RF Annual Report - 1935 - The Rockefeller Foundation

304 THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION
progress has been made and significant results
have been gained during this period.
Professor Ernst Herzfeld, who was in charge
of the expedition, centered the work of excavation
within a circle thirteen miles in diameter
around the site of Persepolis. During the past
two years, widespread notice has been given to
the more striking discoveries of the expedition,
such as the public buildings and the palaces of
Darius and Xerxes. Quite as noteworthy,however,
are the evidences of prehistoric man discovered
in a stone-age village within the area.
This minor site has yielded decorative pottery
and implements that are dated at about 4000
B.C. At other points in the Persepolis district
there are now known to be evidences of the
course of civilization continuously from 4000
B.C. to 330 B.C., and many wholly new facts
have been established thus far through other
excavations at significant points. The
results
gained in Persia up to the present time give
assurance that continued excavation will yield
highly important data regarding the entire
course of Eastern civilization.
Though this activity in Persia was contemplated
from the beginning of the institute's program
for a study of the rise of civilization, the
support ofThe Rockefeller Foundation has been
devoted hitherto to field work in Egypt, Pales-
© 2003 The Rockefeller Foundation