Williamson Surveys in Southern Iran and his Collection

The Williamson surveys conducted in Iran from 1968 to 1971 are the most extensive field surveys from a geographical standpoint. Williamson directed some excavations in Sirjan and Dasht-i Deh, but his sudden death and work method caused problems that kept the results unknown for years. Most of his finds were sent to England, but a portion of them, including the rest of the survey, finds from Sirjan excavations, and Sumner’s finds from the Marvdasht Plain survey, were given to the National Museum of Iran. Although Williamson’s collection has been studied many times in England, no serious research work has been done on Iran’s collection. In 2019, a team led by the author researched this collection for two months in the National Museum of Iran’s repository due to its importance and the lack of archaeological information and surveys on the Persian Gulf’s shores. These finds were gathered from different parts of southern Iran, including Bushehr, Hormozgan, Fars, Kerman, parts of Khuzestan, and Sistan and Baluchistan. Most of the collection consists of pottery pieces (12,258 sherds, %92 belonging to the Islamic period and %8 belonging to the historical period). Despite shortcomings and special features, pottery studies show the continuity of settlement from the Historic era to the late Islamic centuries in some southern regions of Iran, providing valuable information previously unknown.m