Archaeological Investigation into Floodwaters as a Factor in Transferring Cultural Data (Case Study: Najaf Abad Region of Aran and Bidgol)

The farm of Najaf Abad is located in seven kilometers north of Aran and Bidgol and in the west of Dasht-e-Kavir and south of the Salt Lake. An area of 800 meters long (eastern-western) and 594 meters wide (northern-southern) of this farm has been purchased by the central municipality of Aran and Bidgol in order to transfer the workshops and factories of urban disturbing occupations. The experts of the Cultural Heritage, Handcrafts and Tourism Organization were of the opinion that presumably this purchased area bears historical traces. Therefore, implementing an archaeological speculation project was required to solve this problem and settle the dispute between the Cultural heritage organization and the Municipality of Aran and Bidgol. The main question raised by the researchers was that whether the vast volume of the preliminary data reveal historical traces in this area? The speculation project, therefore, was implemented aiming at recognizing the nature of the area as well as its probable chronology. Surveying the whole areas of the plain and taking various possibilities into account, 7 speculations raised as to the nature of the area. After the implementation of the speculation project, it was revealed that none of the speculations have architectural structure or cultural layer; However, waste and alluvium layers constitute the main layout of all speculations. All in all, the results of the study indicate that the vast volume of preliminary archaeological data in this area have been most probably transferred from the upstream areas to this plain due to floodwater over the consecutive years.