جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه « دوره اشکانی » در نشریات گروه « تاریخ »

Mount Ashkawt in the northeast of Mahmoudabad town contains extensive archaeological remains that have not been systematically surveyed and no information published about it yet. There are collapsed stone structures probably related to the defensive fortifications of a castle on the west, north, and south sides of the mountain. Further, there are scattered stone structures in the form of low barrows and regular wall bases on top of the mountain. Based on the methods of construction, materials, potsherds, and paleoclimate indicators, the chronology of the site has been established; the architectural remains may be attributed to the Parthian and Sassanid periods according to comparative studies. During a preliminary survey on the remains illegally excavated places by looters, several potsherds including the edge, handle, bottom, and body of the buff ware vessels were found to correlate with the Parthian period. Natural and human factors have changed the structure of Mount Ashkawt and the architectural remains on it over time. Besides, Unauthorized excavations are an important factor that damaged the architectural structures of this large natural-archaeological site. Therefore, cultural heritage officials must pay attention to conservation and management programs.

Nowadays, Archaeologists use spatial analysis of environmental data and archaeological field findings to clarify the patterns relating to the scattering of ancient settlements and their relation to their natural environments. Settlement pattern analysis is one of the topics in archeology that, rather than focusing on a specific ancient place, probes the region. The interpretation of past human behavior in relation to its dependence on components of the natural and ecological environment is at the center of this type of thought. The results of these  analyses will identify factors that influence the choice of the ancestors' places of residence, such as: easy access to agricultural land, water, marine resources and exploitation of extractable mineral resources. The protection that the geographical location provides is another important and well-known factor in the context that it has a great influence on the shape of the deployment of human groups in an area. According to this method and by analyzing the results of the field survey in the west of Urmia Lake, the geographical variables affecting the settlements of the Parthian period in this area were investigated. In the field survey of the western plain of Urmia Lake, 14 sites of the Parthian period had been identified, which was drawn by analyzing the results of this survey and environmental data available, therefore, the pattern of settlement regions based on GIS maps was drawn. These patterns lie in the western plain of the Urmia Lake and have variables such as: sea level height, proximity to rivers, climate type, soil fertility, land use, vicinity to today's settlements, and salt extraction and trade. All the patterns from the west coast of Urmia Lake, have been measured; and the results of these field studies are presented in the upcoming article.

The Archaeological Survey of a part of the Valley of Sirwan River between the east of Sarvabad County and the west of Sanandaj County in the southwest of Kurdistan province was carried out in October 2016. The area is surrounded by many heights covered with oak and banyan trees, forming a V-shaped valley with a short width and a steep slope. This situation is not an ideal condition for the formation of sites and human settlements, and therefore, it was not logical to expect the discovery of many sites before the survey. This survey included only the catchment areas of Nayabad Dam, where in total 11 sites were identified. The oldest identified settlements, including 6 sites, belonged to the Parthian period and no older findings were obtained from this survey. Just a site had evidence from the 4th to 6th A.D. centuries. It seems that the lack of ancient sites in the valley is most likely related to the geological and topographic conditions of the valley. The lack of arable land, the stony nature of the area, and the excessive slope of the land in the valley have caused the formation of only nine ancient sites and two cemeteries throughout the region. Locating on the slopes and being single-period sites are reasons we see only a small number of pottery pieces in most of the sites, which apparently are scattered in a natural bed without any archaeological deposits. To identify the endangered sites of the valley, four of them were excavated (tested by 3-5 sondages), three of which had the remains of seasonal settlements, and in the area of Deh Kohene 1, a graveyard from the Parthian period was revealed, where a simple pit grave and a burial pot were revealed from there. For the aforementioned reasons, the valley of Sirwan River from Negel to Nayabad due to its environmental conditions and topography, did not have many and very important settlements throughout history. The distribution pattern of the ancient sites and the appearance of the archaeological deposits show that a pattern similar to today has been ruling in the region in the past. At present, for six months of the year, the people of the region live in scattered houses and places located in their agricultural land and gardens on the edge of the river and return to the village during the cold season. Undoubtedly, this pattern was formed due to environmental restrictions and has continued to the present.

Burial is part of the spiritual and material culture of each nation, which has its own characteristics in each region and period. Since the burial method originates from the thoughts, ideas and culture of the society, by studying them, it is possible to reconstruct the process of cultural evolution of ancient societies. Studying burial practices and rituals has always been of the interest of researchers in the Sassanid field, and as a result of the researches, we see diversity in the burial practices of this period. Archaeological survey at the Bavanat River Basin, which took place in 2015, revealed evidence of two burial methods, including cairn burial or Khereft Khane, as well as pillar ossuary. Considering the variety of burial methods of this period in Fars, what were the burial methods of the Parthian and Sassanid eras in the Bavanat and what are the characteristics of the burial places? Therefore, the current research with a comparative-descriptive approach tries to explain the burials of the historical period of Bavanat in order to answer the raised questions. On top of the most of the Bavanat River basin Mountains, cairn burials have been identified that have a circular plan and are accumulate with stones of various dimensions with no mortar. Due to the wide distribution of cairn burials from Pakistan to southwestern Iran and the southern coasts of the Persian Gulf, different chronologies have been provided for such burials, however, according to the cultural materials obtained from other parts of Fars and comparing them to identification burials, this type of burial can be attributed to the Parthian and Sassanid periods. There are different opinions about the function of the second type of burial, pillar ossuary that according to the inscriptions obtained around of the city of Istakhr, they can be considered as having a burial function related to the Sassanid period that were identified at Pahneh Mil Fenjan and Cheraghkoshi sites.

It has been a long time since aromatic plants and aromatic materials have been used in perfumery.Therefore, production of perfume flask had become noticeable among craftsmen and artists. The use of plants and other aromatic substances in perfumery has been possible by obtaining their essential oils. The production of perfumes are mainly derived from plants such as roses, cloves and saffron, incense and sandalwood and plant gums. Amber, musk and Azfar were also taken from some animals such as Gazelle and Amber fish. Perfume flasks are little containers made by a variety of different materials that have been shaped or embellished by standard technology and ornaments of their historical period. Glass has been one of the most favorite materials to make a perfume flask through the time. This research gives a brief overview of the history of perfumery, from the Achaemenid era to the first centuries of the Islamic era. Then it analyzes remained materials inside the five glass containers, which are considered to be perfume bottles, from the Parthian period to the first centuries of the Islamic era. These glass perfume bottles are kept in the Glassware and Ceramic Museum of Iran currently. This analysis has been done by Coupled gas chromatography with mass spectrometer in the gas chromatography laboratory of Research Institute of Medicinal Plants and Drugs, Shahid Beheshti University. The main composition which has been detected and identified are waxes, cholesterol, and natural fatty acids. Due to its sensitivity, speed, versatility, and ability to identify traces of compounds in a mixture, the GC-MS technique's application is a brilliant method for archaeological organic chemistry and can be applied to analyse any substance containing volatile organic compounds expected. In two samples of our collection, residual perfumes were extracted.For this test, the containers were first washed with n-hexane solvent and the solution was transferred into the sampling dishes for transfer to the laboratory. On the day of sampling, the objects were selected from the samples which were photographed. Then, through a Pasteur pipette, about 2 ml of n-hexane was placed in the dishes and the material was washed by rotating and the extract transferred into the pipette and prepared for the analysis by evaporating of hexane. It should be noted that n-hexane solvent has no destructive effect on the objects and because of its high volatility, immediately it will be disappeared completely and there is no trace of it in the container.Gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is a powerful tool for separation and identification of natural and chemical materials. In this method, after the initial preparation, the components of a mixture are injected into the device through a special syringe in the amount of half a microliter of the tested solution. The materials are separated based on the difference between the boiling point and interaction with the chromatographic column, will be entered into the Ionization Mass Spectrometry source, because of generating powerful electric and magnetic fields, the mixture’s components will be identified quantitatively and qualitatively based on their electrical charge to mass ratio (m/z). For this analysis, 1 to 3 mg of the sample was taken and 1 ml of KOH hydroalcoholic solution (potash alcohol) was added and then subjected to alkaline hydrolysis at 60 ° C for 3 hours. After hydrolysis, the neutral organic components were extracted with n-hexane. Then, according to the internal standard, injection of the solution was analyzed in GC-MS. It was then interpreted based on comparisons of components and reference materials with library items and mass spectrum. In order to identify the type of fatty acid compositions, GC-MS equipped with a DB-5 column with a length of 30 m and an inner diameter of 0.25 mm and a thin layer thickness of 0.25 μm was used. The oven temperature was increased from 60 °C to 250 °C at velocity of 5 °C/min and was kept at 250 °C for 10 minutes. Helium carrier gas with a flow rate of 1.1 ml/min was used and 70-eV electrons was used for ionization and a mass range was from 43 to 456 amu. In order to analyze the essential oil using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, the components were identified. The components and compounds were identified by the use of various parameters such as retention time (RT) and retention index (RI), study of mass spectrum and comparing the spectrum with standard compounds and basic data in the GC-MS database by Xcalibur Software. The relative percentage of each components of the essential oil was obtained according to the area under the curve in the GC. Based on the chromatogram table, the following results were obtained:Sample 1 (Table 1, Figure 1), the perfume flasks from the Arsacid era: the most important compounds identified in container No. 1 including the paraffin compounds, cholesterol (animal-based oils), vegetable oils, and fatty acids and waxes. Also, an important substance in the solution obtained from washing was flavonoid. It is a polyphenolic substance which is found in the extract obtained from the petals and pollen of plants. Sample 2 (Table 2, Figure 2), a semi-thin blue glass container, probably from the Arsacid era: the most important components identified include an essential oil, wax and fatty acid. Sample 3 (Table 3, Figure 3), a thin glass container probably from the Sassanid era: the most important compounds identified include fatty acids such as palmitic acid, stearic acid and linoleic acid. Such materials indicate that this container has been in contact with vegetable-base oils and 80% of the substances identified in this container are fatty acids. Sample 4 (Table 4, Figure 4), a semi-thin glass container from the first centuries of the Islamic period: there are only paraffin materials such as wax and beeswax and do not contain any fatty acids. The most important substance in this sample is natural linalool, which is classified as a perfume. Example 5 (Table 5, Figure 5), the perfume flask with base from the first centuries of the Islamic period: the most important compounds identified are plant-based fatty acids, paraffin compounds or waxes, and phthalate compounds.According to the tests performed in two case studies (samples No. 2 and 4), aromatic substances and essential oils are present in the identified compounds. It shows that natural perfumes and essential oils can actually stay in the glass and the adsorption of glass is very high for keep of such materials. Except for sample No. 4, other samples contain a variety of fatty acids and proved that such glasses were used as preservative objects. Wax can be seen in all samples. Fats have been identified in various forms such as cholesterol (animal base oil), palmitic acids (plant base fats) and paraffinic substances.

Tepe Balan is one of the five ancient tepe that has been excavated as part of Sardasht dam’s salvage project. More than 900 diagnostic pottery pieces have been found during the first season from all the trenches, all the pieces used for this study. Since the site has just one period of settlement and so the pottery data is important. The primary aim of this article is to introduce and classification of parthian pottery from Tepe Balan . Thus, pottery data have been typified according to technical features, decoration and form. In terms of methodology of the study, initially the diagnostic pottery of the first season of the excavation have been documented, then these data have been compared with other data from central and northwestern Zagros and Mesopotamia, and finally some similarities have been detected. The forms for a better understanding have been classified into logical group with considering factors like mouth width and height and form of rim. The Latin characters have been used to distinguish them. The study indicates that forms A and B outnumbered by more than 60%, Technical characteristics reveals that they had storage functions. The forms F and B are comparable to local forms, The forms A and E comparable with ware of the Centraonl Zagros region.

The city of Ghorveh is located in the south east of Kurdistan province and in the east of central Zagros. This city is a part of the Qezal Owzan River Basin. This region has an archaic history from prehistoric periods to the Islamic ones due to favorable geographical conditions. According to the surveys, in the Ghorveh City, 35 sites dating to the Parthian period have been identified. This paper studies the Settlement Pattern of Parthian sites and their relationship to the geographical environment. The settlement pattern initially divided into four clusters based on the area of the premises and then five factors were considered based on the maps drawn from the GIS. These factors include: Altitude from sea level, The distance from the river, The slope, steep direction and Land use. In addition, taking advantage of Spss software, the settlement clusters have been statistically studied and their correlation and relevance using factors were discussed. Based on the results, there is a significant relationship between clusters and some factors. In general, most of the sites are located in clusters one and two that are less than two hectares. In terms of settlement pattern, some of these sites were temporary settlements that were grazing and a number of others are not known exactly, but probably there were fixed settlements that were small villages of agriculture and livestock. But clusters three and four were all permanent settlements that were engaged in agriculture, horticulture, and animal husbandry. In general, two types of temporary and permanent settlement patterns observed in the Parthian period in the city Qorveh.

The  Chehel-Chay River Basin, Minoudast, located to the east of Gorgan Plain, was according to historical sources and archaeological data, a strategic thoroughway during the historical, especially the Parthian period. Systematic archaeological surveys aimed at discerning the distribution pattern of the Parthian period, lead to the discovery of 110 sites, of which 80 date to the Parthian period. Using a landscape archaeology approach we explored the relationship between the environmental conditions and site distribution, especially the role environmental patterns played in site locations. Accordingly we used GIS softwares to carry out cluster analyses on the sites. The outcome suggested that the river, its surrounding heights and the communication routes were among the important factors in site distribution. Within the long intermountain valleys site distribution shows a lines pattern along the rivers whereas in the plains sites, are distributed with short distance between them clustered around a single large town.

Dargaz County is located in northeastern Iranian Plateau, near to borders of Turkmenistan. Its location so close to Turkmenistan and ancient Nisa, as the first homeland capital of the Parthians, shows the importance of this area in the Iranian history. Discovery of 85 sites dating to the Parthian period in this plain is a testimony to this importance. In this paper, the distribution of the sites has been discussed considering the impact of environmental elements. Settlements of this area have been measured by the distribution of its surface finds. Taking into account of environmental data and the site size, three clusters of sites have been proposed for the Parthian sites of Dargaz. The sites of Toghi and Shahr Tepe are the central sites of two clusters of A and B, respectively. The cluster C represents those sites that have been distributed on the foothills and on the plain as well. Some of these sites are cemeteries of nomadic sector of the Parthian population of the time.

The historical complex of Qal'eh-i Yazdgird is located in the Ban Zardeh basin in the district of Dalaho in Kermanshah Province, western Iran. The whole monumental complex is mentioned under the name of Qal'eh-i Yazdgird, which is one of the defensive forts of the complex. The other significant sites of the complex include Jay-e Dar and Gach Gumbad (Maydan).Prior to archaeological excavations conducted by Edward J. Keall, two Orientalists, Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson and Colonel E. I. Tchirikov, made visits to the site. Keall initially suggested the Sasanian date 5th A.D, for the entire complex; however, subsequent to the first season of excavations he came to realize that the complex contains archaeological sites from Parthian, Sasanian and Islamic periods. Keall’s excavations, which will be referred to as “Joint Expedition” in this paper, were abruptly terminated following the Iranian Islamic revolution in 1979. Given the significance of the excavated materials within Parthian Iran, the Iranian expedition resumed the archaeological excavations at the site in 1386/2007.This article sets out to explore the results of the excavations conducted at Gach Gumbad West. It also provides a full description and analyses of the architectural characteristics of the building, as well as its tentative reconstruction. In addition, the article aims to compare the form and layout of architectural units 1 to 8.

In ancient world, The Silk Road has been one of the greatest human achievements throughout history for the comprehensive communication of human beings and cultures in the East and West. Existence of Silk Road has proven Parthian period. In this era, Silk Road not only made possible the economic and social rotation in the ancient world, but also became one of the most important means of exchanging culture, art and language along the road. The Silk Road has been a crossroads between East and West Asia over the centuries, and the land of Iran as an intermediary land has provided of international exchanges, facilities, infrastructure and security for the Silk Road. This study, by collecting information in a library method and using a descriptive-analytic approach, has investigated the social dimension of the Silk Road. The results indicate that the effect of the Silk Road has affected the economic and cultural aspects and, in the social dimension, has led to the prosperity of industries and employment, the standardization of money, the increase of revenue through customs, the increase of road safety and the creation of infrastructure.

In this article, the Eastern Iran defines a region where situated between northeastern (equal Khorasan Razavi Province) and southeastern Iran (approximately equal Sistan & Baluchestan, Kerman and Hormozgan Provinces). The eastern Iran coincides with Southern Khorasan province. The archaeological research in Eastern Iran is very poor particularly in prehistory and historical periods. Unfortunately, any historical periods site such as Parthian Dynasty has been excavated and published therefore there are not material properties and characteristics of Parthian period in this region. In this article, Nehbandān castle is introduced as one of the most important evidence of the Parthian period in the Eastern Iran where located suburb of Nehbandān town according to new data. This area is mentioned in history texts as Neh. However others had previously insisted about the importance of the ancient Nehbandān town but they had proposed another ancient archaeological site in the region as ancient Neh. In this paper, based on archaeological excavations and restoration works were carried out which resulted in the recognition of diverse cultural material, Nehbandān castle is suggested as ancient Neh.

Identifying a large number of Parthian Archaeological sites in Marivan County, has turned this area into one of the most important regions of Kurdistan province suitable for Parthian Period studies. Obviously, Tepe Kalin Kaboud with its considerable measurements, geopolitical position inside the plain and surface findings like clinky potsherds, Parthian jars, and brick fragments is one of the most important Parthian sites not only in Marivan but in Kurdistan province. This mentioned factors show that this sit is not an ordinary rural settlement.

Last year when I visited Leiden Museum of Antiquity (Rijksmuseum van Oudh Eden) for the first time, Parthian figurines, displayed at a small window in the Near East section and the part related to Iran, attracted my attention. To my eyes, they seemed very unique and of importance, therefore, I decided to introduce them briefly and write a report on them. In the present research, I will introduce 18 anthropomorphic Parthian figurines (five male, thirteen female) in six groups, including musicians, laying women, nude goddesses, mother and child, men bust and warriors with shields. They were mostly recovered from regions such as Iran (Susa), Seleucia, Assyria, and Turkey. The considerable quantity of female figurines has caused speculations and debates, the most prominent of which being the probability of their sacredness and their subsequent affiliation to Anahita, the goddess of the Waters and associated with fertility, healing and wisdom. The results of the previous examination of the similar works indicate that figurines were created in various styles and shapes, from abstract to realistic and plain while some of them have a mixed appearance. The clay or stone (usually marble) figurines are covered with a layer of color, while the hands are attached to the body with an string. The hands, interestingly, can move freely. All the figurines are in upright position and only one of them has a leaning posture. Some of them are made in a primitive way, with a sense of nativity in performing the heads, the hands and the feet. Some of these figurines have clothes on; some others are naked which probably represent their role in a ritual or royal performance. The outstanding peculiarity of these figurines is the many musical instruments accompanying them. Among the most interesting items are musicians with wind instruments. The comparison with the other similar works leads us to speculate that depicting female musicians were most probably taken into consideration only at Parthian and Sassanid eras. Nothing can be said, with certainty, about the function of these figurines. Are they made just to be dedicated to a temple as a vow or are they made as a decorative object by an artist or an artisan to nurture his or her own creativity and craftsmanship? These are the questions that deserve more investigation and speculation and haven’t been answered yet. The results of the previous examination of the similar works indicate that figurines were created in various styles and shapes, from abstract to realistic and plain while some of them have a mixed appearance. The clay or stone (usually marble) figurines are covered with a layer of color, while the hands are attached to the body with a string. The hands, interestingly, can move freely. All the figurines are in upright position and only one of them has a leaning posture. Some of them are made in a primitive way, with a sense of nativity in performing the heads, the hands and the feet. Some of these figurines have clothes on; some others are naked which probably represent their role in a ritual or royal performance. The outstanding peculiarity of these figurines is the many musical instruments accompanying them. Among the most interesting items are musicians with wind instruments. The comparison with the other similar works leads us to speculate that depicting female musicians were most probably taken into consideration only at Parthian and Sassanid eras. Nothing can be said, with certainty, about the function of these figurines. Are they made just to be dedicated to a temple as a vow or are they made as a decorative object by an artist or an artisan to nurture his or her own creativity and craftsmanship? These are the questions that deserve more investigation and speculation and haven’t been answered yet.

In Iranian archaeology, Sistan played an important role especially in the Parthian period. This region is well known since it was cross road for Greeksto reach the East, a place for Scythians arrival, the presence of powerful Suren Pahlav clan and the place of epic and heroic tales. During the Parthian era favorable environmental conditions of Sistan caused to arise many of towns and settlements in this region as from the total 1662 archaeological site discovered, 392 of which were assigned to be occupied by Parthians. Evidence of these settlements are scattered in the northern and especially southern half of Sistan which are nowadays remain a depopulated desert. Large Parthian sites were identified in each of the two parts so that we regarded them as the central places according to their ranking in Sistan. During this period of time, Sistan was a prosperous land and it was populated due to the abundance of water resources and suitable arable lands. This paper tries to explore the impact of environmental factors in the Parthian settlement patterns since our archaeological data derived from our fieldwork indicated that there has been a positive correlation between the environment and the sites occupation processes.

Southern Baluchistan so-called Mokran is a varied land naturally and geographically. Especial geographic situation of the region as the natural pathway of Indian subcontinent has attracted people from old times and had been mentioned as “Makka” in the cuneiform inscription of Darius the Great in Bisotun. The Mokran district is divided into two main parts includes two cities, as Nikshahr in north and Chābahār in South lying along the northern beach of Oman Sea which has been of the most important cities of Mokran state for a long time commercially. Based on the study of 889 sherds taken from archaeological surveys in Nikshahr and Chābahār under the the supervision of Rouhollah Shirazi, the existing historical settlements indicates the splendor and glory of the region and show the significant presence of Iran in the beaches of Mokran Sea during the Parthian period. This article has analyzed the comparison results of their diagnostics typologically. According to the Statistical analysis reports of this results and comparing them to typical samples in Southern Baluchistan with adjacent regions, it can be said that beaches of southern Makkoran (Iranian Baluchistan) in Parthian period had extensive Cultural communications with adjacent regions over Persian Gulf beaches and Oman sea such as: U.A.E (Ed Dur, Sharjah, Dibba), Oman (Suhar), Hormozgan in southwest and Pakistan in southeast as well.

Reconstructing of environment and livelihood in ancient sites is an important subject in archaeological studies. Researchers use several methods for palaeodiet studies. One of these methods survey nutrition in use determines rate concentration of chemical element in ancient skeletal. Parthian people which ruled in Iran since 238 BC for 224 AD, when extended their power from east to the west by occupying new territory , found different civilization with their food consuming patterns. Elemental analysis of teeth of human skeletal from sites and graves of this period gave valuable information about nutrition in this period. In this article we want the found information about paleodiet in Parthian period in use PIXE manner. We have selected the teeth under study, from several Parthian sites in Iran, Shian, Valiran, Kharand, Gandab and nakhle Ibrahimi. We emphasis on these elements; Fe, Ca, Sr, Zn and P. In this research we gathered information about the variety in food in Parthian period.