Tol-e Ajoriتل آجری
Location: Tol-e Ajori is the name of a recently discovered monumental gate in mud-brick, 3 km west of Persepolis, Fars Province, southern Iran.
29°56’10.2″N 52°51’17.9″E
Map
Historical Period
Achaemenid
History and description
Tol-e Ajori is the name of a monumental gate, 3 km west of Persepolis, in an area known as Bagh-e Firouzi. in a place known as the Turquoise Garden (fig. 1). The excavated remains revealed a gate e 30 by 40 meters (fig. 2). This site has been registered on the List of the National Monuments and Sites of Iran in/2006 with the number 15530. It is a building with a northwest-southeast direction, but it deviates about 20 degrees from the east-west axis. The building’s dimensions are 39 m (northwest-southeast) and 29 m. northeast-southwest). Its walls are more than 10 m. thick. The interior consists of a space of 14.33 m. long and 8 m. wide. Access to this room was possible through two corridors 12.24 m. long and 4.63 m wide (fig. 3). With the discovery of Babylonian and Elamite cuneiform inscriptions and considering the function of the building, it is now clear that this building was a memorial gate. The outer walls of the building were decorated with glazed and molded bricks. The fragments of such bricks were discovered in excavations (figs. 4 and 5). It seems that the gate resembles the decoration of the famous Ishtar Gate in Babylon (built around 580 B.C.). The archaeological evidence indicates that the gate was abandoned in the Achaemenid period and was later destroyed in an earthquake.
Fig. 1. The site of Tol-e Ajori in the proximity of Firouzi 5 (photo: A. Askari Chaverdi)
Fig. 2. The mound of Tol-e Ajori (photo: A. Askari Chaverdi)
Fig. 3. The interior of the building at Tol-e Ajori (photo: A. Askari Chaverdi)
Fig. 4. Tol-e Ajori. A reconstructed panel of the decorated wall depicting a dragon-like creature known as mūshūshū (photo: A. askari Chaverdi)
Fig. 5. Tol-e Ajori. Reconstruction of the decorated gate (photo: A. Askari Chaverdi)
Archaeological Exploration
Tol-e Ajori was first excavated in 2011 by an Iranian-Italian team led by Alireza Askari Chaverdi (Shiraz University) and Pierfrancesco Callieri (University of Bologna).
Bibliography
Amadoria, M. L., et al. “Advances in Achaemenid Brick Manufacturing Technology: Evidence from the Monumental Gate at Tol-e Ajori (Fars, Iran),” Applied Clay Science, vol. 152, February 2018, pp. 131-142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clay.2017.11.004
Askari Chaverdi, A., P. Callieri, and S. Gondet, “Tol-e Ājori. A New Monumental Building in Pārsa: Preliminary Cross Interpretations from Recent Surveys and Excavations Works around Persepolis (2005-2012),” Arta 2013.06, http://www.achemenet.com/document/ARTA_2013.006-Askari-Callieri-Gondet.pdf
Askari Chaverdi et al., “Tol-e Ajori: A Monumental Gate of the Early Achaemenian Period in the Persepolis Area. The 2014 Excavation Season of the Iranian-Italian Project ‘From Palace to Town’,” Archaologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan, vol. 46, 2014, pp. 223-254.
