Journal of Archaeological Studies

Abstract One of the most important potteries used in Persian Gulf (Middle East) maritime trade with a large part of the ancient world, including the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka, and finally the country of Thailand. (Suriname ship cargo) earthenware jar called Torpedo-jar or storage jar. Although this type of pottery was dated by most researchers to Sassanian era, this type was used in trade and burial from the Parthian period to early Islamic era or 3rd century BC to 9th century AD (Kennet, 2004: 85). The most important feature of these types of jars is the coating of bitumen on its inner surface. So far, archaeologists have not succeeded in finding a kiln for the production of this type of pottery, so it is very important to know the place of pottery production and the bitumen mine used in them.  In this article, using the method of geochemical laboratory studies and a comparative study, the bitumen samples taken from the torpedo jars from the south and southwest of Iran were investigated. In this research, 15 pieces of pottery with tar coating belonging to the archaeological excavations of Siraf and Mahruban ports on the coast of the Persian Gulf (south of Iran), related to the Sassanid and Islamic period, and samples from Shush and Shushtra region from the Parthian and Sassanid periods were selected.The sample of the Susa area is from the Iran National Museum and belongs to the archaeological excavations of Susa region, the sample of Ivan-i Karkheh is related to the Dezful region, and the sample of the Dastova area is also related to the Shushtar region in Khuzestan province, southwest of Iran. All bitumen samples were analyzed geochemically with the aim of determining the origin of bitumen in its specialized laboratories in Europe and America. The main result of the research shows the use of bitumen from the bitumen springs of Khuzestan, Lorestan, Ilam and Kermanshah provinces in the studied pottery (Fig.1).

Abstract The contractor of the gas line transition from Damghan to Neka destroyed and recovered two tombs in 2014. The site is located 80 km south of Sari. Archaeological excavations led to discovering two historical cemeteries, settlements, and an Islamic castle and cemetery. Architectural remains and objects indicate historical catacomb burials. There are questions about the site including the architectural structure of the catacombs, burial method and dating. Systematic survey and excavation and subsequent comparison of data, with burial method, suggest a vast Parthian settlement in the site. Vestemin is the first Parthian site in Mazandaran. What distinguishes the site from the other Parthian cemeteries is the family catacombs. The Vestemin catacombs consist of three parts, including 1) the rectangular space or the corridor, 2) threshold or entrance between the rectangular space and the catacomb chamber, 3) the catacomb chamber. Armaments including swords, daggers, arrowheads, trefoil arrowheads, and armor were among the findings of the cemetery. Varieties of the objects and using armaments as gifts, had nothing to the deceased’s gender. Investigating the types of armaments reveal how the cavalries applied them, because armaments such as swords, daggers, and arrowheads, are light weapons that Agile Parthian cavalries used against the romans’ heavy weapons, as their classic enemy

Abstract In 2014, the contractor company operating the Damghan-Neka gas transmission line demolished and exposed two Parthian burial mounds in the village of Vestemin. Vestemin is located 80 km south of Sari. The historic site of Vestemin includes the east cemetery, the west cemetery, the settlement site, the castle and the Islamic cemetery. Vestemin is the first Parthian site in Mazandaran that has been excavated. What distinguishes this cemetery from other Parthian cemeteries discovered in the Parthian cultural sphere is that its western cemetery contains family burial mounds, which are unique in terms of architecture. The burial mounds of Vestemin Cemetery have three sections: 1) rectangular spaces or corridors, 2) entrances or gates between the corridor and the crypt, and 3) the crypt room. All of the burials are mass graves. The number of people buried in the tombs varies from one to five, and the method of burial is mostly squat. Seals and ring seals with human, animal, bird, plant, geometric, rider and fireplace motifs are among the motifs found in the western burial mound cemetery. In using the seals as a gift, the gender of the deceased was does not seem to have been a determining factor. This collection of Parthian seals is unique in terms of the number and variety of seal designs.

Abstract We are justlfied in our study of  Iran’s historical period by the invisible and clear vestiges of the mysterious Parthian empire, which has piqued the interest of a lot of historians and intellectuals. Parthian history has been disproved in numerous dimensions such as political dimensions, social dimensions, and cultural dimensions using contemporary research based on Greek, Roman, Armenian,Syriac, Middle Persian, and Islamic sources, as well as archeological evidence. On the basis of ancient historical writings, it is now possible to recreate a portion of the Parthian Empire’s history. Chronicles, written in Syriac, are among the most important historical sources for reconstructing ancient Near Eastern history. These sources are especially vital for refining pre-Islamic Iran’s history, as it would be pointless to write the history of Iran during the Sassanid era without utilizing Syriac resources. With these contexts in mind,the goal of this paper is to follow the Parthian rulers’ history through a variety of sources. When all of the available Syriac chronicles are taken into account, it becomes clear that these sources were mostly neglected by all of the Parthian rulers, and that no names or addresses can be located in them. At first glance, the absence of Parthian kings, history in Syriac sources suggests that there is no need to study these sources in relation to Parthian history; however, the opinion of this essay is that such a void to depict forgetting of the Parthian kings was not accidental in the Syriac sources, but rather was influenced by the tradition of Iranian historiography in the Sassanid (Sassanian)epoch,and since then the historical has been influenced by.

Abstract With seven cities, four districts, and 2514 square kilometers, Rudbar city is the largest city in the south of Gilan province. Environmental capabilities such as crossing the Sefid-rud River through the central part of Rudbar and being located in the connection route of the Central Plateau with northern Iran have long made this region the focus of groups and human communities. Hence, it has led to the scattering of countless sites throughout the region in the form of hills, cemeteries, and ancient sites. Between 2006 and 2010, among the 45 sites studied in the studied area, 19 sites from the Parthian period were identified with the cultural materials of this period. Descriptively and in the field, the present study has examined the topography, geographical location, access roads, and water resources of the works, as well as the cultural materials and pathology of the sites. Most of the surveyed areas include cemeteries and several small settlements. Limitation of environmental potentials is one of the most important factors that have prevented the formation of cities and large population centers in the region. Given the existence of pastures, forests, and water resources, it seems that the life of the people of this region at the same time as agriculture was based on animal husbandry. Additionally, the common way of life has been semi-nomadic (vertical style). Along a valley from the lowest to the highest point above sea level, the similarity of pottery and burials illustrates this well. In this study, most of the pottery of historical and Parthian periods was obtained in red, orange, dark brown, and generally polished, respectively. Most burials have simple pits, stone tumulus, catacombs, stone framed, and sometimes megaliths and jars. Comparable to other contemporaries, these burials are such as Vaskeh, Maian Rud, Maryan of Talesh and Rezvanshahr, and Coty deylaman Castles, Shahpir, Kaluraz, Juben and Chereh of Rudbar in Gilan, Germi in Azerbaijan and Biston in western Iran. The earthenware pieces of the sites are often polished and divided into two types, simple and decorative. The number of decorative pottery pieces was more than other species

Abstract Archaeologically, and historically Indo Parthian kingdoms is not a well-known for us they have not has been mentioned in mythological history and in the historical resources of early Islamic period. They dominated the territory that Indo - Greeks and then Indo –Scythians were ruled there. Some scholars have not separated the Parthian and Scythian kings from India, and have not made any clear distinctions between kings of the two governments. Most of our knowledge of this government is based on the numismatic studies. The purpose of this paper is to analyses of the history of Indo-Parthian kingdom and their political relation to with Iranian Parthian Empire. The research method of the present study is descriptive-analytical method and an attempt has been made to pay attention to the ambiguities and complexities of the Parthian rule of India by relying on numismatic sources and reviewing historical researches and researches. The results of the study showed that the Parthians of India were politically independent from the Parthians of Iran, and although there appeared to be no hostile relations between the two governments; However, the Parthian rulers of Iran saw the Parthians of India as an intruder in their territory. Also in the sequence of Parthian kings of India according to numismatic documents, the following order can be considered: Gondophares (simultaneously with Orthagnes, and Guda), Abdagases, Pacores, Sanabares I, II and III and other kings named Parhas and Semara that are known of their names on the coins.

Abstract Pottery -as the most prominent archaeological material- has a great role in reconstruction of regional and transregional interactions. So identification of the pottery assemblages of each cultural periods is very important. A few archaeological sites related to the Parthian period have been excavated in western Iran. Therefore, due to the lack of enough ceramic collections to identify and distinguish the pottery of this period, recognition of Parthian sites in western Iran encounter with some problems. So, it's necessary to present a precise dated collection of the Parthian pottery in order to have a better understanding of regional changes in this period. One of the most important sites in western Iran is Qal'eh-i Yazdigird, which has been excavated recently. Describing the pottery forms of this region, could be helpful in the regional pottery studies, as well as relative chronology in the Parthian life world.
Pottery is the most prominent archaeological material which has a great role in reconstruction of regional and interregional interactions. So, identification of the pottery assemblages of each cultural period is very important to clarify their chronology and their technological significance. So far, few archaeological sites related to the Parthian period have been excavated in western Iran. Therefore, due to the lack of ceramic collections to identify and distinguish the pottery of this period, recognition of Parthian sites in western Iran encounters some problems. So, it is necessary to present a precise dated collection of the Parthian pottery in order to have a better understanding of their regional changes in this period. One of the most important sites in western Iran is Qal’eh-i Yazdigird, which has been excavated recently. Describing the pottery forms of this region could be helpful in the regional pottery studies, as well as for relative chronology in the Parthian world. According to the excavated pottery, three types have been reported, including clinky, glazed and common wares. Comparative studies on the pottery suggest most of them have been made locally, but some are probably from other sites and show cultural-commercial relationships between this site and other contemporary settlements during the Parthian. On the basis of forms and technical characteristics, it seems that the pottery belonging to the late Parthian period can be classified into two types of ordinary pottery and semi-precise ceramics. In addition to the pottery, other archaeological findings, such as building units, are very useful in our study to reconstruct the chronology of site.

Abstract There are few Wall Paintings remained from the Parthian and Sassanid era in Iran.These limited examples play a major role in the development of the study and our knowledge on pre-Islamic Iranian painting. The present paper examined two of these remains, one a Parthian Wall Painting in Kuh-e Khwaje in Sistan and the other a unique sample of early Sasanians Wall Painting in Firuzabad, Fars province, dating back to two different times in two different sites, they reveal evident similarities in the style. Also considering the vast painted surfaces in both sites and the characteristic specifications of the sites, one can see the high artistic capabilities applied for painting them.Althoughboth paintings demonstrate the application of different methods, they are well adapted with the host structure in functional conception, in a strong harmony with the echo system of the site and acknowledging the cultural diversity of the creating civilization.Studying these wall paintings in terms of subject and style shows the Sasanian Painting despite of the influences of Hellenistic art, also has been affected by Parthian painting style from east of Iran.

Abstract The handmade subterranean architectural structure is a special kind of architecture that is in its creation does not require any construction materials but it needs many efforts and hard working to be produced The different types of this kind are visible in the different parts of Iran. A unique collection of this type of architecture is the troglodytic architectural complex of Samen, located about 90 km from the south of Hamadan, 15 km from the south west of Malayer. Accessibility to this complex has been possible first in 2006. This site is composed of about 50 troglodytic architectural spaces in different sizes including corridors, halls and rooms. Four successive research programs (identification, documentation, clearing and archeological excavations) were carried out on this complex from 2008 to 2011 conducted by one of us; Ali Khaksar. Field study of this complex brought to light not only the unknown characteristics of such subterranean architecture but resulted in to discover about 60 human bone fragments. Our comparative analysis on the materials found from the site as well as on the human bone fragments led to conclude the site has been in use during the Parthian period.

Abstract Despite the lack of a clear understanding of the relationships of eastern and southeastern Arabia with different Iranian regions during pre-Sassanian era and the paucity of written evidence from this period, the huge corpus of archaeological evidence obtained from this region and the few available historical documents show that the region maintained close contacts with Iran and was under legal and formal control of the Parthians.
As its main objective, the present work seeks to analyze the archaeological material from the Parthian sites in eastern and southeastern Arabia that corroborate these contacts.
Pottery is among the major material that reflects the close ties that existed between sites in the southern and northern regions of the Persian Gulf. Pottery sherds are the most frequent evidence that support relationship between southern shores of the Persian Gulf and different regions of Iran during Sassanian and Parthian periods, in particular diagnostic examples that are widely known from Iranian sites. Of particular related examples are glazed, monochrome and bichrome painted, Londo, eggshell, and coarse black types.
Apart from pottery, other categories of the material culture such as coins, metal objects, glasses, statuettes, architecture, and Aramian inscriptions are now available from a number of Parthian sites in eastern and southeastern Arabia to prove the close contacts of the northern and southern coasts of the Persian Gulf.

Abstract The North Western part of Iran belonged to the semi-autonomous province of Atropatene. The region witnessed several political and cultural events and developments during the Parthian Period; however, in its study and exploration, we are in short of cultural material relating to this period, a fact also admitted by Herring and K?mbakhshfard. In the course of the past two decades, numerous field studies and researches have been conducted in the region investigation of whose findings will provide us with a clearer understanding of the Parthian rule in the North West of Iran. The issue at point is the old mound of P?sg?h Tappeh Si which was explored in parallel with the project for saving the dam of Khod?-?farin and other areas in two seasons. As a result of the material poverty of the region during the Parthian Period, the material and data derived from the region will definitely be able to fill, though partially, some of the gaps and material as well as cultural ambiguities and the manner of cultural interactions in the region. To this end, authors of the present article, have endeavored to introduce and carry out a comparative study of the findings of the Parthian Period belonging to this period together with other regions which were concurrent with it, with the aim to take an effective step in the qualitative and quantitative study of the data and the amount of bilateral interactions in the North West of Iran and the neighboring regions during the Parthian Period.

Abstract During this survey 29 sites have been recognized totally. Settlement patterns determined base of environmental characteristics such as altitude, ground slope, source of water, petrology and geology, vegetations, land use and specifications of sites including width, chronology, regional distribution and density and all of them have been divided by using geographic information systems (GIS) and cluster analysis in five clusters including I, II, III, IV and V.
On the basis of the collected data, effective reasons for development of permanent settlements in plain are: variant slope from higher part to lower surrounded plain in hillsides, high density sediments in adjacent mountains, and influence of seasonal network in northwest of the region as well as low height valley. Moreover the reasons of increasing the number of pastoral sites in pastures are: higher altitude and unsuitable agricultural grounds and shallow extended sites in every parts of region