mahmoud heidarian

Environmental factors play a decisive role in all aspects of human life. Obviously, this effect in ancient times has been caused because of the lack of advanced technologies, using environmental resources and control environmental impacts, since, most of the communities to find suitable living conditions, were constantly being migrating. Factors such as keep off and proximity to water resources, vegetation, climate, slope, and etc. had been integral role in the choice of lives’ location of the ancient people. The difference in the degree of importance of each factor can be due to intensity of element and on the other hand, the particular type of food or the culture of the area. But, the awareness of this issue which: What factors have involved in the selection the location of sites in a region, isn’t possible only with study of area, but these studies are required to investigate all sites of a specific geographic area. Furthermore, studying possibility of set of works (effects) as a whole unit is the reason for the spread of these studies. Songhor city with 2308 square kilometers and geographical coordinates 47˚ 31ˊ to 47˚ 55ˊ east of the meridian of 33˚ 37ˊ Greenwich 5/0˚ 34ˊ north of the equator in the eastern Kermanshah province, located at an altitude of 1700 meters above sea level. This plain is neighbor to Kurdistan province from the north and north-west, with Hamadan province from east and with Kangavar and Sahneh city from South. In 2004 and 2009 two seasons archaeological survey was conducted in the Songhor and Koliaie plain and the result identified and recorded 286 ancient site. Further studies and typology of pottery compared with data obtained from sites with absolute chronology, showed that of these, 54 site was in Sassanian pottery effects. In this study, the data obtained from archeological analysis of Sonqor province is analyzed and the relationship between Sassanid settlements and their natural environments were evaluated by Programs used in the science of Geography and Statistics. The method is firstly collect the city’s geographical position information then combined with spatial data of Sassanian sites. Merge data of this study, geographic information systems (GIS) and other statistical programs such as Excel were applied. The result shows that a high percentage of the area affected by geographical factors have been created. Most of sites follow the same pattern and characteristics of the environment, such as elevation, slope degree, slope, proximity to water resources, land using and geomorphology, have the same conditions. It should be noted that the same environmental conditions, sites which have a tendency towards the West part of the plain, in these circumstances, it is likely that the trend toward urban areas closest Dinawar (located in the northwest of the Sahneh plain), which are is improbable; But the proof of this issue need to more research in a larger area. The importance of this study is not purely Identifying of natural factors affecting the formation Sassanid settlements of Sonqor plain. But this study can be used as a model for the future in Archaeological surveys, in the same spatial- temporal condition to reduce the time and cost. Also considering that the Sonqor and Koliaie plain on the border of between the provinces of Kurdistan, Hamedan and Kermanshah have increased the importance of the study.

This paper is trying to focus on and analyze the role of natural, geographical, and environmental factors in the appearance of human settlements in Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze, and Iron ages of Sonqor Plain. Getting that, the results of two seasons of intensive survey in Sonqor have used; the collected data include 105 sites two of which attributed to Neolithic period, 32 sites to Chalcolithic period, 25 sites to Bronze Age, and finally 46 sites to Iron Age. Then, these sites have chosen as our studying materials and studying population. Achieving given goals the Geographical Information System (GIS) have applied for study and analysis the Data; establishing a data bank for the study, which is in the form of GIS, we carried out an analysis on spatial distribution of the sites in each given periods. Thus, natural factors like height, slope, landform, climate, flowing waters, rivers, and Pastures was the main focus to understand the role and efficiency of each factor in the appearance of the sites. Doing the study, it’s became clear that the ancient settlement patterns of Sonqor was highly affected by natural factors mainly flora, water sources, slope, and height. This area is high and has a cool climate and these factors have created special and different conditions, forming human settlements similar to other areas in Iranian Central Zagros. Moreover, it is clear that the ancient settlement patterns of Sonqor were highly affected by natural factors such as height and distance to the river as well.