Journal of Archaeological Studies

Abstract Horand County is located in the most eastern part of Eastern Azerbaijan Province and is perhaps one of the few areas of Iran where major archaeological activities have not yet been carried out. Environmental factors play an important role in creating human settlements in any period. So in archaeology, in addition to the effects of the environment on the creation of each settlement, the degree of the adaptation of settlements to environmental conditions should be examined. One of the methods of studying the adaptation of settlements to environmental conditions is to analyze settlement patterns, that is to examine the formation of ancient sites in environmental contexts. Considering the geographical location and environmental potentials of a region, it is important to know which environmental factors have contributed to the creation, continuity, or abandonment of the grounds and how humans have dealt with their environment in choosing a lifestyle. For this purpose, 42 sites of Horand County, which have traces of the Bronze Age, are studied with the aim of determining the settlement patterns based on environmental variables. Through cluster analysis and using SPSS and ArcGIS software, the distribution of ancient sites in relation to natural variables is investigated. The location pattern of the sites in relation to the environmental resources shows that the settlement pattern of the Bronze Age at Horand is similar to the current settlement pattern and that, under the effect of the environmental conditions, two settlement patterns of sedentary farmers and nomadic herders in the region have always been observed.

Abstract The approximate one century of Ilkhanid dominions in Iran, was a priory in flourishing such an innovation styles of Architectural and Urban designing in Islamic ages of which clarifying its different dimensions has been less considered. Parallel to this attitude, investigating the architectural form of Ali Shah’s Mosque in terms of the greatest ever made religious architecture in Iran would be among the most prominent issues related to the medieval construction methods during Islamic ages. Using descriptive analytical methods besides library studies as well as reviewing historical documents around Ali Shah’s Mosque in Tabriz and its overlapping with archaeological excavation’s results followed by in Ali Shah site, this project is aimed to recognize the architectural combination and the spatial appearance of Ali Shah Mosque. According to the results and considering the sequence of religious architectural movement through Ilkhanid era, it is obvious that aside from the usual construction language that can be seen in Ghazaniya and Sultaniya, focusing on bilateral units, not only the loftiest ever made arch of Islamic world was made in Ali Shah’s span, but also one of the highest chamber dome of those ages had been created in this structure.

Abstract Stable isotope analysis, being used in many research areas, has also been applied in archaeology during the last three decades to address questions regarding the paleoclimatology and ancient diet, mobility and migration. Despite the growing number of the application of stable isotope analysis in archaeological studies, there is a very few research in this regard in archaeology of Iran. This research aims to study the human skeleton remains of Iron Age site of Masjed Kabud in Tabriz, using strontium stable isotope analysis. Therefore, tooth and bone samples obtained from skeletons of the mentioned site where studied through strontium isotope ratio (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) and trace element analysis Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca to address the question if the skeletons are local or non-local. Result of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr revealed that all samples could be considered as local except of 81-8 burial, which belongs to a female individual, as it was out of the local range (local mean ± 2 SD). The result of trace element analysis and measuring the Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca were analyzed statistically suing independent test sample. Results for both sample groups (Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca between teeth and bones) demonstrate that there is no significant difference between the two sample groups. Therefore skeletons could be considered as local. This research in addition to addressing the hypothesis, mentioned above, revealed that the method could be applied in similar research projects and the result of strontium isotope and trace element analysis could be also sued in different studies such as archaeology, geology and other interdisciplinary scientific areas.

Abstract During history, few eras have been as ambiguous and dark as Parthians. Mithraism ideology had king’s support and promised salvation and a new after-death world to the soldiers. From this view, Parthians cared about the political aspect of the religion rather than the religion itself. Mithras Temple is a good example of political reaction of Parthians against Roman religious architectures. After Parthians’ conquers and the increase of border conflicts in the western and northwestern parts of Iran, remains of Zahhak can be considered as the focus of power center in first century A.D. In a way that the influence of religion is evident with direct and determining presence of temple in martial-political destiny of the country. Since unlike the other regions, the Parthian temples have not been discovered so far from inside Iran this study aims to introduce Zahak Temple in northwest Iran through describing its historical, geographic, and cultural backgrounds to conclude that Zahak can be viewed as a gate of Mithraism entrance to Europe and a start point of Iranian thought influence into the west.