Tas Tape: A Parthian Site in Khorasan Based on Field Evidence and Preliminary Results

Iran's eastern borders have been constantly affected by various events, especially the arrival of different ethnic groups in Central Asia in the form of migration or invasion. However, ancient sources provide researchers with little knowledge of such events, and this little information is specific to incidents that were widely considered a threat to the central government of Iran. Therefore, written sources do not answer the questions of archaeologists on political, military, various urban planning, and cultural interactions of Iran with its eastern neighbors. On the other hand, extensive and continuous field research that purposefully answers such questions has been limited and scattered. One of these researches is the purposeful activities that have been carried out in the middle part of the Kopet Dag -Aladagh corridor in the north of Khorasan in the last decade; and this has become the basis for the formation of other research by other researchers in this geographical area (albeit limited). "Tas Tape" is one of the sites in the northeast of Iran. Its location is in the middle part of the Kopet Dag -Aladagh corridor and the east of Quchan city. According to the results of two seasons of field research, this site is one of the important sites of the Parthian period that has been settled until the Sassanid period. Around Tas Tape, a large settlement site was identified during additional studies after archeological surveys in Quchan city. The existence of questions about the synchronicity of the settlement with the fort hill, how the two parts are related to each other, and the continuation of life until the Sassanid period led to the definition of a long-term research project to answer the questions and better understand this ancient monument. This article is based on the research conducted in the first season of this site, which includes reviewing the area of the site, geomagnetic surveys, and sounding for delimitation of the Tas Tape site. The results of this season include the identification of a site from the Parthian period with an area of 80 hectares, which consists of two parts: a) Fort mound b) Unenclosed settlement. According to preliminary results, the settlement probably was only in the Parthian period, but the fort hill was used until the Sassanid period. The Clinky pottery is the most significant cultural find on this site in terms of chronology and distribution of this type of pottery. The location of this site is also very remarkable because it is the link of the north of Kopet Dag sites, including Nisa, into the Iranian plateau.