In recent weeks three interviews and reports have been broadcasted by Iranian news agencies regarding Middle Persian inscriptions found at Naqsh-e Rostam and documentation of cuneiform inscriptions and tablets at the Persepolis site and museum.
https://www.ilna.news/fa/tiny/news-903468
https://www.ilna.news/fa/tiny/news-910647
https://www.ilna.news/fa/tiny/news-902950
Since news agencies can not provide researchers and specialists with accurate information, it is necessary to add more information regarding such news.
1-Middle Persian (Pahlavi) inscriptions have been found above Naqsh-e Rostam on the Hussein Kuh height -and not at the Naqsh-e Rostam site itself, which includes royal tombs of Achaemenid kings, the tower structure of Ka’be-ye Zartosht and Sassanian reliefs and inscriptions.
2-These Middle Persian inscriptions are mostly non-official and funerary inscriptions, not royal or monumental inscriptions.
3-These inscriptions have not been found during excavations; they were found/discovered during the regular exploration of Hussein Kuh by PPRF (Parsa-Pasargadae Research Foundation) staff. These newly found inscriptions are carved on cliffs and rocks.
4-The initial goal of the staff of PPRF is to document these inscriptions. After proper documentation of the Middle Persian inscriptions, their respected texts will be analyzed and published by the research staff of PPRF in cooperation with other specialists of Middle Persian epigraphy.
5-There are several unpublished inscribed fragments from the Achaemenid period deposited at the archive of the Persepolis museum, which will be well-documented and catalogued by Iranian experts with the consultation of prominent international researchers in the field of cuneiform studies.
Soheil Delshad
PhD Student at the Institute of Iranian Studies, Free University of Berlin
Zwinglius Redivivus 