NAYSAN
(IRAQ)
Naysan
(also known as Jabal Khayabar and Naisan) is a tell and an archaeological
site in Maysan Governorate, southern Iraq.
Identification
:
The site has been identified as the ruins of Charax Spasinu, once
capital of the Messene Kingdom.
This
claim is based on the scale of the ruins, the fact that the local
name for the ruins is Naysan which is probably a corruption of the
Parthian name for Mesene, Maysan, (from which Maysan Governorate
also derives its name.) The location of the ruins is at the confluence
of the Tigris and Karkheh Rivers, as stated of Charax Spasinu, by
Pliny the Elder.
Archaeology
:
![](640px-Initial_Geophys_for_the_Archaeological_site_of_Naysan,_Iraq.png)
Plan
of the Archaeological Site of Naysan, on the Shat Al Arab in southern
Iraq following preliminary geophysical survey of the site in 2016.
Naysan represents the ruins of Alexandria Charax, founded by Alexander
the great and which became the Capital of the Characene State during
late antiquity.
The tell was not excavated before 2016, due to ongoing conflict
and instability in the area, however, a preliminary survey was conducted
in 1965. That survey identified a series of impressive bastion walls
of baked brick and significant pottery shards on the surface. The
shards that could be identified belonged to the Sasanian or early
Islamic periods. That preliminary survey in 1965 found the site
was a town of trapezoidal shape, approximately 1.5 by 3 kilometres
(0.93 mi × 1.86 mi).
The
2016 excavations found the city was laid out on a grid pattern with
housing block 185 by 85m, and numerous late antiquity coins.
The
report for the 2016 excavation and geophys survey reported that
:
"The
brick and earth ramparts that form the city limits of Charax still
survive up to four metres high and are the dominant feature in the
otherwise flat landscape. The northern rampart, 2.4km long, is the
best preserved. Stretches of the eastern and western ramparts still
survive, but the southern one is no longer visible. The limit of
the city to the south is defined by a looping ancient bed of the
Karun River"
Artifacts
found include beads, column remnants, glassware, pottery, and coins
of Hellenistic Seleucid kings and (possibly) Parthian as well.
Source
:
https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Nays%C4%81n_(Iraq)