Dr Boucharlat looks at the site of Pasargadae, which Cyrus the Great chose as his capital at the beginning of his reign, and the results of some of the excavations that have taken place there.

Dr Boucharlat is a Senior Researcher Emeritus at CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) in Lyon 2 University. He worked extensively in Iran in the 1970s and has conducted survey and rescue excavations in both Pasargadae and the Persepolis plain (1999-2009).