سید فضل الله میردهقان اشکذری

Khavidak village is one of the historical villages of Yazd city and one of subordinate villages of Fahraj rural district, which is located 20 km away from this city. Due to its location in the Yazd-Ardakan plain, this village has hot and dry summers and cold and dry winters. Although the texture of the village has changed, it is relatively cohesive making it still valuable. Construction of new neighborhoods next to the old village and migration of people are the most important reasons preserving a large part of which, resulting into prevention of the historic houses’ destruction. The village has many historical monuments in its heart and has a relatively cohesive texture. With a historical-analytical approach, this article intends to examine the village texture from a historical point of view and at the same time, it studies the climatic factors’ effect on the formation of the village texture. Accordingly, the most important questions raised in this article are: 1.In what periods was the village of Khavidak formed and developed? 2. According to the collected information, how the situation of the historical context of Khavidak village is? The research was done in two ways. In the library studies through which the existing documents about the village were collected and the field studies which were done in two phases. In the first phase, archeological excavations were carried out in the village, which led to identification of many historical monuments in its historical context which had not been reported before. In the second phase, the questionnaires were prepared in which various factors such as the type of materials, residence, orientation and some others were considered. In order to obtain more accurate information in the field studies, the information of the villagers was also applied. According to the obtained evidence, the growth and development process of the village can be examined from the pre-Islamic period to the contemporary period. The local texts of Yazd attribute its construction to the Sassanid period, which can be proved due to scattering of the archeological evidence around the village and the existence of a historical castle, which is dated to this period. During the early days of Islam, the village was formed around the old Jame Mosque but due to destruction and lack of the archeological excavations, no information about condition of the village during this period is found. In the Islamic Middle Ages, the village expanded to the south east, which is provable by the houses associated with the Ale Muzaffar period. During the Qajar period, the village was expanded in the same direction and reached its final level of development, and the scattered works identified from this period indicate this. In later periods, although the village was not expanded to the south east, there was a lot of manipulation into the historical texture by destroying some of the houses. Khavidak village has a relatively dense historical texture that shows the characteristics of a village in the hot and dry climate. In this village, the houses are introverted and have different spaces such as the central courtyard, hall, winter and summer sections, basement and microclimate inside the central courtyard. In construction, although houses have been built with the modern materials in recent decades, still historic houses with the domestic rural building materials have been built and this process has continued until the Pahlavi period. According to surveys, a large number of village houses have been abandoned which indicates an increase in the destruction process and exposes the valuable historical monuments scattered.

Yazd city is one of the cities that, despite its development, still retains its old parts, which today constitute the historical texture. The city consisted of a variety of structures, the most important of which were the neighborhoods. However, various factors may be involved in the formation and development of the city and, consequently, the structure of neighborhoods. The religious structure of the city consists of various mosques and shrines, which can be referred to as the main mosque in the center of the city. This led to the creation of the most important economic center of the city in the Al-Muzaffar era of the Charssoq market, which would cause changes in neighborhoods. The educational structure of various schools was formed, some of which were part of a larger group. These schools, along with public buildings, have had a great deal of influence in building the neighborhood and creating changes within them. The existence of the city's turbojar had caused the neighborhoods to be divided into two parts, outside the fence and inside the fence, which was expanded to the limits of the neighborhoods inside the fence. The most important source of water supply was the city of Qanats, which made it possible to access access to many of the mills and some of them were formed by them. As a result, in forming and developing the city of Yazd, different structures were involved, such as religious, economic, educational, various collections, etc., each of which contributed to the formation and

The Muzaffarid is one of the most important historical periods, which brought glory and prosperity for Yazd as well as providing peace and stability in the region for half a century. Construction of various structures and residential buildings flourished during this period, which their structural decorations and architectural ornamentations styles and techniques were diverse and demanding. However, not much research has been conducted in this respect and thus the present study aims investigate and elucidate the place of architectural decoration styles of this period through a historical and descriptive approach. The research was conducted via two steps; first, the historical data were collected from related historical documents and manuscripts; and second, the data and their documentation were provided via field studies based on the previously collected data for the final analysis. The present study seeks to address the following research questions that what are the commonly applied decorative styles in the houses of Muzaffarid period. Then what are the properties and dimensions of these decorative styles in the houses found in both urban and rural fabric in the region. Finally, what is the place and state of these decorative styles in residential architectural of Muzaffarid period. Based on the results several styles of decorations such as mud decorations, ‘TONGBORI’, stucco works as well as decorative corbel vaults, murals etc. are applied in the surveyed residences. Construction of some of these decorative styles was quite simple and primary by ordinary construction tools that are still visible in some houses. However, there are other complex decorations, which have demanded a certain delicacy and elegance in the few instances manifesting the social status of the owner or the importance of that village or the town. The mud work decorations with their unique implementation techniques were the most commonly used decorative element in the houses of this region during this period, which can be used as an indicator for evaluating the significance of the structure.

Rastagh is one of the villages located between Ashkzar and Meibod cities in central district of Ashkzar Meibod. According to local resources, the most ancient settlement ofthis village is belonged to Arsacids. Furthermore, the archeology districts which exploredrecently are belonged to Arsacids era. Not only resources of Sasanid era show the existence of some of these settlements but also archeological evidences have beenexplored of this era prove that. Although, it has not been founded any trace about thisvillage in the resources of the early history of Islam, the exictence of Malek Abad districtover this period has been confirmed by ultimate researches. Ilkhanid era is one of themostsignificant period of this district. The researches andexplored archeology districts belonged to this era confirm that this village had been inhabited until Safavid era. Anyinformation has been achieved about this village over Safavid era due to the lack of historical evidence in resources. Over Qajar era, this settlement had been developed inthis strict and many villages were founded. Consequently, from Arsacids to Qajar erawere founded different settlements in this district that some of them had been isolated,other have existed as village and the number of them have altered to great cities duringcontemporary period. This essay endeavors to analyze the process of foundation of thisvillage and its changes based on available resources and archeology data by employing ahistorical descriptive approach.

One of the most important problems on the city of Yazd in the early Islamic period، is the silent geographical and historical resources. Because when texts dealing with Yazd region، they are mentioned Naein، Meybod، Kasah and Fahraj as four major cities of this region which had jame mosque، but they are not called the city of Yazd. This has caused that many researchers called the city of Yazd as Kasah and after several centuries Yazd has replaced. Based on a careful study of the geographical texts، can we know the city of Yazd? This is the first studying question posed in this article. Second question is about Kasah city. Is Kasha the same with city of Yazd? Although geographical texts are silent about city of Yazd، but we can find signs about this city in the early Islamic period. When geographical texts speak of Kasah، they refer to a city located on the suburbs. The river run through the described city which originated from a mountain village. The village، also had a lead mine. The village has good weather and the fruit trees. This city has a castle with two jame mosque and its water source was from qanat. If we adapt these descriptions with geographical conditions of Yazd – Ardakan plain، we can understand the existence of city of Yazd. Because Taft river is the only river of yazd – ardakan plain which after passing through the city of Taft، flows through the city of Yazd. Moreover، Taft had a lead mine which is not used about twenty years. The local texts mentioned that Yazd was composed of several communities like Fahadan، Kooshk - e - no and was conquered by the Muslims in the early Islamic period. The archaeological excavations carried out on the historical context of city of Yazd، potteries which were found and are dating the 3rd to 5th centuries AH. These potteries consists of splashed and sgraffito decorated potteries. Splashed wares have buff fabric covered with white or buff slip. Their shapes including bowls، dishes and cups and splashed with green، brown and yellow slip and glaze. This kind of pottery is comparable with some peripheral sites like Ghubayrā، Kerman. Sgraffito wares، like splashed wares، have buff fabric covered with white or buff slip. Their shapes including bowls، dishes and cups. Designs incised through a white slip under a yellowish transparent glaze، splashed with green، brown and yellow. Mashhad-i Davazdah Imam was built by Abu Saeed and Abu Ya’ghoub، both military governors of Kakuyid ruler Ala-al Doleh Faramarz. Its inscription has 429 AH dating and has become the oldest monument of the city of Yazd. Also، the local texts said that Imam Reza prayed in the Fort mosque in Daro al-Shfa community، which has built a monastery memorizing his presence later on during Safavid period. These reasons shows that the city of Yazd existed in the early Islamic period. When Muslim geographers speak about Kasah، they said this city composed of several villages which city of Yazd was located on its suburbs. For this reason، it cannot be said a city. On the other hand، the local text said this city was founded by Alexander the Great after conquering the Achamenid Empire and prisoners accommodated in. After construction of the city of Yazd، people left Kasah and settled in Yazd; while On the basis of geographical texts like Masalik al-mamalik or Suwar al-aqālīm، Kasah is an Islamic city in Yazd region. These are existing contradictions between the local text and geographical. Perhaps rostagh dehestan is the same Kasah، because this dehestan composed of several villages dates back from early Islamic period and is consistent with the descriptions of geographers from Kasah.