TEHRAN – A digital database of ancient potteries, clay tablets, and their fragments will be established in Bushehr province, southwestern Iran.

The pottery database will be containing collections of movable archaeological finds that are worth studying, a local official in charge of cultural heritage said on Monday, CHTN reported.

The digital bank will also include information about the identification, chronology, location of discovery, technical design, and photo of the pieces, which have been collected from archaeological projects implemented in the province since the 1970s, Farhad Zakavatzahed explained.

“The database would be of great importance because it brings together potteries discovered from various parts of the province and the Persian Gulf.”

Bushehr province is home to various archaeological mounds including Tall-e Khandaq with Sassanid architectural style, Tall-e Marv located near an Achaemenid Palace, and Qajar era Malek al-Tojar Mansion.

It lies near the head of the Persian Gulf at the northern end of a flat and narrow peninsula that is connected with the mainland by tidal marshes. It embraces significant monuments from the Elamite, Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sassanid eras.

Siraf in Bushehr province was the most important Iranian port during the Sassanid period bearing plentiful evidence of Persian mastership and genius in seafaring, international relations, and interaction with other near and far cultures and civilizations.

Between 1966 and 1973, the British Institute of Persian Studies conducted seven seasons of excavation and survey at Siraf, which was a major city on the Iranian shore of the Persian Gulf that played a leading role in the network of maritime trade that supplied Western Asia with the products of India, the Far East, and Eastern Africa between 800 CE and 1050.

Siraf had a population of about 300,000 during the early Islamic era and this fact shows that it was a large city. However, today, just about 7,000 people live in Siraf in a small area. The historical and architectural monuments of Bushehr include Islamic buildings like mosques and praying centers, mansions, old towers, castles, as well as gardens.

AFM