ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors trace the development of archaeological knowledge and understanding of Iran’s past through its historical development. The sources for the study of ancient Iran can broadly be termed archaeological and historical, with a strong reliance in this book on archaeological sources. As in other regions of Southwest Asia and beyond, an increasingly sophisticated array of scientific approaches has been developed and applied in the context of archaeology in Iran, remodeling the contours of knowledge as the discipline has developed. The history of archaeology in and of Iran cannot be divorced from the socio-political contexts within which the discipline is always situated. The major development subsequent to the 1927 abrogation of the French concession was the internationalisation of archaeological activity in Iran. The openness and richness of the discipline of archaeology in Iran in the 1960s encouraged the foundation of residential research institutes in Tehran.
