Ancient Routes and Historical Face of Negin Kavir District of Fahraj Country (Cultural Landscape of Bam)

Fahraj is located in the southeast of Kerman Province and in a region on the southern margin of the Lut Desert known as Lut-e Zangi Ahmad. Before the recent studies, the historical background and face of this land was hidden in the shadow of the great magnificence of other regions such as Bam and its glorious citadel, Arg-e Bam. Most of the historical geographical texts of the early Islamic centuries have referred to Fahraj, which highlights its importance at that time. In the past, Fahraj was located on the ancient road connecting the Fars province to the eastern regions and was considered to be one of the areas linking the southwest of Iran to its more eastern zones. It also enjoyed particular splendor during that time, the remains of which are presently existing in the form of historical building, structures, and vast sites. This land was the meeting point of some important ancient routes which dated back to the Achaemenid period. These routes were active until the early and middle Islamic periods, and some of them are still being used. The present paper reports on the findings of the projects of”A Preliminary Study of the Castles in the Cultural Landscape of Bam” and “Investigating, Documenting, and Obtaining Archeological Evidence Pertaining to the Cultural Landscape of Bam”,which were implemented between 2012-2015. As a result of the conducted field studies in Fahraj, several artifacts and remains of the various cultural periods of this county, including those of the Epipaleolithic Period until the recent Islamic centuries, have been identified. In this study, through providing a description of ancient routes and introducing a number of historical remains and artifacts, the writers portray a part of the historical-cultural character of Fahraj county in Negin Kavir district. The Mehdiabad ‘Ulia (Awlia’) site, which measures more than 400 ha2, represents the remains of a city from the Achaemenid period. Chah-e Rigan region with an area of 6000 ha2, which is the vastest identified site related to the period between the Sassanid era and the fifth century AH, is located in the vast cultural landscape of Bam. The castles of Islamabad, which functioned as palaces or fire temples, and the castles(two-story castles or palaces) of Shahik village belong to the Sassanid period, and both play significant roles in the architectural studies of this era.