Field Report on the 2015 Current Archaeological Works of the Joint Iran-French Project on Pasargadae and its Territory

site of Pasargadae in the latter half of 2015, the capital founded byCyrus the Great in the center of the ancient province of Persia. It isthe first step of a program that will span over several years and duringwhich we will gradually enrich the Pasargadae archaeological map ona large scale. In the continuity of the previous 1999-2009 programs, wetried to have a better understanding of the layout of the Achaemenidcity that was developed following a new pattern where the garden, thepark, plays a prominent role. We also would like to further study theterritorial changes just before the Achaemenid Empire as well as afterits fall until the Islamic period. To approach these topics we gather apluridisciplinary team that carried out complementary survey works(geophysics, topography, fieldwalking, surface ceramic collection,geoarchaeology) to build a comprehensive reconstruction of thePasargadae cityscape from the early Achaemenid to Islamic periods.The works were performed inside the protected area of the site as wellas in its nearby surroundings. This article presents our methodology aswell as our preliminary results. The important 2015 achievements wereto demonstrate that the south Tol-e Taḵt hillslope is built, to firmly show that the Achaemenid/post-Achaemenid occupation extended southeastof the Royal Garden and to shed light on the ancient settlement systemsome kilometers north of the city core part. In the same time an importanttopography work has been started to accurately document the wholevisible archaeological features over the site. The main fallout of thesesurveys is to bring to light parts of the Cyrus project for Pasargadae aswell as the complex and evolving landscape of the site and its territorybefore and after the Achaemenid period.