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Persepolis Fortification Archive
In 1933, Oriental Institute archaeologists working at Persepolis, clearing the ruined palaces of Kings Darius, Xerxes, and their Achaemenid Persian successors, found clay tablets in two small rooms of a bastion in the fortification wall at the edge of the great stone terrace. There were tens of thousands of tablets and fragments, of four main 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 500–1000 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 BC, all strands of a single information system.
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. Individually, the documents are mere records of storage and outlays of food, but as a whole, the Persepolis Fortification Archive shows a broader spectrum of Achaemenid Iranian society than any other source, from the lowliest workers to the king’s own family. The PFA has fundamentally changed every aspect of the study of Achaemenid Iranian languages, art, institutions and history.
The PFA Project
The Persepolis Fortification Archive Project is a new phase in recording and distributing the information that brings about these changes, using electronic equipment and media alongside the conventional tool-kits of philology and scholarship. In its early phases, the PFA Project has:
Captured and edited conventional digital images of almost a thousand Elamite Fortification tablets, accelerating work that has been under way since 2002;- Started to capture and edit very high resolution digital images of hundreds 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 project;
- Started to explore advanced technologies for recording and conservation of Fortification tablets and fragments (3D scanning, subsurface laser scanning, CT scanning, laser cleaning and others);
Formed a team of editors to 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;
Catalogued, assessed and sorted about a third of the thousands of tablets and fragments that remain to be recorded, to identify priorities for conservation, study and presentation;- Set up data structures for recording, linking, analyzing and presenting images and documents in the On-Line Cultural Heritage Environment (OCHRE);
- Entered co-operative agreements with projects at the Collège de France, the University of Southern California, and UCLA. which will lead to distribution of PFA data through at least three other on-line sources;
- Established 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.
The PFA Project Team:
Editorial:
- Annalisa Azzoni (Vanderbilt University: Aramaic texts);
- Elspeth R. M. Dusinberre (University of Colorado: seal impressions on Aramaic texts);
- Mark B. Garrison (Trinity University: seal impressions on all items);
- Gene Gragg (Oriental Institute: electronic analysis of Elamite texts);
- Wouter F. M. Henkelman (Collège de France: final edition of Elamite texts from the papers of the late Richard T. Hallock);
- Charles E. Jones (American School of Classical Studies in Athens: new Elamite texts, weblog);
- Matthew W. Stolper (Oriental Institute: catalogue, new Elamite texts, project oversight).
Technical Support:
- Laura d’Alessandro (Oriental Institute: conservation);
- Marilyn Lundberg (University of Southern California: high-quality imaging of Aramaic and uninscribed tablets);
- Lec Maj (Humanities Research Computing, University of Chicago: advanced technology application, IT support and liaison);
- John Sanders (Oriental Institute: IT support);
- Sandra Schloen (Oriental Institute: OCHRE development and support);
- Bruce Zuckerman (USC: high-quality imaging of Aramaic and uninscribed tablets).
Student Workers and Volunteers (2006–07):
- Dennis Campbell (post-doc, NELC);
- Ivan Cangemi (undergraduate, Classics);
- Elizabeth Davidson (undergraduate, Classics);
- Irene Glasner (volunteer, OI);
- Louise Golland (volunteer, OI);
- Jennifer Gregory (graduate, NELC);
- Elise MacArthur (graduate, NELC);
- Clinton Moyer (graduate, Cornell University);
- John Nielsen (graduate, NELC);
- Miller Prosser (graduate, NELC)
- Joseph Rosner (volunteer, OI)
- Foy Scalf (graduate, NELC)
Support
Support for some phases of the PFA Project has been received from:
- The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
- Chaire d’Histoire et civilisation du monde achéménide et de l’empire d’Alexandre of the Collège de France;
- The Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative and the Digital Library Program, UCLA (with the Institute of Museum and Library Services)
- The Getty Foundation
- The National Endowment for the Humanities
- The National Geographic Society Committee for Research and Exploration
- PARSA Community Foundation
- The University of Chicago Provost’s Program on Academic Technology Innovation
- The University of Chicago Women’s Board.
- Zoroastrian Association of Houston
- Zoroastrian Association of North Texas
Proposals to other agencies and donors are pending or in preparation.
Revised: April 17, 2008
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