Ver-Ardashir
The Centro Scavi’s campaigns
The city – which occupied an area of approximately 700 hectares – was surrounded by massive walls whose course may be followed on the ground for almost their entire extension. The excavations concerned only the better-preserved southern section that emerges from the ground to a maximum height of 4 metres. The walls, made from unbaked bricks and 10 m thick, follow a subcircular course, although they are actually formed by straight segments approximately 30-35m long whose junctions are hidden by the elongated semicircular towers.
The phases of occupation documented in the area where research took place near the walls cover a time span of approximately two centuries, from the second half of the 3rd to the second half of the 5th century A.D., but an extensive necropolis of the late Parthian period has been found under the Sasanian structures.
The Sasanian quarters brought to light display an irregular organization, in which only the main roads are straight and intersect orthogonally. Shops and open spaces, presumably of a commercial nature, are found on the main roads, especially on the wide east-west road that divides the quarter into two blocks (Area 1 to the south and Area 2 to the north), while a thick grid of dwellings and shops extends behind them.
During the oldest phases, this eccentric area was occupied by open spaces with wells, drains and ovens, and buildings made from unbaked bricks were constructed only at a later stage. Only some of the dwellings display a careful design, based on the presence of an iwan according to a layout inspired by monumental models. A glass and ceramics kiln that was used in the same period is located northwest of the artisans’ quarter.
At the end of the 5th century the inhabited area underwent radical changes; many dwellings disappeared and were again replaced by vast open spaces. After the 6th century, the quarter was abandoned due to the Tigris’ frequent floods; however, more recent phases are documented by a large ditch to the east of area 2 that is filled with ceramic material that presumably dates to the 6th – 7th century.
From this period onwards, the settlement seemed to be limited to Tell Baruda, in the central area of the settlement, where a few rooms of the Sasanian period, presumably artisans’ shops, and Islamic levels of occupation dating between the 8th and 14th centuries, were brought to light.