Large Collection of Potsherds Found in Bam Fortification

05 March 2005

Experts working in the earthquake-hit Bam Citadel of Kerman, have discovered more than 40 thousand pieces of potsherds in the fortifications around the site.

The historical citadel is considered one of the major mud brick structures of the world which was destroyed in the devastating earthquake that hit the region on 26th of December 2003. Experts believe that the citadel is most probably built at the time the Sassanids ruled Iran.

The number of the pottery shards found in the fortifications around the Citadel was once just 5000, but with the documenation work and removal of the debris continuing, the number rised to some 40 thousand, unearthed from just three sections of the wall, an archaeology expert with the Bam Rescue Project, Narges Ahmadi, told CHN.

Ahmadi, who considers the collection unique, explained that the discovered treasures are now categorized based on their creatin date, which range from the fourth millenium BC to the Qajar period. Most of the discovered pottery belong to the beginning of the Islamic era, and therefore it is now assumed that the Citadel had the peak of its population during that time.

The pottery which are of a large variety of colours and forms could help experts find out more about the history of the region and more specifically of Bam Citadel.

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