A Comparative Study of Structure and Visual Signs of the Standing Stones in Shadbad Mashayekh and Khalid Nabi Cemeteries

In fact, the cemetery is an architectural representation of human attitudes toward the phenomenon of death, which has taken different forms within different cultures, especially in Iranian Post-Islamic era. Studying the visual structures and recognizing the visual signs existing in tombstones in order to understand the cultural background, religious beliefs and the role of signs in expressing the culture of our predecessors is essential to identify and analyze some unknowns and also in understanding parts of the mental structure of different ethnic groups. Actually, the semantic structure of these historical sites as a cemetery from the very beginning of its formation, was influenced by ideas derived from material life and expressed the religious and cultural beliefs of the indigenous peoples of the region. The structure of tombstones in any geography reflects the importance of the life after death and the beliefs of the inhabitants of that region through different styles of burial. Historical cemeteries in Iran, having different structures and very beautiful and symbolic motifs on some of them, are a subject that have attracted many researchers in the field of anthropology, ethnography, archeology and those interested in art history. Shadbad Mashayekh Cemetery is located in East Azerbaijan Province and the Khalid Nabi Historical Site is located in Golestan Province. The two regions, subject to the present study, are located in two completely different points in terms of geography and a far distance away from each other. The main objective of this study is to investigate the cultural-historical relationship between the cylindrical standing stones in the historical site of Khalid Nabi and the cylindrical burial pillars of Shadbad Mashayekh Cemetery. The detailed objectives of the research are the exploration of the decorative elements of cylindrical standing stones in Shadbad Mashayekh cemetery and historical site of Khalid Nabi and exploring the symbolic structure and representation of the concepts in the physical appearance of the cylindrical standing stones of Shadbad Mashayekh cemetery comparing to the historical site of Khalid Nabi. The research question is that which cultural and religious features influenced visual and structural features of the burial pillars of "Shadbad Mashayekh and Khalid Nabi"? The present study, also seeks to study the decorative elements of cylindrical standing stones in Shadbad Mashayekh cemetery and the historical site of Khalid Nabi, as well as studying the symbolic structure and manifestations of the concepts in the physical appearance of standing stones of the studied areas. In order to achieve the main objective of the research, the present study is performed in a comparative method, based on some archaeological data, case studies conducted in the library and also a field study performed by the researcher. The statistical population of this study includes all samples of cylindrical standing stones in two historical and cultural sites of Khalid Nabi in east of Golestan province and Shadbad Mashayekh cemetery in northwest of East Azerbaijan province. Analysis of collected data is carried out in qualitative method. The research results show that by what is obvious in the standing stones in Shadbad Mashayekh cemetery and the standing stones in the historical site of Khalid Nabi, the cultural influences of the Turkic people of Central Asia as well as the structure of Islamic architecture over different periods are seen. The structural features of the burial standing stones, which are mostly symbolic and memorial for the deceased, as well as the presence of some decorative items on the body of the standing stones of the Ilkhanid era, indicate the direct effects of Islamic mysticism and Sufism and existence of the nomadic structure and desert life of the people of the studied areas.