Digging up Iran’s dirt

Press, 30 May 1981, Page 17

Digging up Iran’s dirt

An Archaeologist in the Making. By Clare Goff. Constable, 1980, 279 pp., index ahd illustrations. $34.95. (Reviewed by William Shepard)

This interestingly written account of six seasons of archaeological work in Iran will give the reader some idea of what it is like to be an archeologist. Having published the detailed scientific results of her work elsewhere, Clare Goff here tells the human-interest side of the story in non-technical language for the general reader.

After spending several years in Turkey and Iran, in part working in archeological digs supervised by others, she set out in 1963 for Luristan, in Eastern Iran, to find a site of her own. She quickly discovered that, whatever the dreams of archeology may be, •'reality was blinding rain every other day and tracks axle-deep in mud" or equally ’ blinding . dust-storms; but she persisted and after two seasons of surveying settled on three promising mounds above the village of Baba Jan. In 1966 she returned to supervise the first of four seasons of digging that uncovered a fortified tribal headquarters of the ninth and eighth centuries B.C. and' contributed to tracing the origins of the striking Luristan bronze artefacts that had been flowing into museum and private collections for almost 30 years.

Her account describes with warmth and candour the trials and triumphs of the dig, the struggles for funding, the problems of government red-tape, a parade of assistants — British, American,

Australian, New Zealander — and the infighting among the archeological teams for the best ones.

She also - describes the Iranians she came to know and love: the villagers who provided both hospitality- and the labour for the dig, their wives and children, a tribe of nomads with w-hom she made the summer migration one year, various government officials; teachers, and others. An epilogue, describing a return visit in 1977 to renew acquaintances, underlines the positive changes that have taken place in Iran as the result of oil money and other factors, including the presence of people such as herself, although giving a hint that this apparently blossoming society would explode in revolution a year later.

A number of black-and-white plates and well selected line drawings of artefacts and buildings add interest to the text. All in all, this is an enjoyable and wellwritten book, offering delightful reading for those interested in archeology or Iran, and for all arm-chair travellers. As is all too often the case, one wishes the price tag were a bit more modest.