Astōdān

Throughout the history, one of the concerns of human beings has been death. The death and the rituals associated with it have created enduring traditions in human societies, with each having its own unique rite based on prevailing cultural and historical characteristics. One of the important traditions related to death is burial practices with varying rituals. Different faiths and religions recommend different commands and traditions for the disposal of a deceased body, with one being burial in the ground. Burial methods, too, differ in different religions, and throughout history, various methods of burial have been performed based on the prevalent rituals and religions of the time. In Zoroastrian, due to the reverence of the four elements (water, earth, fire, and air), any direct contact with a human corpse, which is considered impure, is forbidden. Followers of the Zoroastrian faith have adopted various methods for burying their deceased, including placing them in astōdān (ossuary), towers of silence, and constructing large stone graves (dakhmas/ cairn burials). This paper introduces the cairn burials (khereft-khaneh) and an astōdān (sotōdān) that were found during the archaeological survey of Harat district of Yazd province in 2021. In the archaeological survey of Harat, various cultural and historical sites from different periods were identified. Most of the identified sites in this survey belonged to the Islamic era, but some are referred to historical period, such as cairn burials and an astōdān (ossuary), which will be discussed in this study. Based on comparative studies and similar burial methods found in central Iran, Fars, and Kerman, these sites are dated back to the historical period (Parthian/Sasanian).

The Sasanian, the last Iranian dynasty before the Arab invasion of Iran, overthrew the Parthians and ruled the region for more than four centuries between 224-651 AD. One of the structural characteristics of the Sasanian state was the establishment of an official religion and the concentration of political and religious sovereignty. The official recognition of the Zoroastrian religion led the Sasanian kings and priests to build numerous fire temples in various parts of Iran, and many archaeological evidences of Sasanian era burials have been found, which are intertwined with art. The kings enriched the art of this period by creating rock carvings to display various matters. A rock carving in the Sasanian style was accidentally discovered a few years ago at a local airport in England. When this discovery was reported in the early days of 2023, the main question was whether it was an independent rock carving that had been detached from the mountain or whether it belonged to a structure? Based on the library studies and comparisons made with other works in this article, it seems that the newly discovered Sasanian rock carving from Stansted Airport in London was likely part of a stone structure similar to a fire altar or a Astōdān (one type of Ossuary), and it most probably dates back to the early Sasanian period.