EVOLUTION OF PATTERNS IN ARCHITECTURE OF SISTAN, EAST OF IRAN

Sistan Region in the East of Iran with more than 900 villages and a history of five thousand years is one of most important area in Iran. Since pre-historic (Shahr-i Sokhta) so far, as well as specific climatic conditions; economic and social structure governing it, Sistan has led to the formation of unique kinds of architecture within. However, so far, little research and scientific studies have been done on the architecture of the Sistan Region, which are mostly done by archaeologists who study other aspects of human civilization, such as pottery, effigy and dozens of other human hand works, and the Sistan architecture has been just introduced and mentioned. However, during the study by the authors on this structure, it became evident that the architecture of Sistan has a structural discontinuity and chaos before and after Islam. In this study, a brief study was done on the historical evolution of architecture in Sistan from prehistory to the Qajar era based on the remaining buildings. Sistan pre-Islamic architecture includes the architecture of Shahr-i Sokhta, Dahan-e Gholaman and Khajeh Mount are great glory. They have remained steadfast and shining. Also, in the writings of Islamic historians and foreign travelers, a lot of Islamic places and cities in Sistan have been named that a large part of them are gone, and currently, examples of these architecture, such as the old city of Zahedan, Rostam Castle, Sekoheh Castle, have remained in the Sistan area, Iran. The result shows that during pre-historic and history periods, Sistan had great architecture site, such as Shahr-i Sokhta, Dahan-e Ghulaman and Khajeh Mount, which can influence the all territory of Iran.