Storage jar

This large ceramic jar has a globular body, a flat base and a straight neck. It is made of a buff clay. It was excavated at Pasargadae in southwestern Iran, about 90 km northeast of Shiraz. Pasargadae was the first capital of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, founded by Cyrus the Great c. 546 B.C. The jar was found at the Tall-i Takht, a massive artificial platform presumably built as the site of a royal palace but converted into a fortified compound after Darius established a new capital at Persepolis around 520. However, the coin hoards and other finds from the Takht, including this jar, show that it continued to be occupied down into the second century B.C., long after the fall of the Achaemenid Empire. This jar was found in a room on the northern end of the Takht.