Preface
The Department of Archaeology of Western Asia, the University Museum, the University of Tokyo holds a wide range of archaeological materials collected by faculty and staff of the University of Tokyo in West Asia since the mid-20th century. The largest portion of the collection consists of materials obtained by the Tokyo University Iraq-Iran Archaeological Expedition, directed by Professor Namio Egami (1906-2002), between 1956 and 1965. This collection includes not only items excavated at prehistoric and historic sites in Iraq and Iran but also specimens obtained from surface surveys in the neighboring countries. It has served as an invaluable resource for researching and teaching West Asian archaeology at the university. Documentation of the collection’s detailed inventory, part of which has been published in this series of catalogues, has been an important curatorial task at the department.
The present volume, published as Part 10, features potsherds and clay objects collected during the Iraq-Iran Archaeological Expedition at the sites of Tall-i Qaleh and Tall-i Shogha, the Fars Province, Southwest Iran. The Fars Province was one of the major research fields of the expedition team from the beginning. The 1959 season, extending from January to July, was particularly fruitful. During this season, substantial excavations of Tall-i Jari A, Tall-i Jari B, Tall-i Gap, and Tape Suruvan were carried out along with general surveys in the region. Tall-i Qaleh and Tall-i Shogha were also visited during the surveys, yielding 413 and 627 specimens, respectively. These specimens are documented in this volume.
The cataloguing work was conducted by Dr. M. Hossein Azizi Kharanaghi, a specialist in prehistoric Iranian pottery, Deputy of Cultural Heritage, the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, the Islamic Republic of Iran, during his study at the University Museum in autumn 2012. Dr. Azizi Kharanaghi made every effort to document, photograph, and identify the specimens with his expert knowledge. It is our great pleasure to publish herein the results with gratitude for Dr. Azizi Kharanaghi’s contribution, through which the important pottery collection of two of the major Chalcolithic-Bronze-Iron Age sites in the Fars has now become more widely available for research and education.
We also thank the museum staff for assisting with this project. Careful editing was done by Ms. Hiroko Mikuni, and Dr. Takahiro Odaka provided useful comments on earlier versions of this volume. Dr. Azizi Kharanaghi’s study at the University Museum was made possible by a grant from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (20401030). For all these things, we are most grateful.