Journal of Archaeology and Archaeometry

As a key archaeological site, Kaldar Cave provides evidence of the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Iran. It is also one of the earliest sites with cultural materials attributed to early AMHs in western Asia. Apart from the earlier obtained dates from its Upper Paleolithic sequence, we provide here the recent obtained Thermoluminescence date from the layer 5. In this paper, we elaborate and corelate this dating to a broader discussion within the Zagros Middle and Upper Paleolithic sites. In this study, we also present a brief information on the freshly recovered lithic industries, Paleontological data, the obtained T.L dating and its position in the stratigraphic sequence

From 224 to 651 AD, the Sasanian dynasty created one of the most powerful empires in the pre-Islamic Middle East. The dynasty ruled from the Euphrates to the Indus, holding a position of supremacy for more than four centuries and exerting a direct influence from Egypt to China via the Silk Road and maritime trade routes.  Seals and seals impressions are the most abundant class of cultural artifacts surviving from the Sassanian era. They are commonly found from West to Central Asia and even beyond, from Europe to Southeast Asia. The importance of their study is from two aspects, on one hand, they are as historical documents and on the other hand, they are valuable works of art and a way to understand the culture and civilization.  This study conducted in a descriptive-analytical method using written sources, tries to read four samples of the Sassanian’s seals of the National Museum of ancient Iran, which are part of the confiscated items collection. The purpose of this research is to read inscriptions and examine the roles of these seals.

Iranian architecture, like its other cultural and civilizational aspects, is an issue that has always been discussed with the confusion of matter and form, and among these, tombs and holy shrines have a sublime place in Iranian-Islamic art and architectural decorations in Different periods of Islamic history have been a large part of the art of Islamic lands, especially Iran. In this regard, in order to identify the architectural elements and decorations of the building of Imamzadeh Qasem and Zeyd in Azna in different historical periods, the answer to the research questions is: 1. What is the history of the historical building of Imamzadeh Qasem and Zeyd in Azna? 2. What are the decorative additions and elements of this building in different periods? In this article, while paying attention to the visual values ​​of Imamzadeh Qasem and Zeyd in Azna during different periods, in a descriptive-comparative method and with reference to library resources and based on field research and in part laboratory studies, the most significant components and decorative elements of Imamzadeh Qasem and Zeyd in Azna was introduced and examined. The result of research indicates that the elements and components of architecture and decoration in the building of Imamzadeh Qasem and Zeyd Azna as a living and expressive document of the periods; Ilkhanid, Timurid, Safavid and Qajar. In this research, an attempt has been made to explain the components and decorative elements of this building, which will be briefly discussed in this research.

Given the ever-increasing use of information and communication technology, this science can be employed to protect, organize, and disseminate scientific work, especially manuscripts and museum archives. A major breakthrough in this technology is the digitization of manuscripts, which is referred to as virtual restoration. In fact, the virtual restoration of paperwork is considered a preventive protection strategy. Therefore, virtual restoration plays a key role in the field of document archiving, museology, and protection and restoration of objects. This study aimed to improve the quality of paperwork in Malek Museum through editing applications such as Photoshop in order to remove the damaging factors to the paper structures of a page from the Jami version. For this purpose, the desk and field research methods were adopted. An available copy in Malek Museum was first examined to select a page from the Jami version for virtual restoration. The flaws in the designated page were fixed in Photoshop for virtual restoration. According to the findings, virtual restoration of damaged manuscripts preserved this paperwork. Hence, it is considered a major preventive measure. Moreover, virtual restoration can be used as a risk management strategy in the preventive conservation program, which allows for preservation and maintenance. By creating a virtual information bank, researchers can access the manuscripts with peace of mind in the shortest possible time.

During the surveys to 2014-2019, Northern Kuhdasht county was studied with the aim of identifying the potential of ancient metalwork and the existence of sites related to the metalworking activities. These Surveys have yielded eighty sites containing slag and or possible places related to industrial activities. In this research, the physical and chemical properties of slags recovered from ten places in four sites, namely Changari, Chalghesholeh, Sargiz, and Dalab, have been studied. The main purpose of this study has been to identify the type of smelting and melting techniques used in the past. For this aim, petrographic and elemental analyses have been done on the slag samples to investigate the mineralogical and chemical compositions.

Gender archaeology, the study of gender differences between men and women throughout history, is a significant subject that has evolved into a proper, prominent science in recent decades. Proto-Elamite is among the periods that give us great information regarding the status of genders. The abundance of tablets found from this period is among the oldest middle-eastern written scripts. Many of these are about paying wages to male and female laborers for manufacturing and stockbreeding jobs. Studying these texts provides essential information regarding the status of Iranian Plateau’s women at the end of the fourth millennium B.C. M388 sign is one of the most significant gender signs known. It probably symbolizes a man or a particular social class in proto-Elamite texts. It’s also been used before signs that might show names written using a phonetical structure. M124 is the opposite sign. It was probably considered a female gender sign. It has been used in some tablets or at the beginning of a series of phonetic signs (names). This research attempts to reconstruct two different signs at the beginning of the name sign-series. These signs probably assign gender to the names. Authors read 1500 tablets in Susa. Two hundred ninety-five of these tablets begin with M124 or M388 signs. There are more than 100 phonetic signs. The chances of 295 names being similar are slim. This strengthens our gender-specification hypotheses that M124 and M388 are gender symbols in the name sign-series.