Journal of Archaeological Studies

Abstract Inscribed Nishapur pottery of the 9th and 10th centuries constitutes one of the most significant bodies of material culture from the early Islamic world and Iran, functioning not only as utilitarian objects but also as carriers of ethical and spiritual meanings. The aim of this study is to reconstruct part of the perceptual horizon of Nishapur’s urban society through analyzing the correspondence between the themes of these inscriptions and the dominant intellectual discourses of the period, including futuwwa, Malāmatiyya, and Sufism. The principal research question asks which intellectual and ethical concepts are reflected in the Kufic inscriptions on Nishapur pottery and to what extent these themes overlap with the intellectual and social discourses of the time. The research method is based on a qualitative-discursive content analysis of 60 Kufic inscriptions, conducted through conceptual comparison with textual sources and within the theoretical framework of material culture studies and cognitive archaeology. Within this framework, the inscriptions are interpreted not merely as decorative texts but as semantic media capable of revealing the mental and ethical structures of urban society. The findings demonstrate that futuwwa and the Malāmatiyya constitute the most dominant discourses represented in the inscriptions, while Sufism, the ahl al-ḥadīth, bureaucratic-adab culture, Karrāmiyya, and Muʿtazilism are also present to varying degrees. This distribution suggests that the intellectual culture of Nishapur in this period possessed a multilayered and overlapping character, in which sectarian boundaries within material culture were represented through interconnected networks of ethical and spiritual concepts. Ultimately, the pottery inscriptions can be interpreted as instruments for the reproduction and reinforcement of systems of meaning within the urban sphere.

Abstract Troglodyte Tahyagh is one of the important sites of the medieval Islamic period in Iran. During the first season of archaeological excavations at this site, in addition to identifying various architectural spaces, pottery and various beads, as well as other valuable artifacts such as various types of metal and bronze containers, gold coins and gold ornaments were found. In terms of variety and abundance, the metalwork of Tahyagh, it is one of the few known archaeological sites in Iran during the Middle Islamic period. Moreover, it is one of the few known sites of this period with this amount of metal artifacts of the Islamic period has been obtained in its excavations. This is important because the total number of archeological sites of this period, which have been found in archeological excavations with a large volume of different types of metal artifacts, does not exceed the number of fingers of one hand; at the same time, most of these sites have several stages of settlement and it cannot be said with certainty that all the metal artifacts discovered from them belong to a specific time period, such as what has been obtained at Nishapur. This is an indication of the importance of these works that yet have not been addressed in any research. In this regard, the main purpose of this study is to introduce and investigate the metal artifacts obtained from archaeological excavations at  Tahyagh. The method of this research is based on field studies at the site and the identification of similar works in museums through library studies. In these studies, it was found that these objects were probably produced and used in the 12-13^th centuries, based on comparative studies and the existence of evidence from coins of this period in the archaeological excavations of Tahyagh. In addition, some of these works were likely produced in Nishapur or Jorjan and exported to this area.