British Institute of Persian Studies

Director's Report November 1st 1968 to October 31st 1969Source: Iran, Vol. 8 (1970), pp. xi-xiiPublished by: British Institute of Persian StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4299627 .

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DIRECTOR'S REPORT November Ist 1968 to October 31st 1969

The past year has seen the establishment in Tehran of the French Institute and the American Institute of Iranian Studies, both of which will be concerned, as we ourselves are, with the whole range of Persian studies. Thus Tehran continues to grow in importance as a centre of field research with, above all, ever wider library facilities, that should be of inestimable value to scholars of all nationalities.

Visit of Professor J. A. Boyle During the second week in April Professor Boyle spent several days at the Institute while on his way

eastwards to Pakistan and India. His visit closed with a most successful open lecture when he read a

paper on " Rashid al-Din, the First World Historian ".

Other Lectures at the Institute " The Medes before Cyrus: Excavations at Tepe Nfish-i Jdin ", by Mr. Stronach on January I8th. " The poetry of Omar Khayyam-and some of its translators ", by Major John Bowen on June 12th.

Institute Lectures in London At the Institute's sixth Annual General Meeting, held in the rooms of the British Academy last

November, Dr. May H. Beattie delivered an illustrated lecture on " Some Antique Persian Carpets ", while, in a second lecture held in June, Dr. David Whitehouse gave a detailed account of the results of the first three seasons' work at Sirdf.

Director At Professor Negahban's invitation, Mr. Stronach contributed to the lecture programme at the

Faculty of Archaeology, Tehran University, during the spring term. In April he completed a tour of

Sfisa, Kharg, Masjid-i Sulaiman, and other sites in Khizistan with either Achaemenian or Parthian remains. Additional field trips were made to Fdrs and Kurdistan. In outside lectures, Mr. Stronach

spoke on the excavations at Tepe Nflsh-i Jdn and Shahr-i Quimis at the Asia Institute's first annual

Archaeological Colloquium, held at Shiraz from September 13th to 15th.

Assistant Director

Following Mr. David Blow's resignation in February, Mr. Antony Hutt took over his new duties as

Acting Assistant Director on March Ist. As part of his current research connected with the evolution of the minaret, Mr. Hutt has travelled widely in the regions of Gurgan, Khurdsdn and Kirman. Several

unpublished or otherwise little-studied monuments were planned and photographed in each region with special reference to the Seljuq period.

Fellows While still a Fellow of the Institute, Mr. Hutt visited a number of early Islamic sites in Afghanistan

and was also able to spend a month in India and Pakistan visiting museums and monuments. In India he represented the Institute at the UNESCO Congress on Central Asia held in New Delhi.

As a re-elected Fellow, Mr. Andrew Williamson has been engaged in an extensive archaeological survey in Fdrs, Sistdn and Kirmdn. Five sites with pre-Sasanian painted pottery were found near the coast of the Persian Gulf and, with reference to later settlement, particular interest attaches to the

discovery of the extensive ruins of early Islamic Sirj n. Each of the great Islamic cities of old Hormuz, New Hormuz and Kish yielded important new material, with the town on the island of Kish proving much larger, and in part much earlier, than previous reports had indicated.

Of the two new Fellows elected for I969-70, Mr. Robert Hillenbrand has already resumed his earlier work on Iranian tomb towers of the early Islamic period. Mr. P. A. Andrews, whose fieldwork is only due to begin in the spring of 197o, will be making a survey of nomad tents in Iran-a survey designed to complement similar studies already completed in both Turkey and North Africa.

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Library Thanks to the ever-increasing size of the library, which now houses more than 4000 volumes, most

of the collection has been re-catalogued. Steps have also been taken to improve the system of borrowing books. Registered readers have been issued with library cards and those books that may be borrowed are currently being provided with book cards.

Guests Those staying at the Institute during the past year have included some twenty students engaged in

long-term studies in Iran and more than 200 other visitors. Among others who stayed as guests were: Mr. Edward Archer (University of Liverpool); Mr. D. Barrett (Department of Oriental Books, Bodleian Library, Oxford); Dr. Peter Beaumont (Department of Geography, University of Durham, geomorphological and hydrological research within the region of the south Elburz); Dr. and Mrs. A. D. H. Bivar (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, on study leave); Mr. Jacob Black (University of London, social anthropological research in Luristan); Mr. John R. Bockstoce and Mr. Vincent C. Piggot Jr. (University of Pennsylvania, archaeological survey in eastern Iran); Professor J. A. Boyle (Department of Persian Studies, University of Manchester); Professor J. A. Brinkman (Oriental Institute, University of Chicago); Miss Mary E. Burkett (Director, Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, visiting Islamic monuments in north-east Iran); Mr. and Mrs. Charles Burney (University of Manchester, Haftavdn Expedition); Dr. Schuyler van R. Camman (University of Pennsylvania); Miss Elizabeth Carter (Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, archaeological research in Khizistdn); Mr. Vincent Costello (Department of Geography, University of Durham, field research in Kdshin); Mr. Hubert Darke (Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Cambridge, literary research); Professor Myles Dillon (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies); Mr. Michael Fischer (Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago, research on Zoroastrian communities); Dr. Clare Goff (Kingston-on-Hull College of Education, Bdbd J5n Expedition); Professor and Mrs. G. M. A. Hanfmann (Harvard University, archaeological study); Miss Ann Heckle (draughtsman at the Institute and at Tepe Yalhy) ; Professor and Mrs. Frank Hole (Rice University, Expedition to Deh Liirin); Dr. and Mrs. M. Kirkby (Department of Geography, Bristol University, geomorphological research in connection with the excavations at Deh Liran); Mr. Audran Labrousse (Deligation Archdologique Frangaise en Iran, architectural studies); Professor and Mrs. C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky (Harvard University, Expedition to Tepe Yahyd); Mr. and Mrs. David Marsden (Department of Anthropology, University of Durham, studying social interrelations between village and city in Fars); Dr. Charles McBurney (University of Cambridge, Palaeolithic Reconnaissance in western and north- eastern Iran); Dr. Roger Moorey (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, visit); Miss Margaret Munn-Rankin (Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Cambridge, archaeological study); Dr. James Neely (Department of Anthropology, University of Texas, survey and excavation in Deh Liiran); Professor Murray Nicol (Harvard University, Expedition to Darvazeh Tepe); Mr. Ralph Pinder Wilson (Department of Oriental Antiquities, British Museum); Mr. Michael Power (Department of Geo- graphy, University of Durham, field research in Isfahin); Dr. and Mrs. Colin Renfrew (Department of Ancient History, University of Sheffield, Rice University Expedition to Deh Liiran); Mr. Richard Salzer (Department of Anthropology, University of California, social anthropological field research in Fars); Miss Jennifer Scarce (Royal Scottish Museum, studying Islamic monuments in Kirman); Professor Philip Smith (Department of Anthropology, University of Montreal, excavations at Ganj Dareh Tepe); Mr. and Mrs. John D. Speth (University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology, Ann Arbor, middle Palaeolithic cave excavations at Khurramabad); Professor Brian Spooner (Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, village study in south-west Khurasan); Mr. and Mrs. William Sumner (University of Pennsylvania and American Institute of Iranian Studies, Tehran); Dr. and Mrs. David Whitehouse (University of Oxford, Expedition to Siraf); Dr. G. L. Windfuhr (Department of Near Eastern Language and Literature, University of Michigan, engaged in linguistic studies); Professor Henry T. Wright (University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology, Ann Arbor, archaeological survey in Khiizistan); Professor T. Cuyler Young Jr. (Royal Ontario Museum, Expedition to Godin Tepe).

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