digital images of Elamite Fortification tablets
Capture and edit high resolution digital images of Aramaic Fortification tablets and their seal impressions, as well as uninscribed, sealed Fortification tablets, using large-format scanning backs and Polynomial Texture Mapping apparatus built specifically for the PFA Project
Explore advanced technologies for recording and conservation of Fortification tablets and fragments (3D scanning, subsurface laser scanning, CT scanning, laser cleaning and others)
Prepare editions of Elamite and Aramaic Fortification tablets and studies of seal impressions, both those accompanying texts and those on uninscribed tablets, to be distributed on a real-time rolling basis along with images of the tablets
Catalog, assess and sort thousands of tablets and fragments that remain to be recorded, to identify priorities for conservation, study and presentation
Establish a weblog to collect news reports on the status of the PFA as well as on-line images, articles, and books connected with Persepolis and the Persepolis tablets
Goals of Friends of PFAP...
Support the funding requirements of Persepolis Fortification Archive Project for the duration of the project.
Support the preservation of ancient Persian history by endowing Chairs of Iranian Studies at American academic institutions and build graduate programs, fellowships, and global faculty exchanges around them.
Awareness Campaign...
To ensure the successful completion of the PFA Project and continuation of ancient Iranian studies at American universities, Friends of PFA Project have embarked on a campaign to generate grassroots support from the Iranian communities worldwide.
The campaign aims to create awareness of the need for coordinated private funding in three key areas:
;Creation of PFA Project Fund ($5M) to support the budgetary requirements of Persepolis Fortification Archive Project for the duration of the project
;Creation of Endowment Fund ($25M) to support the continuation of educational and historical research on ancient Iranian history, languages and archaeology at American universities by endowing Chairs of Iranian Studies at American academic institutions and building graduate programs, fellowships, and global faculty exchanges around them
;Encourage active participation of Iranian-American scholars and students in PFA Project
Get involved...
Please join the Friends of PFA Project and show your support of the rich and ancient history of Iran by making a gift to the Persepolis Fortification Archive Project through the Oriental Institute's Website.
You may use the Electronic Gift Form or print and fax or mail the Paper Gift Form.
The Oriental Institute is a research organization and museum devoted to the study of the ancient Near East. Founded in 1919, the Oriental Institute (OI), a part of the University of Chicago, is an internationally recognized pioneer in the archaeology, philology, and history of early Near Eastern civilizations.
Gifts to the PFA Project are tax deductible under applicable rules. For tax information and other giving options, please contact the Oriental Institute directly.
