Tam(uk)ka(n), Taoke, Tah(u)makah & Tahukka; the Names for an Achaemenid Port on the Northern Coast of the Persian Gulf; A Challenges for Conformity between Textual and Archaeological Documents

The Persepolis clay tablets (dating back to Darius the Great) and the Mesopotamian archives from the time of Cyrus the Great as well as the historical reports from the time of Alexander the Great, each mentions a geographical location embracing political, official and trading importance somewhere on the northern coast of Persian gulf. The present paper at the first step aims at representing the most probable geographic situation for locating the mentioned sites by reviewing all existing textual resources. We conclude through this reviw that all actual location of some mentioned sites to a certain extent may be located inside the triangle of Bushehr, Borazjan and Ganaveh districts. Then at the second part by comparing textual sources with archaeological evidence we suggested that the most probable place for the Tamukkan, Tahmakah or Taoke would be located in somewhere in Borazjan plain which has been served as a port in the complex system of marine routes during the Achaemenids connecting the farthest parts of the empire especially the southern side of the Persian Gulf with Makka in the modern Omman.