A Review and Study of Decorative Motifs of Tombstones in Madar Zoleykhah Cemetery in Darreh Shahr

The decorative motifs of tombstones are a reflection of cultural, social and religious condition which manifest themselves in format of motifs such as bestial, human, geometrical motifs, inscriptions and symbolic patterns. Based on the field studies carried out, the old cemetery of Mar Zoleykhah (Madar Zoleykhah) in the city of Darreh Shahr, is one of the area where, in spite of erosion of its gravestones due to various reasons, it stills holds great importance and value from anthropological and artistic studies point of view. The main objectives of the present study are two categorize and differentiate the decorative motifs of Mar Zoleykhah (Madar Zoleykhah) cemetery and to present an analysis of the aforementioned decorative patterns on the tombstones based on anthropological studies.
The main research questions are:1. What kind of motifs have been portrayed on the tombstones of Mar Zoleykhah cemetery?
2. How this pattern can be explained according to the culture of the region?
The results show that based on the decorative motifs on the gravestones, they could be divided to the graves belonging to men and graves belonging to women. Decorative patterns on the tombstones of cemetery of Mar Zoleykhah include animal motifs (antelopes and horses), human designs, and inscriptions (indicating the religion, name, date of death and clan of the deceased person), religious sign designs (mohr (praying staff) and rosary), and unreligious motifs (tools of daily life). According to anthropological studies, each of these decorative motifs, alluding to the gender of the deceased, indicates the tribal culture of the area which are depicted despite the very limited space available on the tombstone. Present study is a descriptive-analytical study and based on field work and library resources.