This project involves the study of 19,354 sherds of Sasanian and Islamic pottery collected in Fars and Kirman provinces of Iran during field surveys and small-scale excavations by the late Andrew George Williamson between 1968 and 1971.
The project began in 2001, initiated by Professor Derek Kennet (now at Chicago University) and Dr Seth Priestman (Honorary Research Fellow, Durham University), with funding from the British Institute of Persian Studies. The Williamson Collection is now housed in the Department of Archaeology, Durham University, where it is being studied by Dr R. Zhang.
It is possible to link pottery from the collection to excavated sequences from other sites in the region, such as Kush and Julfar, which allow the material to be more precisely dated. The recording and analysis of the collection are now complete, as is the identification of the sites from which the pottery was collected. This data has enabled the team to identify local and regional trends in settlement along the Iranian coast from approximately the 4th to the 17th century.
Additionally, the project engages with the Indian Ocean and long-distance trade networks with China, as it includes over 3,000 pieces of Chinese trade ceramics.
The key research outcomes and publications are: