Preliminary Studies on Weapons Discovered from Parthian Vestemin Cemetery in Kiasar, Sari, Based on Excavations in 2015, 2017 & 2018

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Employee of cultural heritage, handicrafts and tourism of Mazandaran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Archaeology, University of Tehran

3 Professor, Department of Archaeology, University of Tehran

Abstract

In 2014, agents of a contractor company working on gas line Damghan-Neka, demolished and unveiled two Parthian catacombs in the Vestemin Village. Following the incident, the project was stopped and due to the necessity of continuing the national gas transmission project as well as conducting archaeological studies, the necessary credit was allocated for exploration and survey by Iran Gas Engineering and Development Company. The Parthian Vestemin is located 80 km south of Sari in the Chahar Dangeh district. The district includes the eastern cemetery, the western cemetery, the residential sites, the castle and the Islamic cemetery. Vestemin is the first site from the Parthian era that has undergone scientific archeological survey in Mazandaran Province. What distinguishes this cemetery from other Parthian cemeteries discovered in the Parthian cultural sphere is the western cemetery, which contains family catacombs that are architecturally unique. There are mass burials inside the catacombs. The number of people buried inside the graves varies from one to five. Weapons such as swords, daggers, arrowheads, triangular arrowheads, armor and other related tools are among the artifacts found in the eastern cemetery and western catacombs. By examining the type of weapons, we will realize their use for Parthian cavalry, because weapons such as swords, daggers, and arrowheads were considered light weapons and for the agile cavalry of the Parthians against the heavily armed Romans as a traditional enemy have been inevitable.

Keywords

Journal of Archaeological Studies

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 09 May 2021

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 11 April 2021
  • Revise Date: 01 May 2021
  • Accept Date: 09 May 2021

Share

How to cite

Statistics