In April of 1992 Iranian scholars — archaeologists, students of local lore and linguists working in the Department of cultural heritage of the province (ostan) of Khorasan investigated rock inscriptions and petroglyphs in the gorges known as Lākh-Mazār, not far from the settlement of Kūch (29 km to the south-east of Bīrjand). The results of their work have been published in two articles in Persian in the report entitled A Series of Scholarly Works. Rock Images of Lākh-Mazār. The outstanding Iranian scholar, late professor Ahmad Taffazzoli kindly supplied me with a copy of this publication; some inscriptions seemed to me a bit amusing…
On April 10–11, 2023, the Second International Academic Conference “The Written Heritage of the Orient” dedicated to the 160th anniversary of P.K. Kozlov (1863–1935) will be held at the IOM RAS. The conference program is now available.