Journal of Archaeology and Archaeometry

A glorious past is what our women in East have experienced which is the path that leads to their power and dignity. As worthy cultural documents, old written texts reflect the political, economical and social stance of women in the Sogdian community. This is an attempt to indicate the Sogdian women's place in Sogdiana through the existing documents(texts,,manuscripts, paintings and archeological remains). We are concerned with the following questions regarding the Sogdian society: how was the women’s participation along the Silk Road, how the remained documents emphasize the importance of their presence and the important question about their identity, when and how they became powerful. Khatun-e Bukhara indicates the high potential of the women’s existence in Sogdian era. In order to illuminate women’s participation, strong motivation to draw the attention and authority, a link to this particular historic situation and a new grasp of women’s lifestyle at that era is essential. This article is an attempt to introduce the women’s role in Sogdian land through language, Culture and different social groups.

The body of women has been observed abundantly in the southern Zagros region from the end of the Neolithic period to the first millennium BC, therefore the purpose of this article is to investigate the evolution of the body of women in terms of their form and type of clothing and decorations in order to understand the beliefs and thoughts of the ancient people. In this regard, it has been tried to classify women's figures based on their appearance and motifs such as the type of hair and face makeup, the type of hats and clothes, and the way of showing the female figures that are repeated in prehistoric works, in order to answer our questions regarding the background, reasons for making, execution methods and practical aspects of female figures this research has been performed using descriptive-analytical and documentary method. The results show that the figurines of the copper and stone period in the South Zagros region are primarily stylized and simplified and mostly include one construction method, but in the early Bronze Age and at the same time as the Old Elam period, the figurines grew and became more diverse and complex. And they are made in different shapes and forms. In the Middle Elam period, we see the production of figurines that are realistic and delicate, and diversity can be seen in the way of construction in different situations and the mass production of various figurines.

Stories are rooted in the cultural beliefs of every nation, especially the mythological stories that originated from the ethnic and national unconscious according to Jung. The objective of the present study was to analyze the Azeri story "Malik Mohammad, Malik Ahmad and Malik Jamshid" based on Joseph Campbell's hero journey's theory (1987-1904). The significance of this study is the cultural and mythological importance of folk tales and Campbell's theory. This study was conducted as interdisciplinary by descriptive-analytical method. The question is; How do the stages of the above story match Campbell's hero journey? What are the most important mythological symbols of this story? Hypothesis Given the mythological nature of this story, although not all stages of the hero journey can be applied, it definitely has many stages, and many mythological symbols can be found and analyzed. Some of the study results; due to the Oedipus complex in the hero (Malik Mohammad), instead of him reaching unity with the father with the help of the goddess, the father of the earth (the king) is in love with the mother, and he, with the connivance of the goddess, prevented the two from reaching each other. Therefore, the stage of his oneness with the father is not complete. Also, this folk tale, with its simple plot, lacks stages of the hero's refusal of the return, magic flight and rescue from without to bring the hero back, and the hero simply returns to society.

Following Arab invasions into Iran and their territorial expansion within the Sasanian realm, Iranian discontent with Arab rulers grew, particularly during the Umayyad and Abbasid periods. These grievances sparked uprisings and revolts, eroding Arab control over the eastern reaches of the Islamic Empire and gradually enabling local governments in the east to assert autonomy. Amidst conflicts on its western borders and engagements with the Byzantine Empire, the Abbasid Caliphate grew uneasy as local governments like the Tahirids, Saffarids, and Samanids declared independence, albeit with nominal allegiance to Baghdad. Among these emerging powers, the Samanids of Transoxiana, centered in Bukhara, rose to prominence. Originally prominent commanders within the Abbasid army, the Samanid rulers, with the backing of their people and forces, navigated toward independence. Initially part of the Abbasid army hierarchy and beneficiaries of military training under the Abbasid regime, the Samanid emirs seized the opportunity created by the weakened Caliphate and conflicting interests with Baghdad, establishing a semi-independent government in the east. In this historical context, military forces and militarism held significant importance for all the established systems in the eastern regions, including the Samanids. The military played a pivotal role in shaping and sustaining Iranian local governments like the Samanids.

The Urartu civilization is one of the old civilizations of the Azerbaijan region. Urartus ruled over northwestern part of Iran, Caucasia, eastern Turkey and even northern part of today Syria. Their language does not belong to Indo-European or Semitic language families. Their language was an agglutinative language. There are lots of inscriptions related to Urartus in East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan and Ardabil in northwestern Iran. These inscriptions and Urartu castles in the region have Turkish names. The researcher tried to find out whether there is any relationship between Urartu language and Azerbaijani Turkish language of local people of the region. The cognate based study and comparing roots of the words between ancient Turkish and Urartu language showed that Urartu and Turkish words have the same roots. There are also grammatical similarities between these two languages in using suffixes like –li and –ni for showing relationship and possessiveness. Furthermore, in Urartu language like Kazakh Turkish suffix –u is used to make an infinitive verb. Some Uratian names like Turkish names start with prefix ar/er. The name of some Urartian Gods have meaning in Turkish. As a result, Urartu language must be an Altaic language and a proto-Turkic language.

With specialized research and activities, archeology introduces many features such as old and ancient areas, ethnicities, cultural traditions, artistic handicrafts and the diverse climate and ecosystem of Iran to attract tourists. The formation of a positive sense in tourists about tourism destinations, taking into account the synergistic approach, also strengthens the sense of pride in the local community. On the other hand, increasing the level of perceived quality of tourists leads to an increase in the satisfaction of tourists as customers of tourist places and becomes the basis for encouraging managers and planners to try to provide more services with better quality. If the environment of tourism destinations lacks the desired quality, it will affect the perception of the tourist about the space and as a result, his mental image of the environment. In addition to motivating and introducing tourist attractions, archeology can provide the basis for the participation of government institutions and private sector investors in order to provide facilities and revive tourism dimensions. Reconstruction of historical contexts, anthropology, linguistics, traditional arts and other related sciences, can provide a suitable platform for economic growth and development, along with the development of tourism in the region and the world for Iranian society. According to the above, in this study, the researcher attempted to investigate the role of archeology studies and the quality of the rural environment in the development of tourism. This study is applied in terms of purpose, descriptive-analytical in terms of data collection, and is based on observation, interview, questionnaire and statistical data. In the present study, two methods of documentary and survey studies have been used. The statistical population included experts in the field of tourism and planning. The statistical sample of the research is about n=10. In addition to seeing the sights and natural landscapes of those places, tourists become familiar with the customs and culture of that village. In this way, tourists are interested in buying village products, such as handicrafts, local products, etc., and this means an increase in the income of villagers who work directly or indirectly in this industry. Most studies are demanded and focused on visitors and their needs and motivations.