درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

“Evil animals” (MP. xrafstar, Av. xrafstra-) are harmful animals created by Ahriman to assist in destroying the world. Pahlavi scriptures present fragments of knowledge on various types of xrafstarân, some regulations and recommendations on how to crush them, and examples of divine reward for those believers who eradicate these evil animals. However, Pahlavi scriptures put urging stress on eliminating xrafstarân, sigillographic evidence from the Sassanid era points to the other direction, showing that in many cases, the Zoroastrian principle of destroying evil animals is ignored, to the extent that images of venomous animals could be seen on seals and sigils belonging to Zoroastrian priests and other elites of the Sassanid era. While in some cases, themes depicted on seals are by the religious recommendations of scriptures, owners’ personal preferences seem to remain the main factor in displaying images on seals. This question remains that depicting an evil animal on a personal seal contradicts religious regulations in Zoroastrianism. This opposition could be caused by diversity in interpretations of scriptures or by the co-existence of various factions of Zoroastrianism. The presence of other religions all over the Sassanid Empire could be one more cause of this discord. Through a comparison between depictions on seals and Pahlavi scriptures, the current study concludes that several images of xrafstarân depicted on seals are related to religions other than Zoroastrian Mithraism, Judaism, Christianism, and even Gnosticism. Moreover, most Zoroastrian scriptures mentioning xrafstarân are written only after the Sassanid era. It seems likely that after the collapse of Sassanid dynastys, some Zoroastrian priests rearranged the classification of beneficent animals created by Ahura and evil animals created by Ahriman. Nonetheless, the vital role of geography and cultural diversity of each region of the vast Sassanid Empire could not be overlooked while studying the presence or absence of animal themes in depictions.

Isfahan and its historical monuments have been repeatedly damaged and destroyed for a long time due to their unique strategic location. They are located on the highway from north to south and east to west of the central plateau of Iran. Factors that have played a role in damaging and destroying Isfahan›s historical monuments can be generally divided into two categories: natural elements and phenomena and human factors and behaviors. This study aimed to identify and categorize the causes of damage to the historical monuments of Isfahan from the beginning of the Islamic period to the Qajar period. To achieve this goal, two general questions arise: What are the main factors that have caused damage to the historical monuments of Isfahan during the Islamic era, and how can they be classified? Which harmful phenomena have caused Isfahan›s most severe destruction of historical monuments? To answer the questions, the destructive factors of Isfahan›s architectural works from the beginning of the Islamic period to the Qajar period have been studied. The research method is descriptive-analytical, and the data collection method is based on the study of historical-geographical sources, field observations, and existing works reports. The studies show that in addition to various factors, the most critical factors causing natural damage to historical monuments in Isfahan are drought, famine, earthquake, and the essential human characteristics; there have been internal or external wars and conflicts.

The Qara Zia-eddin plain is considered a prime example of land use in Southeastern Urartu in the Khoy region of West Azerbaijan. Since 2016, archaeological investigations have been carried out in the Bastam hinterland through the Iranian-Austrian cooperation with the aim of investigating the interaction of settlements with local hilltop fortresses and the use of landscape use in the time of the Urartian Kingdom. The starting point of the project work was in the south of the Qara Zia-eddin plain, with the special focus on the range of hills near the village of Chors. The Urartian fortified settlement of Anaqizly Tappeh was explored using both geomagnetic and archaeological surveys.

According to historical and geographical sources, Totanjeh has been one of the important cities of Tabaristan in the early Islamic centuries. This city had a military function in the Abbasid period. In historical sources, Toranjeh has been recognized as Borji, Toranji, Torji, Tariji, Toranjir, and Tazhir which is located in the lowland zone between Mamatir (Babol) in South, Mileh (Southeast of Amol) in West and Sari in the East. The noteworthy political and military aspects have focused on the localization of Toranjeh city in early and medieval Islamic periods by historical sources and archaeological findings. On the base of documentary evidence, it can be given that the cultural sequence of the city of Toranjeh is divided into three phases. The formation of the Espahbodan Tabarestan reign, the development phase, and finally the collapse of the Samanid rule in the Mazandaran Marashyan period. The authors in the framework of a program of archaeological research surveyed Abolhasan kola-i- Babol located in the province of Mazandaran. The findings and review of archaeological and historical evidence suggest that the studied area (the village of Abolhasan kola-i- Babol) is the probable location of the city of Toranjeh.

The rock paintings of Iran are extremely significant and after five decades of research on them, nearly twenty different regions have been identified in different parts of the Iranian plateau. Each of these regions has its own unique local style. One of the most important areas is the “Eshkaft-e-Ahou” site, which has been identified for nearly two decades, but unfortunately, no research has been conducted on it. This research, using field and library methods, describes and compares the motifs of this site, and at the end, after investigating the climatic texture of the region, the authors have tried to reconstruct the life style of the creators of the paintings. This area is located in a very impassable region and in the highest area of the Gav-Bast Mountains. In order to reach the site, one must ascent a long distance with a steep slope of the mountain. Due to the characteristics of the motifs of this place and the potential for shelter, it is possible to determine that a small population of hunters have used this place. This rocky shelter is considered a very inappropriate place in contrast to today’s concepts of settlement definitions.

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.