Revision of the Architecture of Aliabad Shamshirbar and Rahmatabad ChaharTaqis in Kerman based on new archaeological evidence

The function of architectural structures attributed to the Zoroastrian religion in the Sassanid period has always been accompanied by questions. Although CharTaqies which are the most religious structures of this period seem to be very similar, but by studying the architectural details it can be seen that these structures have a considerable variety. A large number of ChaharTaqis that have been identified so far are located in the south part of Iran, Fars and Kerman regions. However, Kerman ChaharTaqis due to their location in the remote areas are less known. Our knowledge about Sasanian religious architecture is limited to the investigations done by Vanden berghe in the 1960's. In this study, Aliabad and Rahmatabad ChaharTaqis which are located in the south-west part of Kerman province, in Orzouyeh County, both in architectural and religious typology will be studied based on new findings. First of all, the type of the architecture in these buildings will be studied. After that, in comparison with other similar structures and writing resources as well, their religious quality will be evaluated by the authors. This study, it is a fundamental research, with descriptive-analytical methodology and nature, while data collected bibliographically and following fieldwork. The results of this research indicate that some Chahar Taqis such as the Chahar Taqis studied in this research could be considered as a “Dadgah” fireplace in Sassanian period. This study due to the new architecture features of these ChaharTaqis describing in this paper and offering a new usage for them would be considerable.