Cultural Characteristics of North-Western Iran during Parthian Period With a View to Findings of the Second Season of Explorations in the Old Mound of Pāsgāh Tappeh Si

The North Western part of Iran belonged to the semi-autonomous province of Atropatene. The region witnessed several political and cultural events and developments during the Parthian Period; however, in its study and exploration, we are in short of cultural material relating to this period, a fact also admitted by Herring and Kāmbakhshfard. In the course of the past two decades, numerous field studies and researches have been conducted in the region investigation of whose findings will provide us with a clearer understanding of the Parthian rule in the North West of Iran. The issue at point is the old mound of Pāsgāh Tappeh Si which was explored in parallel with the project for saving the dam of Khodā-āfarin and other areas in two seasons. As a result of the material poverty of the region during the Parthian Period, the material and data derived from the region will definitely be able to fill, though partially, some of the gaps and material as well as cultural ambiguities and the manner of cultural interactions in the region. To this end, authors of the present article, have endeavored to introduce and carry out a comparative study of the findings of the Parthian Period belonging to this period together with other regions which were concurrent with it, with the aim to take an effective step in the qualitative and quantitative study of the data and the amount of bilateral interactions in the North West of Iran and the neighboring regions during the Parthian Period.