Pahlavi Archive of Hastijan

In this article, after mentioning a brief background of the Pahlavi Archive, the dating process, and the place of their discovery, three documents with the names Unknown II, Berk. 20, and Berk. 223 are studied. Philippe Gignoux and Dieter Weber have previously read these documents or some words from them and translated them into French, German, and English. The many ambiguities in the written cursive Pahlavi script and the characteristics of the ink and pen used in the documents, along with the complexity of recognizing the handwriting and writing style of the scribes, make examining and reading these documents extremely difficult, and their revision is unavoidable. Accordingly, in this article, a new reading and meaning are proposed for some words. In addition, in all three examined documents, there is a special genitive structure, which is the key to receiving the main point of the documents, and it has not been paid attention to. In this paper, this structure is recognized and analysed, and its remnants are mentioned in some North-Western Iranian languages.
Extended abstract
1.Introduction
In 1974, Richard Frye published a document written in cursive Pahlavi script. Until 1988, this was the only evidence of a collection that would later be known as the Pahlavi Archive. These documents were obtained through illegal excavations and smuggled out of the country. As a result, the exact location where the documents were discovered was unknown to researchers. The documents were written in a very difficult and ambiguous Pahlavi script, and at that time, there was little knowledge about their content.           
Some of the documents are dated, but the origin of these dates is not mentioned, which has led to many years of research and effort. Gignoux identified the starting point of the dates as the death of Yazdegerd III in 652 CE. Weber confirmed Gignoux's view and correlated the specific name "Yazdānpādār" in the Pahlavi documents with the name Yazdānafāẓār in the book of Tarikh-e Qom, which achieved very significant results.        
The radiocarbon age of the manuscript is 1,323+ or -77 before the present (year BP), with a calibrated age range of AD 651–776 (1 sigma, 68% confidence) and AD 600–888 (2 sigma, 95% confidence). In addition, the author of the Tārīkh-e Qom mentioned two Iranian calendars several times in his account of the arrival of the Ashʿari Arabs in Qom: ‘Abdullah and Ahvas arrived in Qom on Saturday in the month Farwardīn (1st month), the day of Nowruz, in the year 82 from the date in which Yazdjird bin Šahriyār became king, and the year 62 from the death and decline of Yazdjird, and that is a date used in Qom, famous among them, and the year 94 AH.’
More than 35 years after research on these documents began and the identification of place names began, the original location of these documents remained unknown until recently. The research conducted by Nima Asefi led to the discovery of the original location of these documents in a cave called Zel in Hastijan village (20 kilometers from Nimvar), in Delijan County.
2.Theoretical Framework
In this article, three documents from the Pahlavi Archive of Hastijan are studied, with an attempt to offer new readings and interpretations for some words. The main focus of the article is on explaining a specific genitive structure used in all three documents. This study recognizes and analyses this structure, noting its remnants in certain North-Western Iranian languages.
3.Methodology
This research is descriptive-analytical. Since the subject pertains to a historical period, the study relies on the library research method, utilizing various primary and secondary sources. Primary sources include three documents, two of them housed in Bancroft Library, Berkeley University, and a document in an unknown private collection.
4.Results and Research Findings
In all 3 documents, there is a specific genitive structure as follows: → genitive +y +noun. A similar structure is observed in Parthian inscriptions, such as:
In the Shapur's inscription at Hajiabad, line 4: [pwhry̲pwhr] / puhrēpuhr: grandson (literally "son of the son"), in the Shapur's inscriptions at Hajiabad and Ka'be-ye Zardusht, both in line 1, and on the Shapur's inscription at Bēšāpūr, line 3: [šhy̲pwhr] / Šahēpuhr = Šapuhr. 
This genitive structure is prevalent in some Northwestern Iranian languages, such as Gilaki, Mazandarani, Taleshi, and Tati of Khalkhal.
In document unknown 2, the final word of the first line is ēn, not drōd.
The reading of the second and third words in line 8 of Berk. 20 should be corrected to ‘kū ān’.
The word that Weber considers in line 10 of Berk. 20 as a place name and has read as "Nahiyeh" is "nazdist." The reading of the next word should also be corrected to ‘andar’.
The reading of two final words in line 12 of Berk. 20 should be corrected to "framāyēd abespārdan".
The reading of the first word in the last line of Berk. 20 should be corrected to “dastgird”.
5.Conclusions
The collection of the Pahlavi Archive, now referred to as the "Pahlavi Archive of Hastijan" based on the recent excavations, dates back to the late Sassanian and early Islamic times. These documents, discovered in the Zel cave at Hastijan along with fabric, pottery, bullae, leather pouch, and more, provide valuable insights into that era. They include information on proper names, place names, calendar, days and months, weights, and measures: grīw, kabīz, kardag, gard/ gird, paymān; administrative titles: dārīg, bunbān (storekeeper), āxwarrdār (stable keeper), ōstāndār (governor), and darhandarzbed; names of agricultural and dairy products, the practice of writing, formal (with honorable titles) and informal letters, the practice of making pacts.
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