Water mills: Socio-economic structure in Hawraman mountain region during Qajar and Pahlavi period

This article examines the structure and function of water mills in Horaman mountain region. Water mills are a technical structure that is the result of indigenous knowledge and a smart method from the ancestors in creating a balance between the needs and demands of human societies with the actual and potential facilities available in different environments with different geographical conditions. Due to its connection with livelihood, nutrition and gathering of food (bread is the most important food) by people in the past periods, mills and miller are considering a part of social history studies. Therefore, by researching in these issues, one can get to know the important role and function of water mills in the cultural, social and economic fields of past societies. The purpose of this research is to investigate and recognize water mills as a part of the material culture left over from the Qajar and Pahlavi eras to finally answer this question: What role did Horaman mills play in the continuity and biological evolution of the region, in terms of socio-economic structure during the Qajar and Pahlavi periods? The method of this research is descriptive and analytical, and it uses field studies, travelogues, oral history in the form of interviews with local researchers and people who have been in charge of miller jobs for generations. The results of the research show that Horaman water mills, despite being established in a mountainous and inaccessible region, have always played a role in the social and economic life of the region in addition to their main function of flouring grains for baking bread;  and by this means, it has provided the connection between the plains and the mountains, and in a way, it has provided a unique role in shaping and regulating the social relations of the communities inside and outside the region. In the end, Horaman water mills were not just a tool for grain flour, but widely has helped for the socio-economic fabric of Horaman communities, which did not have proper agriculture due to the lack of land in the mountainous region.