Ver-Ardashir

Multispectrum SPOT satellite image of the area of the ancient bend in the Tigris, where Seleucia, Ctesiphon and Ver-Ardashir were located (processed by the Centro Scavi Torino from a SPOT xs image, Copyright 2001)

Project: Excavations in Ver-Ardashir
Site: Ver-Ardashir
Scientific director: Giorgio Gullini
Excavation directors: M. Cavallero, M. M. Negro Ponzi, R. Venco Ricciardi

The Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino per il Medio Oriente e l'Asia conducted a series of excavation campaigns between 1964 and 1975 in the area of the ancient Sasanian city of Choche, founded by Ardashir I (224 – 241 A.D.), the first great Sasanian ruler, in front of Seleucia, on the opposite bank of the Tigris.

Location of Seleucia, Ctesiphon and Choche in the large archaeological area of al-Mada’in

The italian excavations resumed the archaeological studies began by the mission of the Deutsche Orientgesellschaft in 1928-29 and by the joint mission conducted by the Islamische Kunstabteilung der Staatlichen Museen of Berlin and New York’s Metropolitan Museum in 1931-32.

The research therefore concerned a limited extension of the inhabited area, but the quarter that was excavated in the southwest area of the city behind the walls, characterized by craftsmen’s buildings, shops and dwellings, provides a lively glimpse into the life of the city and valuable information for reconstructing the history of this area, fundamental to the Sasanian period. In fact, the city yielded a great quantity of exceptionally well-dated artefacts (3rd – 7th centuries A.D., with continuity in some cases up to the 12th century), in sequences that provide fundamental references for the entire central Mesopotamian region.