Achaemenid residences and their "paradises": Landscape archaeology between Persia and the Caucasus

与其对古代近东和东地中海文化的巨大历史影响相反，阿契美尼德帝国（公元前539-331年）在其中心之外，波斯波利斯，苏萨和Pasargadae令人印象深刻的纪念碑建筑群，很难进行考古学研究。这是特别令人惊讶的，因为历史和金石证据表明存在一个非常紧密，有效组织的行政管理。在对伊朗境外的主要阿契美尼亚遗址进行调查时发现，宗教习俗、地方权力结构和原有习俗似乎都得到尊重，并在有意进行合作统治的过程中加以调整。在过去15年中，得益于景观考古学（特别是地球物理学）技术进步的调查项目的实施导致了改变这一状况的新考古发现。首先，在帝国的中心，由于广泛应用综合测量方法和有针对性的挖掘，现在对Pasargadae和波斯波利斯等中心的范围和内部结构有了更好的了解。这两个遗址令人印象深刻的纪念碑只是城市的可见遗迹，松散地分布在由花园和公园组成的绿色环境中。其次，在帝国的外围角落，南高加索，发现了行政综合体，从建筑标准到景观的物理组织，都具有“伊朗阿契美尼德”纪念性建筑的所有标志。综上所述，这表明阿契美尼德王朝确实在他们的领土内创造并输出了一种全新的统治方式，通过前所未有的规模管理空间并创造新的帝国景观。他们的“天堂”同时也是豪华的住宅，有宽敞的花园和行政中心，在控制附属领土方面发挥了重要作用。为了追求这一理论，阿契美尼德帝国的五个地理和等级分化的中心被选中进行研究：Pasargadae，居鲁士大帝的基础，以及伊朗的两个尚未开发的二级遗址，Borazjan和Farmeshgan。卡拉卡米尔里是最近在阿塞拜疆共和国曝光的一个主要中心，贡巴蒂是格鲁吉亚的一个当代综合体。一个德法小组及其合作伙伴将利用考古、地球物理和地貌学方法对它们进行调查。我们的项目是围绕互补任务组织的，目标是全面重建阿契美尼德政权中心的景观，以便更好地了解其运作。现有的能力将在项目合作伙伴之间共享，目的是提高考古景观研究的解释可能性。

Contrary to its immense historical impact on the cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean, the Achaemenid Empire (539-331 BC) has been difficult to grasp archaeologically outside its centres, the impressive monumental complexes of Persepolis, Susa and Pasargadae. This is particularly surprising given the historic and epigraphic evidence for the existence of a very tight-knit, efficiently organized administration. Wherever major Achaemenian sites outside Iran had been investigated, it appeared that religious practices, local power structures and pre-existing customs were respected and adapted in a deliberate attempt at cooperative rule. During the past 15 years, the implementation of survey projects benefiting from technological advances in landscape archaeology (especially in geophysics) led to new archaeological discoveries that have changed this picture. Firstly, in the centre of the empire, the extent and internal structure of centres like Pasargadae and Persepolis is now much better understood thanks to the extensive application of combined survey methods and targeted excavations. The impressive monuments from these two sites are only the visible remains of cities loosely distributed within a landscaped environment made up of gardens and parks. Secondly, in a peripheral corner of the empire, the Southern Caucasus, administrative complexes were found which bear all hallmarks of "Iranian Achaemenid" monumental architecture, from building standards to the physical organization of the landscape. Taken together, this suggests that the Achaemenids did create and export within their realm a fundamentally new way of representing rulership, by managing space on an unprecedented scale and creating new imperial landscapes. Their "paradises" were at the same time luxurious residences with spacious gardens and administrative centers, playing an important role for the control of the dependent territories. In order to pursue this theory, five geographically and hierarchically differentiated centres of the Achaemenid Empire have been selected for study: Pasargadae, the foundation of Cyrus the Great, and two still underexplored secondary sites, Borazjan and Farmeshgan, in Iran. Karacamirli, a major centre recently brought to light in the Republic of Azerbaijan and Gumbati, a contemporary complex in Georgia. They will be investigated by a German-French team and its partners with archaeological, geophysical and geomorphological methods. Our project is organized around complementary tasks, with the objective of a comprehensive reconstruction of Achaemenid landscaping in its centres of power in order to better understand their functioning. Existing capabilities will be shared among project partners, with the aim of advancing the interpretive possibilities of archaeological landscape studies.