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The Nishapur Excavations

Jump To:    The City    |    The Met’s Excavations    |    The Excavation Sites    |    The Finds

The city of Nishapur, founded in northeastern Iran around the third century CE, grew to new prominence in the eighth century and flourished during the early Islamic periods. Largely damaged by invasions and earthquakes in the thirteenth century, the city is today a relatively small town known as Neyshabur. The ruins of the medieval city were first investigated by a team of archaeologists from the Metropolitan Museum between 1935 and 1940, returning for a final season in 1947-1948. The Met’s galleries present a selection of the objects found during the Museum’s excavations, which were given to the museum by the Iranian authorities through the division of finds that was customary at the time.

 
Excavating 10th-century stucco panels at Sabz Pushan, Nishapur, 1935

 


The City

Political control of Nishapur changed hands several times between the third century, when the city was founded, and the early fifteenth century, when a new site for the city was established, but throughout this period it remained an important regional center. Over the course of more than one thousand years of political change, Nishapur expanded and contracted, and its physical center shifted as the city developed. 

Map of Iran highlighted in green with a dot on the Northeast showing the location of Nishapur

 

Nishapur was founded by the Sasanian king Shapur and became the capital of the province of Abarshahr. Its name may stem from the Old Persian for “fair, good city of Shapur” (*nēv-šāpūr), but in Islamic times writers in Arabic rendered it as Nishabur or Nayshabur, from which comes the modern Farsi pronunciation.

Close up map of Iran showing area of the Sasanian Empire highlighted in green and area of the Byzantine Empire highlighted in brown with a dot on the Northeast showing the location of Nishapur

In the Sasanian period, Nishapur consisted of a citadel and an adjoining walled city, all surrounded by numerous villages, while one of the empire’s important Zoroastrian fire temples was located on the nearby hills. Streams coming from the same hills were directed through channels that passed underneath the city (called qanats), allowing Nishapur’s citizens to draw water from wells. 

Aerial overview of early Nishapur with thin blue lines representing the water channels, a yellow square representing the citadel and adjoining walled city, and a white dot showing the Zoroastrian fire temple

Between the ninth and thirteenth centuries, at Nishapur’s peak, its population is believed to have been between one hundred and two hundred thousand people, and the city was approximately six and a half square miles in size. In addition to local Iranians, this included Turks and Arabs who arrived after the city’s incorporation into the Abbasid empire. The majority of Nishapur’s residents were Muslim, but Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians were also among the city’s population, which consisted of landowners, merchants, craftsmen, farmers, government officials, religious clerics, and scholars, including female ones. Recent scholarship has shed new light on the presence and role of the women of Nishapur. The population was largely Persian-speaking, but Arabic was used by the Arab population, by scholars, and for official administrative documents. Inscriptions, both monumental ones on buildings and those on everyday objects also used Arabic. 

Yellow earthenware bowl with figure and birds decorating the surface
Bowl with a Figure and Birds, Purchase, From Iran, Nishapur, 10th century. Earthenware; polychrome decoration under transparent glaze (buff ware). Height 3 5/8 in. (9.2 cm), Diameter 7 7/8 in. (20 cm). Rogers Fund, 1938 (38.40.290)

Nishapur’s position on the Western edge of Khurasan, the region encompassing today’s eastern Iran, western Afghanistan, and southern Turkmenistan, made it a crucial point in the land routes connecting East Asia to the Mediterranean, popularly known as the “silk road”. Such networks were active as early as 2000 BCE,  facilitating the movements of people, ideas, technologies, and a variety of goods, including silk. Other textiles, but also ceramics, glass and metal wares, raw glass, seeds, spices, fruit, and cereals, but also jade, lapis lazuli and other precious stones moved along these trajectories. As one of the largest cities along these routes, Nishapur flourished economically, benefitting from taxes on goods sold and from the commerce brought by traveling caravans. 

Map of the Silk Road trade route with Iran highlighted in green with a dot on the Northeast showing the location of Nishapur along the route
Map of the Silk Road trade route

Nishapur’s population of workers and artists also produced prized commodities, including unprocessed or carved turquoise, renowned cotton and silk fabrics, and a variety of ceramics. One of its produces was a rare type of edible clay believed to have curative properties. While all these goods were traded trans-regionally, the city’s commercial relevance is mostly reflected in the coins that were found during the Met’s excavation. These range between the eighth to the fifteenth century and include coins from Armenia, Syria, Iraq, elsewhere in Iran, and Central Asia (today’s Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan), in addition to those produced by the Nishapur mint. 

A silk and cotton tiraz textile fragment with thin vertical stripes and a thin line of embroidered red calligraphy on the right side of the textile
A silk and cotton textile made in a Nishapur tiraz workshop, dated 879-80 CE (31.106.27Gift of George D. Pratt, 1931)

a black and white photo of two cylinders of Nishapur's edible earth
These cylinders of earth may be sellable units of Nishapur’s famous edible earth, 1939


The Met’s Excavation

In 1935, curators in the Museum’s Department of Near Eastern Art began excavations at Nishapur, whose physical history remained unknown despite the city’s fame. Their work continued until 1940, with a closing season after World War II in 1947-48. 

Black and white photo of boys sifting through dirt while excavating at a site in Nishapur
Excavation in progress at the Sabz Pushan site at Nishapur, 1936

The agreement between The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Iranian government was to divide the excavation finds into two equal groups between The Met and the National Museum of Iran in Tehran. In the case of the stucco panels from the site of Sabz Pushan, some of the original pieces were reproduced with gypsum casts, so that each museum would have a full set. Both museums have displayed the Nishapur material since the 1930s. 

Black and white photo of a gallery from 1937 with a bench in the middle and stucco panels on the wall
A 1937 special exhibition of the Nishapur material at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Black and white photo of gallery from 1949 with Nishapur stucco panels on the wall
Nishapur stuccoes in the 1949 Galleries of Near Eastern Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Museum’s excavation team consisted of Met staff Joseph Upton, Walter Hauser, and Charles Wilkinson. They built a house at the site and worked for an average of four to six months per season between 1935 and 1940. The outbreak of World War II halted the project until 1947, when Wilkinson and Hauser went back for a final season to clean up the excavation house and sort through the remaining objects. Nearly fifty years later, Iranian archaeologists (1995-2002) and a joint French-Iranian expedition (2005-2007) have resumed work at Nishapur, expanding our knowledge of the site. 

Black and white image of Joseph Upton, Walter Hauser, and Charles Wilkinson standing in a row in Nishapur
Joseph Upton, Charles Wilkinson, and Walter Hauser, 1930s (year unknown)

black and white image of the exterior of the excavation house
The Nishapur excavation house, 1947

Black and white image of a living room with a couch, two arm chairs, wall cabinets, and side tables with lamps
Living room of the excavation house; note the casts of the stucco panels from the Sabz Pushan site behind the sofas, 1947


The Sites

The Museum’s excavations revealed much about Nishapur’s architecture and urban character, within the limits of where the trenches could be dug in conformity to governmental permission and local activities, such as farming. Each area was known by its local name or a distinguishing topographical feature; some names were in Persian, others were given by the excavators in English. They also started referring to the archaeological site as Nishapur, a name linked to the city’s foundation in the Sasanian period, rather than as the current toponym Neyshabur. Most of the sites are preceded by the toponym “tepe” which refers to human-made mound. The Met’s excavations ended abruptly because of the outbreak of World War II, resulting in a limited understanding of the city’s development and how the excavated areas related to each other. The publications of the found materials represent major advancements in the study of medieval Iran and have positioned the Nishapur artefacts as the canonical reference for this period. Still, the absence of excavation diaries and of documentation of the trenches' stratigraphy, limits our understanding of the artifacts' moment of production, their use, their relation to each other and to their finding context, and questions of reuse or decay.

Aerial map of historic Nishapur highlighted in green showing approximate extent with different sites written in white text

The Met’s archaeologists sunk test trenches in the mound on which the citadel of Nishapur stands, known locally as Tepe Alp Arslan. These excavations revealed that this area, higher than the rest of the site, had been built up artificially. Recent excavations have suggested that this area was already inhabited in the Sasanian period. 

black and white photo of an excavated residential area in Tepe Alp Arslan
From the eighth century on, the citadel was a residential area, 1936


Some of the homes had extensive decoration. In Gallery 452, there are carved stucco panels from three rooms in one of the excavated houses.

A residential neighborhood was uncovered in the area known as Tepe Sabz Pushan (“Green Mound”), excavated between 1935 and 1937. Houses in this area were built of sun-dried bricks covered with white plaster, and consisted of three to four rooms, usually arranged around a central courtyard. Some had extensive wall decoration of carved stucco and small niches flanked by engaged columns, which were interpreted as mihrabs. Access to the houses was from small alleys that ran between them.

Black and white photograph of the Sabz Pushan excavation site
A Sabz Pushan house with an underground storage room, 1936

 
One of the most intriguing finds at Tepe Madrasa was a room with wall paintings covering the lower half of the walls. These seem to mimic stone dadoes, but also bear motifs that echo the animal and vegetal worlds. (Painted Dado Panel on view in Gallery 453)

This complicated area in the heart of the city, southwest of the citadel, was excavated between 1937 and 1940, and was later leveled through commercial diggings and the construction of a railroad. The excavators brought to light a residential complex which they interpreted as a monumental palace or a government center, for the importance of its architecture and rich decoration. The area also revealed a mosque that was in use from the second half of the eighth century until the twelfth century. 

Black and white photograph of the Tepe Madrasa excavation site
Rooms on the west side of the Tepe Madrasa site, 1939

Excavated in 1938, Qanat Tepe is named for its proximity to an underground water channel, or qanat. Many types of buildings were found here, including domestic rooms, a bathhouse with wall paintings, a small mosque, and a watchtower. The site also resulted being a production area for ceramics, unglazed sphero-conical vessels and glazed stonepaste vessels. Qanat Tepe appears to have been occupied from the early ninth century until the late eleventh or early twelfth century.

black and white photo of an excavated bathhouse in Qanat Tepe
The bathhouse of Qanat Tepe, with individual cells for bathing attached to a central well, 1938

In 1936 and 1937, the excavators uncovered small residences spanning the ninth to thirteenth century, including a phase of reconstruction during which the buildings’ orientation was changed. The residences were similar in form to those found at Sabz Pushan and Qanat Tepe, with underground storage chambers and wells connected to the neighborhood canal.

Black and white photograph of the Tepe Site excavation site
Cooking pots in a Village Tepe kitchen, 1936

At the behest of local officials who were improving the areas near the nearby tomb of Omar Khayyam and Muhammad Mahruq, the team excavated this site in 1936. The area was occupied for a long period and well into the thirteenth century, after the arrival of the Mongols.

a black and white photo of workers at the Falaki site
Workers at the Falaki site, 1936

After a test dig in 1935, the excavators decided not to continue working at the North Horn, but in 1936 they returned to the South Horn and found remains from a pottery workshop specializing in molded ware. The finds indicated that the site was occupied well into the thirteenth century.

black and white photo of an excavated street in the South Horn neighborhood
A street in the South Horn neighborhood, 1936

The American excavators uncovered three separate kiln sites where the ceramics of Nishapur were made, although in later decades more were identified by Iranian archaeologists. The finds from the production areas were significant, providing proof that certain types of vessels, including slip-wares as well as later alkaline-glazed pieces and molded vessels, were in fact made in the city. Kilns were constructed with a domed top covering a wide ledge that projected over a central, circular firing chamber. Ceramics would have been placed on clay batons and stuck through holes along the sides of the kiln to be fired.

Black and white photograph of an excavated kiln with holes that held the ceramics
Base of a kiln, with holes for the batons that held the ceramics as they were fired, 1939

A series of mounds at this location led some scholars to believe that it may have been the site of a bazaar, or marketplace, hence the name of the site. While the excavators found no definitive evidence of this, the finds point to an occupation well in the twelfth and possibly thirteenth century.

Excavations in 1936 and 1937 revealed a row of rooms from a monumental complex of buildings fronting an alley. Like the buildings at Tepe Madrasa, they had thick walls, elaborate carved stucco and stone reliefs, and an outstanding painting of a mounted huntsman as well as a standing figure now in the National Museum of Iran in Tehran. It appears that this area was abandoned after an earthquake, perhaps in 1145.

black and white photo of an excavated mural in Vineyard Tepe of a mounted huntsman
Mounted huntsman mural in the Vineyard Tepe, 1937. Later detached and assigned to The National Museum of Iran in Tehran.


The Finds

Hundreds of objects were discovered during the course of the excavations, ranging from ceramics, metalwork, and glass to coins, spindle whorls, bone buttons, gold jewels, and beads. Initial on-site repairs were made to some of the objects before they were all photographed and divided into two representative collections, one to be sent to the National Museum of Iran, Tehran and the other to the Metropolitan Museum. The objects shipped back to the Met underwent additional restoration work and were immediately placed on display. More recently, many of the excavated objects were re-treated in preparation for the reopening of the Met's galleries of the Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia in 2011.

Black and white photo of interior room with scattered architectural fragments on a table on the left and on the ground on the right
Workshop at the Nishapur excavation house, with several architectural fragments, 1947

Black and white photo with tables in the foreground and wall shelves in the background with scattered ceramics and ceramic fragments
Workshop at the Nishapur excavation house, with many Met ceramics, 1930s (year unknown)

 

Explore Finds by Theme:

Rich decoration covered the exteriors and interiors of some of Nishapur’s buildings. Prominent homes and palaces featured painted murals, carved stucco reliefs, or both. Large public buildings of the eleventh and twelfth centuries were clad in baked bricks set in decorative patterns and carved terracotta panels, while slightly later ones had glazed tiles, often in turquoise. Two of the bathhouses that the excavators found preserved the remains of earlier layers of wall paintings, apparently refreshed each time humidity obscured the images. These examples include a range of geometric and vegetal patterns, calligraphy, figures, and animals. 

View a selection of architectural decoration finds >

an intricately carved tan stucco panel with three main repeating floral carvings
Dado Panel, Excavated at Sabz Pushan in Iran, Nishapur, 10th century. Stucco; carved. Height 37 1/2 in. (95.3 cm), Width 92 5/8 in. (235 cm), Depth 3 1/2 in. (8.9 cm), Frame Depth 2 1/2 in. (6.4 cm). Rogers Fund, 1937 (37.40.40)

Texts or words were written in a variety of calligraphic forms on many kinds of objects excavated at Nishapur. Inscriptions were used to decorate ceramics with boldly rendered blessings and proverbs, to indicate ownership of objects, and to inscribe verses from the Qur’an or the names of royals on architectural elements. The letter forms were manipulated in different ways: some are elongated horizontally and vertically, some end in vegetal flourishes, and some became rhythmically repeated geometric units. Some of the inscriptions are in Arabic, others in Persian; both use the same alphabet. 

View a selection of inscriptions finds >

a black bowl with white calligraphy decoration around the rim
Bowls with Repeating Inscription, “Blessing,” Purchase, Found Iran, Nishapur, late 9th–early 10th century. Earthenware; black slip with white slip decoration under transparent glaze. Height 2 1/2 in. (6.4 cm), Diameter 8 1/8 in. (20.6 cm). Rogers Fund, 1937 (37.40.22)

So-called buff ware ceramics are characterized by graphic imagery outlined in a dark brownish-black color and highlighted with yellow and green glazes. Some of the buff ware vessels excavated at Nishapur were covered with a slip the same color as the buff body before being painted; the designs on others were painted directly onto the surface of the vessel. This group of ceramics includes geometric and abstract floral motifs, strong figural compositions, and overall patterns of four-legged horned beasts (possibly ibexes) and birds. The type was believed to have been produced only in Nishapur, although it has since been retrieved in a much wider geography. Recent archaeological research by the Met in southern Turkmenistan suggests that it was produced in a wider region. 

View a selection of buff ware finds >

a buffware fragment with animal decoration including birds and horned and spotted quadrupeds
Buff Ware Fragment with Animal Decoration, Excavated at Sabz Pushan in Iran, Nishapur, 9th century. Earthenware; polychrome decoration under transparent glaze (buff ware). Height 4 in. (10.2 cm), Width 6 1/4 in. (15.9 cm). Rogers Fund, 1938 (38.40.119) 

The excavators found many household items, such as keys, tweezers, mirrors, toys, and ceramic dinnerware and mixing bowls. These mundane objects provide a window into the daily life of a tenth to thirteenth century citizen of Nishapur.

A number of objects found in the excavations were so unusual that scholars still debate their original functions. Some have only been found in Nishapur and therefore lack enough context for us to understand them. Other types, although found at sites across Iran and the Middle East, still spark debate among scholars. These include a talismanic hand, a cupping glass, spit-rests, and spheroconical vessels that may have been used for perfumed and medicinal fluids or even for bubbly drinks.

View a selection of objects of daily life finds >

a bronze mortar with a small well, flanged handles and a long horizontal spoutCosmetics Mortar, Excavated in Iran, Nishapur, 10th–12th century. Bronze; cast. Height 1 1/16 in. (2.7 cm), Width 3 5/16 in. (8.4 cm), Depth 5 5/16 in. (13.5 cm). Rogers Fund, 1939 (39.40.100) 

Written sources indicate that Nishapur was an important trade city, and the finding of certain objects confirms this. Chinese ceramics were popular in Nishapur, and excavators believed that they also passed through the city on the way to western Iran, Iraq, and Egypt. Imported ceramics from the west, such as Iraqi luster wares of the ninth and tenth century must have been expensive enough for the Nishapuri potters to imitate them for the local market, but they used different glazes and techniques that make the local productions readily distinguishable from the imports. 

View a selection of imports and Nishapur craftsmen finds >

blue glass plate fragment with engraved geometric and vegetal designs
Fragmentary Plate with Engraved Designs, Attributed to Syria or Iraq. Excavated at Tepe Madrasa in Iran, Nishapur, 9th century. Glass, blue; blown, applied trail, scratch-engraved. Height 9/16 in. (1.4 cm), Width 10 5/8 in. (27 cm), Diameter 8 in. (20.3 cm). Rogers Fund, 1940 (40.170.131) 

In addition to the uncovering of mosques and mihrabs, the Met’s excavators found a variety of artifacts related to the everyday devotional practices of Islam, such as prayer beads, amulets with Qur’anic phrases, and jugs with magic words thought to have healing powers. Nishapur’s diverse population included other religious communities such as Jews and Christians. Their devotional practices are testified by seals with symbols and Hebrew letters, and ceramic objects decorated with crosses.

View a selection of religions finds >

an earthenware inkwell with yellow, black, and green decoration with a main decorative motif of a cross-like symbol
Inkwell with Crosses, Purchase, From Iran, Nishapur, 10th century. Earthenware; polychrome decoration under transparent glaze (buff ware). Height 2 3/16 in. (5.6 cm), Width 2 3/4 in. (7 cm), Depth 2 3/4 in. (7 cm). Rogers Fund, 1938 (38.40.296) 

 


Further Readings

James W. Allan, Nishapur: Metalwork of the Early Islamic Period, New York, 1982.

Richard W. Bulliet, “Medieval Nishapur: A Topographic and Demographic Reconstruction,” Studia Iranica 5, 1976, pp. 67-89.

Abdullah Ghouchani, Sheila Canby, “Rare Coins from Nishapur”, in HEILBRUNN TIMELINE OF ART HISTORY ESSAYS, October 2019.

Walter Hauser, “The Plaster Dado from Sabz Pushan,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 32/10, October 1937, pp. 23-36.

Walter Hauser, Joseph M. Upton, and Charles K. Wilkinson, “The Iranian Expedition, 1937: The Museum's Excavations at Nishapur,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 33/11, November 1938, pp. 3-23.

Walter Hauser, Charles K. Wilkinson, “The Museum’s Excavations at Nishapur,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 37/4, April 1942, pp. 81 and 83-119.

Jens Kröger, Nishapur: Glass of the Early Islamic Period, New York, 1995.

Joseph M. Upton, Charles K. Wilkinson, “The Persian Expedition 1934-35: Excavations at Nishapur,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 31/9, September 1936, pp. 176-82.

Joseph M. Upton, “The Coins from Nishapur,” Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 32/10, October 1937, pp.  37-39.

Charles K. Wilkinson, “The Iranian Expedition, 1936: The Excavations at Nishapur,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 32/10, October 1937, pp. 1, 3-22.

Charles K. Wilkinson, Nishapur: Pottery of the Early Islamic Period, New York, 1973.

Charles K. Wilkinson, Nishapur: Some Early Islamic Buildings and their Decoration, New York, 1987.

 


Acknowledgements

Texts by Martina Rugiadi, Department of Islamic Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2024), modified from a 2011 version by Marika Sardar, former Senior Research Associate, Department of Islamic Art. The digital content was designed by James Dill, Associate for Administration in the Department of Islamic Art.

Videos and 3-D animations were produced in 2011, with assistance from the 2005-2008 archaeological team at Nishapur of the Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization (ICAR) and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Videos produced by Digital Media Department, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in conjunction with Small Design Firm. 3-D animations produced by SOFTlab NYC and José Gonzalez.