Editing Susa (section)

== Excavation history ==

[[File:Susa map.jpg|thumb|Site of Susa]]
[[File:S03 06 01 017 image 2344.jpg|thumbnail|Assyria. Ruins of Susa, Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection]]

The site was examined in 1836 by [[Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet|Henry Rawlinson]] and then by [[Austen Henry Layard|A. H. Layard]].<ref>George Rawlinson, ''A Memoir of Major-General Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson'', Nabu Press, 2010, {{ISBN|1-178-20631-9}}</ref>

In 1851, some modest excavation was done by [[William Loftus (archaeologist)|William Loftus]], accompanied by [[Fenwick Williams]], who identified it as Susa.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_4ZiBAAAAIAAJ], William K. Loftus, Travels and Researches in Chaldaea and Susiana, Travels and Researches in Chaldaea and Susiana: With an Account of Excavations at Warka, the "Erech" of Nimrod, and Shush, "Shushan the Palace" of Esther, in 1849–52, Robert Carter & Brothers, 1857</ref><ref>John Curtis, "William Kennett Loftus and his Excavations at Susa", Iranica Antiqua; Leiden, vol. 28, pp. 1-55, (Jan 1, 1993)</ref> Among his finds was a jar containing around 110 coins, the earliest of which was dated to 697-98 AD.<ref>Vaux, W. S. W., "ON COINS DISCOVERED, BY W. K. LOFTUS, Esq., AT SUSA", The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Numismatic Society, vol. 20, pp. 25–32, 1857</ref>

In 1885 and 1886 [[Marcel-Auguste Dieulafoy]] and [[Jane Dieulafoy]] began the first French excavations, discovering glazed bricks, column bases, and capitals from the palace of the Achaemenid kings.<ref>[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13901/13901-h/13901-h.htm] Jane Dieulafoy, "Perzi?, Chaldea en Susiane : De Aarde en haar Volken, 1885-1887", at Project Gutenbrg (in Dutch)</ref> However, they failed to identify mudbrick walls, which were then destroyed in the course of excavation.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Mousavi|first=Ali|url=http://oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199733309.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199733309-e-003|title=The History of Archaeological Research in Iran|date=2013-06-21|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199733309.013.0003}}</ref> Almost all of the excavations at Susa, post-1885, were organized and authorized by the French government.<ref name="Peters 1915 82–93">{{Cite journal|last=Peters|first=John P.|date=1915|title=Excavations in Persia|journal=The Harvard Theological Review|volume=8|issue=1|pages=82–93|issn=0017-8160|jstor=1507314|doi=10.1017/S0017816000008336|s2cid=163892909 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/2287221}}</ref>

In two treaties in 1894 and 1899, the French gained a monopoly on all archaeological excavations in Iran indefinitely.<ref name=":0" /> [[Jacques de Morgan]], after visiting the site in 1891, conducted major excavations from 1897 until 1911.<ref>"M. J. DE MORGAN'S EXCAVATIONS IN THE AKROPOLIS AND PALACES OF SUSA", Scientific American, vol. 82, no. 11, pp. 169–70, 1900</ref> The excavations that were conducted in Susa brought many artistic and historical artifacts back to France. These artifacts filled multiple halls in the Museum of the Louvre throughout the late 1890s and early 1900s.<ref>V. Scheil, "Excavations Made by the French in Susa and Babylonia, 1902-1903", The Biblical World, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 146-152, Aug 1904 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3140967 JSTOR]</ref><ref name="Peters 1915 82–93"/> De Morgan's most important work was the excavation of the Grande Tranchée in the Acropole mound, where he found the stele of [[Naram-Sin of Akkad|Naram-Sin]], a collection of Babylonian [[kudurru]]s (boundary stones), the stele bearing the [[Code of Hammurabi]], an ornamented bronze table of snakes, the bronze statue of [[Napir-Asu|Queen Napir-Asu]], and thousands of inscribed bricks. His finds showed Susa to be the most important center of [[Elam|Elamite civilization]], which was effectively discovered by the French mission at Susa.<ref name=":0" />

Excavation efforts continued under [[Roland de Mecquenem (archaeologist)|Roland De Mecquenem]] until 1914, at the beginning of [[World War I]]. French work at Susa resumed after the war, led by De Mecquenem, continuing until [[World War II]] in 1940.<ref>R. de Mecquenem, "Excavations at Susa (Persia), 1930–1931", Antiquity, vol. 5, iss. 19, September 1931</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/download/mmoires01franuoft/mmoires01franuoft.pdf], Jacques de Morgan, Fouilles à Suse en 1897–1898 et 1898–1899, Mission archéologique en Iran, Mémoires I, 1990</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/download/mmoires07franuoft/mmoires07franuoft.pdf], Jacques de Morgan, Fouilles à Suse en 1899–1902, Mission archéologique en Iran, Mémoires VII, 1905</ref><ref>Robert H. Dyson, Early Work on the Acropolis at Susa. The Beginning of Prehistory in Iraq and Iran, Expedition, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 21–34, 1968</ref> To supplement the original publications of De Mecquenem the archives of his excavation have now been put online thanks to a grant from the Shelby White Levy Program.<ref>[http://www.mom.fr/mecquenem/] Roland de Mecquenem: Archives de Suse (1912–1939) - Unpublished excavation archive (French)</ref>

[[Roman Ghirshman]] took over direction of the French efforts in 1946, after the end of the war.<ref>Ghirshman, Roman, "The Elamite Levels at Susa and Their Chronological Significance", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 74, no. 3, pp. 223–25, 1970</ref> Together with his wife [[Tania Ghirshman]], he continued there until 1967. The Ghirshmans concentrated on excavating a single part of the site, the hectare sized Ville Royale, taking it all the way down to bare earth.<ref>Roman Ghirshman, Suse au tournant du III au II millenaire avant notre ere, Arts Asiatiques, vol. 17, pp. 3–44, 1968</ref> The pottery found at the various levels enabled a stratigraphy to be developed for Susa.<ref>Hermann Gasche, "Ville Royale de Suse: vol I : La poterie elamite du deuxieme millenaire A.C.", Mission archéologique en Iran, Mémoires 47,   Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, 1973  ISBN 978-9004038264</ref><ref>M. Steve and Hermann H. Gasche, "L'Acropole de Suse: Nouvelles fouilles (rapport preliminaire)", Memoires de la Delegation archeologique en Iran, vol. 46, Geuthner, 1971</ref>

From 1969 until 1979 excavations were conducted under [[Jean Perrot]].<ref>Jean Perrot, Les fouilles de Suš en 1975, Annual Symposium on
Archaeological Research in Iran 4, pp. 224–231, 1975</ref><ref>D. Canal, La haute terrase de l'Acropole de Suse, Paléorient, vol. 4, pp. 169–176, 1978</ref>

In 2019 the Susa salvage project was launched to counter the construction of a transportation underpass in the vicinity of the site.<ref>
SORAGHI, S., & ZEYNIVAND, M., "The Susa salvage project in 2019, southwestern Iran", Historia I Świat, 11, pp. 71–79, 2022 https://doi.org/10.34739/his.2022.11.04</ref>