Palustrine carbonates are frequently found with active and dried karstic springs in the foothills of the mountains bordering the Persepolis Basin, southwest Iran. A combination of geological conditions favours their formation, including (i) the presence of karstic limestone aquifers in the limbs of anticlines cut through by fault systems; (ii) very gentle slopes from the spring resurgence point towards the centre of the alluvial plain, creating a flat waterlogged area; and (iii) a semiarid climate with marked precipitation seasonality or significant fluctuations in water discharge and wetland water table. We suggest the term “anastomosing wetlands” or “anastomosing palustrine environments” to denote the studied karstic spring–fed carbonate wetlands, because of similarities with anastomosing river systems in aerial view. The common presence of extended anastomosing wetland carbonates in the Persepolis Basin and adjacent basins in the central and southern Zagros suggests that they can play an important role in the geological records of collision-related basin-and-range settings dominated by karstic limestones. Karstic spring wetlands are a main source of fresh water hosting a rich biodiversity, which attracts human communities, whose impact is visible in the archaeological material imbedded in the wetland stratigraphy. Fresh water availability, through these spring wetlands, partly explains why the semiarid Persepolis region was selected by successive civilizations, from Elamites to Persians until early Islamic entities, to establish regional centres throughout the period from the third millennium B.C. to the first millennium A.D. Only a few of these ecosystems have survived the intensive human activities of recent decades.

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Mission archéologique de Mad a)in S@ alih@ (Arabie Saoudite) : Recherches menées de 2001 à 2003 dans l'ancienne H@ ijr a des Nabatéens (1) Hégra, H@ ijr a, al-H@ ijr, Mad a)in S@ alih@ , quatre noms différents pour désigner l'un des sites archéologiques majeurs d'Arabie Saoudite et le site nabatéen le plus important après la capitale du royaume, Pétra, en Jordanie. Cela est dû non seulement à la quantité de vestiges qui y ont été découverts mais également aux informations qu'il est à même de livrer, notamment -mais pas seulement, nous le verrons -du fait de la présence d'un ensemble épigraphique nabatéen sans équivalent ailleurs. C'est enfin le site nabatéen le plus méridional de la Nabatène.Le site appartient au domaine géographique de l'Arabie du Nord-Ouest (Fig. 1). Il se trouve à environ 400 km au nord-ouest de Médine et à This contribution presents the preliminary results of the Mad a)in S@ alih@ archaeological project, which started in 2001 and which, in December 2004, completed its fourth field season. The aims of this five-year project are a systematic recording of the archaeological remains at the site as well as an analysis of its agricultural potential. The former include not only the tombs, sanctuaries, wells, quarries, walls, buildings, etc., but also the inscriptions written in various scripts and languages. Parallel to this exploration of what is visible on the surface, an extensive geophysical survey was undertaken in the so-called residential area, in the central part of the site, in order to obtain an image of the sub-surface remains. This contribution begins with a presentation of the sources, followed by a brief history of the exploration of Mad a)in S@ alih@ . The focus is on the conditions which allowed this project to be established as well as the problematics which guided it. J.-B. Rigot then presents his analysis of the agricultural potential of the site, demonstrating the existence, in antiquity, of a large oasis. Finally, a preliminary description of the main components of the sites: the necropoleis, the sanctuaries and the residential area, is given.