New Evidence for the Architectural Structure of the Second and First Millennium BC Settlement Sites in the Southwestern Coast of Caspian Sea (Gilan)

Attention to the Architecture of the second and first millennium B.C. in Guilan, province is the subject of the many recent field works and studies, provided information on the situation of the residents of Gilan in this period. In this paper, we try to make a brief introduction about settlement sites such as Pilla Qale, Kaluraz in Roudbar and Sardkhoonipesht in Talish areas. We introduce the characteristics of the architectural remains found from new excavated sites in Guilan, including Oskulak in Roudbar, Kafarestan of Dailaman and Liarsangbon complex in Amlash which are belonged to the second and first millennium B.C. According to comparative studies on pottery and relative chronology presented, these three sites have had evidences of permanent and semi-permanent architecture from the mid second millennium to the late first millennium B.C. The most important properties of settlements and architectural structures of these sites in the second and first millennium B.C. were included as: building with or sometimes without foundation, using stone and sometimes mud in the construction of walls, ordering wall with or sometimes without mud mortar, the rectangular living spaces with fastening at the angles but far from proportionality geometric, making platforms for establishing the settlements, flooring with trampling or burning method in order to prevent moisture penetration, using wooden beams as columns or roof covering and fitting thermal structures in the interior of residential spaces.