A Research on Cultural and Historical Geography of Tous District in the First Four Centuries of Islam; On the Basis of Archeological Data and Historical Texts

The cultural scope of Toos is as big as Kashafrūd Basin, an area around seventeen thousand kilometers in size that has been located between two mountain ranges of HezārMasjed and Bināluūd in Khorasan-e Razavi Province. Its natural strategic situation and fertile land made it culturally, historically and politically a very important and influential placefrom the ancient times onwards. For the same reason, it attracted numerous tribes and ethnic groups and armies. Accordingly, Toos has witnessed multitudes of events through history such as amicable conquest of Toos by the Islamic troops. In the same occasion, Toos functioned as a gate for advent of Islam and entrance of Arabs in the northeastern of Iran and its neighboring regions. As a result, it can be considered as an important part of a cultural-historical geography and an integral part of a prominent region in the course of conquest of the Greater Khorasan. Through this hypothesis, “Sanāabād” was, at the time of emergence of Islam, the political center and residence of the ruling class of Toos region, and towns of “Nowghān” and “Tābarān” were built after the Islamic troops have come there. Other towns of Toos region such as “Rādkān” and “Pāzh” Village that have been occupied from the Sasanian period, survived till the Islamic Middle Ages. But some places and defensive structures like “Shahr-e Kharāb Castle” and “Ghahghaheh Castle” were gradually deserted a while after they have been built by the Islamic troops. Regarding ambiguities in the historical texts, the present article briefly tries, through field archeological data, to provide some answers to the following main questions of the research: What was the status of Toos at the time of the Islamic conquest? What was the status of living places? What kind of pattern was employed for settlement? How were the cities and villages of Toos formed from the beginning to the Seljukid Period? What did the cities function? And finally and as much as possible, this paper attempts to answer and provide an archeological analysis on how much Toos region contributed in the historical-cultural changes of the above-mentioned time especially its status and role in transmission of the Sasanian culture and civilization to the Islamic period.