درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

In a survey carried out in the Sadrabad area of ​​Zarandieh in June 2020, in addition to the whole village of Sadrabad, its satellite areas were also examined and identified, which led to remarkable results in the archaeological studies of the Iranian plateau, which in addition to other archaeological survey, metal slags were also studied and analyzed there. Slag is the residue of minerals from the smelting, which occurs naturally as a molten silicate or as a mixture of several silicate minerals with compounds of oxides, sulfides, and metals. To detect metal minerals in slag, it is necessary to prepare a polished section from the samples in order to identify its  type . The silicate minerals in the slag are studied with  passing light using a thin section. Gazanak Zarandieh Tepe is located 85 km from Tehran and 75 km from Saveh in Sadrabad Vilage in Zarandieh city of Markazi province. The oldest settlement phase identified in this area is Neolithic (or Pre-pottery Neolithic) and the newest period identified is related to the Safavid era. In this survey, we obtained evidence of smelting and processing of copper, which included pure native copper and slag from smelting of this metal, which by integrating them for laboratory studies, especially the petrographic elemental analysis, which resulted in amazing results. The purpose of petrographic testing on study samples is to identify the components of the slag, the type of material extracted and, if possible, the host rock mineral. Since the study area lacks Chalcolithic age, and the abundance of plum ware, which appeared in the context of Cheshmeh Ali pottery and the transition period according to the speculation of the 2021 season, led us to the question that melting and extraction copper metal in the center of the Iranian plateau has an older history than the dates presented in this article.

The lifeways of mobile human societies are a field investigated by anthropologists and archaeologists. Mobility is considered an effective way of foraging and resource production among human societies (for hunter-gatherers, pastoralists, and farmers, respectively). Various classifications regarding the mobility patterns of human societies have been proposed so far. As of today, the majority of archaeologists use Murdock’s multi-purpose classification which divided mobile human societies into four groups: (1) Nomadic societies, (2) semi-nomadic societies, (3) semi-sedentary societies, and (4) sedentary societies. But some societies have characteristics that do not allow them to be placed in one of these groups. For identification of these unclearly defined societies, the authors will refer to 5 criteria of demographic dimensions: Mobility, number of movements, movement distance, residential criteria, and lifeway. For instance, it was not until 2003 that archaeologists began to recognize the intermediate trajectory of nomadic pastoralism from early village-based herding to the formation of full-fledged pastoralism in the western part of Central Zagros. Extensive study of pastoralist communities, however, can be used for the identification of several intermediate stages of the 5 criteria. Current archaeological evidence in most of the early Neolithic sites in Central Zagros such as Qazanchi, Sheikhi Abad, Sarab, Asiab, and Guran, unlike the Levant region which was settled in the Epipaleolithic (Natufian) period, indicates that these sites are seasonal. So how can we explain the mobility of human societies in the proto-Neolithic period of Zagros? As a result, the authors try to use these criteria to identify the intermediate stages of sedentarism in Zagros, from mobile societies in the Epipaleolithic period to sedentary societies in the late Neolithic period. For this purpose, the authors have studied the mobility patterns and residential criteria of human societies in the cultural landscape of Hawraman. The research was conducted in two seasons, in the summer of   2016 and the summer of 2018, respectively. At first glance, the patterns of mobility and lifeways of human societies seemed homogeneous and identical in the cultural landscape of Hawraman. But with a deeper analysis, Four main mobility patterns were identified. The patterns include (1) single-stage agriculturalist residential mobility in Koh-e-Takht, (2) multistage pastoralist residential mobility in Kosalan and Shahu Mountain, (3) logistical mobility (transhumance) in Javeh River, and (4) logistical mobility (based on cultural exchanges) all over the Hawraman. The patterns show that the Zagros societies did not become sedentary in a single stage. Therefore, semi-sedentary societies with residential mobility and semi-sedentary societies with logistical mobility can be placed in the intermediate stages.  

Achaemenid Religion, Reza MehrAfarin, Tehran, Aryaramna Press & Tissaphernes Archaeological Research Group, 2022, ISBN: 978-622-9253-12-0, 662 pp.