Archaeological Survey and Test Excavations in Defensive Fortifications of Mozdoorān and Kalāt-e Nāderi

The valley to the north of Hezar Masjed-Kopet Dagh mountains serve as the northern barriers of the Iranian Plateau, witnessing over the millennia many conflicts between the nomadic people of Central Asia and the settled people of the Iranian Plateau. The Hezar Masjed-Kopet Dagh  heights is tantamount to a wall to the north of Khorasan, protecting the people of Khorasan from invading northern hoards. However, mountain passes provided a passage that allowed the steppe-dwelling nomads penetrate and plunder the fertle, irrigated farms in the southern foothills of mountain range. It was along these passes that the people of Khorasan built defensive fortifications. Kalat-e Naderi and Mozdooran are two highland forts that guarded these passages.  In Autumn 2016, a joint Iranian-British team surveyed and recorded a major section of these fortifications. Combining the information from historical sources with archaeological finds, as well as dating of the remains indicate that building defensive structures has been going on in this region for a long time. While we can extract some information from Pahlavi sources and the 19th century photographs point to pre-Islamic constructions, the results of archaeological work point to post-Afsharid period.