A critique on the use of Cut rock spaces in the northwest of Iran as Mehri temples

Northwest of Iran, due to its geographical location and political-religious and social situation throughout history, has been a suitable platform for the formation of handicrafts. In this area, various handicraft spaces with different uses have been discovered and identified so far. Among them, the handicraft spaces of the shrine are one of the healthiest and at the same time the most characteristic handicraft spaces. So far, research has been done in relation to these spaces and their use and chronology have been considered with more emphasis on the Mehri temples belonging to the Parthian period. However, the hypotheses put forward without scientific support are appropriate and there are not enough reasons to attribute them to the seal of worship. Accordingly, there is a need to study and review previous theories; Therefore, in the present study, three handicrafts of Imamzadeh Masoom, Abazar and Ghadmagah have been studied and re-evaluated on a case-by-case basis by the method of comparative studies and historical-interpretive analysis. This research seeks to answer the following basic questions; 1. What period do the mentioned handicraft spaces belong to in terms of chronology? 2. Which religious groups belonged to the studied Troglodytic Architecture shrines in terms of nature of use? In response to the above questions, the authors, based on archaeological research, stylistics of architectural elements, especially the coverage of spaces, landscape, historical studies, while rejecting the hypothesis of the altitude of these spaces, their chronology belongs to the Islamic era using Buddhist temples and monasterie.