A Database for Qal‛a-ye Tepe (Sistan, Iran): Preliminary Analysis of the Pottery

Abstract

The aim of this article is to review, organize and digitize a number of data from the 1961-1962 Italian Archaeological Mission directed by Umberto Scerrato in Qal‛a-ye Tepe (Sistan, Iran): four handwritten notebooks with some small but significant unedited details about the excavation and the existing database of the pottery. The study focused both on the improvement of the database creating a digital instrument capable to facilitate the quantitative, qualitative, and chronological analysis on the pottery and a preliminary study on a limited amount of pottery fragments now located between Rome and Naples.  The re-organized database made it possible to obtain new results integrating the existing knowledge on the site and the pottery assemblage with the re-analyzed data enhancing the understanding of Qal‛a-ye Tepe and its historical context.