A Historical Archaeology of the Zoroastrian Societies in Maybod (Yazd): A Preliminary Report of Archaeological Survey in the Mazra’e Kalantar and Hassan Abad Villages

A joint team from University of Tehran and Leicester University carried out a first season of archaeological exploration of Zoroastrian societies in Maybod of Yazad province during May of 2016 for two weeks. Historical archaeology is in its infant stage in Iran while most of data in nowadays due to the modernity has been disappeared and therefore, any researches can be considered as salvage program. The aim of this research is to answer some historical archaeology approach concerning social history and ritual activities of the last communities of Zoroastrian societies of Yazd province based on the analysis of architectural layout and ethnographic data. In this paper we represent the preliminary report of the survey results of Mazra’e Kalantar and Hassan Abad villages. In this paper we have clarified the architectural patterns and the typology of buildings of Zoroastrian communities. We have analyzed two different buildings types of religious and domestic spaces of Mazra’e Kalantar and Hassan Abad villages. The second part of this paper has focused on the ethnographic results in order to achieve a holistic understanding of life experience based on the historical knowledge of native people. The second season of this project will help us to focus more on the cultural interaction of the present and past societies of the above mentioned region.