Archaeological Study of Parthian Habitats in Sefid-rud Rudbar Valley

With seven cities, four districts, and 2514 square kilometers, Rudbar city is the largest city in the south of Gilan province. Environmental capabilities such as crossing the Sefid-rud River through the central part of Rudbar and being located in the connection route of the Central Plateau with northern Iran have long made this region the focus of groups and human communities. Hence, it has led to the scattering of countless sites throughout the region in the form of hills, cemeteries, and ancient sites. Between 2006 and 2010, among the 45 sites studied in the studied area, 19 sites from the Parthian period were identified with the cultural materials of this period. Descriptively and in the field, the present study has examined the topography, geographical location, access roads, and water resources of the works, as well as the cultural materials and pathology of the sites. Most of the surveyed areas include cemeteries and several small settlements. Limitation of environmental potentials is one of the most important factors that have prevented the formation of cities and large population centers in the region. Given the existence of pastures, forests, and water resources, it seems that the life of the people of this region at the same time as agriculture was based on animal husbandry. Additionally, the common way of life has been semi-nomadic (vertical style). Along a valley from the lowest to the highest point above sea level, the similarity of pottery and burials illustrates this well. In this study, most of the pottery of historical and Parthian periods was obtained in red, orange, dark brown, and generally polished, respectively. Most burials have simple pits, stone tumulus, catacombs, stone framed, and sometimes megaliths and jars. Comparable to other contemporaries, these burials are such as Vaskeh, Maian Rud, Maryan of Talesh and Rezvanshahr, and Coty deylaman Castles, Shahpir, Kaluraz, Juben and Chereh of Rudbar in Gilan, Germi in Azerbaijan and Biston in western Iran. The earthenware pieces of the sites are often polished and divided into two types, simple and decorative. The number of decorative pottery pieces was more than other species