نشریه پژوهه باستان سنجی
پیاپی 1 (بهار و تابستان 1394)

Kandovan historical village, in the vicinity of Osku town is one of the most important attractive sites in East Azerbaijan province which is outstanding and prominent due to the hewn-cut house of rock skirt of the Sahand volcano. This site has been registered in 1998 on the national cultural heritage list of Iran. Kandovan rocky architecture, from geological point of view, is on the surfaces of a thick ignimbrite layer that this layer, due to natural weathering and erosion along the main joints and discontinuities of Kandovan valley, has created conical forms and structures. According to the existing theory, Kandovan village was inhabited and settled in these conical buildings since the Ilkhanid era. Recent developments on rock decay in rock-cut architecture of the Kandovan historical village, have heightened the need for recognizing the role of different factors of weathering process on this site. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to assess the effect of inherent vice as a fundamental factor in deterioration patterns. For this purpose, field and laboratory investigations like sampling and observation, characterization with thin section petrography and X-ray diffraction analyzes, along with the measurement of physical properties and durability of rock in rocky houses, the role of inherent vice rock with intensity of rock mass Kandovan weathering has been done. Nowadays, intensity of decay and weathering in Kandovan village rocks causes of poor living conditions, ruination, and seasonal residence or nonresidential conditions. Based on the rock characterization, water absorption, dry density, total porosity content, saturation coefficient, slake durability and experiment for resistance to freezing-thawing demonstrated that Kandovan ignimbrite rock have poor durability and high sensitive to predisposing factors to deterioration such as wetting and drying and freezing-thawing cycles. The collection of these inherent properties causes of the internal structure to be non-resistance to the tensions arising from the impact of climate cycles. The local climate could be considered (or suggested) as the main reason of weathering and erosion of this rocky architecture.

In many cases it may be thought, corrosion products cover the unique characteristics of ancient metal objects that are desirable to display. While the scientific point of view, the corrosion products as well as metal substrates are important and maintain the original topography of metal that have been replaced.
In technical studies of the historical metal objects, the dense layers of corrosion products are of particular interest due to technical values ​​inherent in them. In the present research, a few metal objects from different historical sites of Iran are studied with the main aim of finding technical evidences recorded in the corrosion layers. For this purpose optical and scanning electron microscopy techniques and instrumental methods of analysis were used. Decuprification phenomenon and the fossilized structure, recorded in the corrosion layers, remaining metallic and non-metallic inclusions and evidence of the occurrence of Microscopic segregation or coring phenomenon, evidence of the occurrence of annealing twin lines, cyclical deposition of copper oxide and secondary copper corrosion products and A similar layer structure of copper and tin oxides as Unusual phenomenon, crystallized salts, a shift of the initial tin-enriched layer, Evidence of the occurrence of ferrite-pearlite structure in magnetite corrosion product of steel objects and carbon content gradient in ferrous alloys were the results of the studies. According to this, scientific study of corrosion layers of metal objects is very important in the analysis of Corrosion behavior of objects and study of their microstructure and method of production. So this scientific information is important in archaeometry studies. There are many signs, determine the position of original surface of objects. Evaluation of corrosion layers to identify the symptoms and distribution of them before cleaning of objects is necessary. In conclusion, emphasis is made on the need for designing a model for the study of corrosion processes at the archaeological sites. A correct policy is necessary to consider the information obtained from archeological studies, conservation and related sciences and to provide objectives and different priorities for future researchers in their research or conservation programs.

Context of the archaeological findings is an important part of these artifacts and many useful information, regarding the provenance, application and dating of findings must be determined considering the characteristic of corresponding context. In some cases, the context of an historical objects is missing and hence, the accuracy of the information regarding the historical object is unsatisfactory. However, some types of laboratory experiments are able to provide the required information regarding the archaeological context of the object. In this study, it was tried to find the context of five gray Iron Age pottery pieces belong to the Museum of Ancient Iran. In order to identify and measure the elements in sediments and body of the samples, inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) technique was used. Also, to identify the anions present in sediments on the samples, ion chromatography (IC) technique was employed. The results showed that, the sample MB-1 and MB-2, on the basis of elements present, have the same context, where the specifications are very close to the cemetery. Also, based on the high concentrations of calcium carbonate deposits in the chemical composition of MB-3, this sample could be related to the kitchen or floor of a residential area. Regarding the samples termed MB-4 and MB-5, as the results of elemental analysis showed the presence of some elements such as potassium, magnesium, iron, and titanium and, a positive correlation of these elements with each other, as well as a negative correlation between potassium and magnesium with Si, the context ought to be associated with fire, such as oven and grill found in the kitchen. Results of polarized light microscopy (PM) also showed a close correlation and structural similarity based on the type of tempering with gray earthenware tempering, traditionally used during the Iron Age, which are clay minerals having relatively smooth and homogeneous texture in all the samples.

Shahr-I Sokhta is a historical settlement in south-eastern of Iran in the province of sistan-baluchestan, where the first settlement history goes back to 3200 BC. The results of excavations show four cultural-settlement period (I-IV) in this city that is divided into 11 phases. Period (II) goes back to 2500-2800 BC. The history of period (III) is equivalent to 2300-2500 BC, and history of period (IV) is suggested between 1750 and 1800 BC. This archaeological site is located 57 km from Zabol-Zahedan road. This site is registered as seventeenth heritage of Iran in UNESCO. One of the prominent features of this archaeological area is the existence of a lot of pottery shards on the surface of hills. Most of these pottery shards are buff color and have extensive domain from light buff to brick and greenish. Also, red and grey potteries have put in the next classification which the number of them is so little. Archaeological excavations carried out in this site pulled out thousands of pottery shards from the soil that are mostly buff-colored pastes. Also, among the pottery remnants of this 150 hectare site, clay pottery with red and gray paste have been seen. Archaeologists believe that most of the buff pottery shards are locally made. Hence, to determine whether this hypothesis is true, a scientific analysis was done to determine the chemical compositions of the pottery shards. In this paper, 15 pottery sample have been selected which all of them belong to settlement period II-III and goes back to 2200-2800 BC. The samples was tested using instrument analysis XRF to determine the major and trace elements of these potteries. The results analyzed using hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) to specify pieces of pottery in two group local and nonnative. The results show that most of pottery is locating in a specific group with name of production group, where the samples no. 18259-9, 18265-10, 18266-13, 18273-4, 18271-15 are not locally made and located in another group. Based on the instrumental results, red and grey pottery are not related to Shahr-I Sokhta and probably these potteries are imported from another place.

Obsidian artifacts is frequently used materials in prehistory and found widely in archaeological sites. Provenance studies of obsidian has been an issue of intense research and debate between archaeologists and geologists. Since different provenance studies has been carried out from 1960s up to 2015 in Anatolia and Caucasus but obsidian studies in Iran is in very early stage and consider as terra incognita. Recent research on obsidian mines in Iran accompanying by prehistoric obsidian provenance studies give this opportunity to establish of a database, as well as outlining a horizon and perspective for obsidian studies in Iran. This paper will try to discuss about old and new researches on obsidian studies in Iran. After a brief introduction of obsidian studies in Anatolia and Caucasus by Renfrew, Cann and Dixon, the paper addresses some recent researches that took place concerning obsidian provenance studies in Iran. Additionally this study also look for have a review and survey on obsidian sources in Iran as well as obsidian artifacts from sites like Kul Tepe Hadishah, Dava Goz Khoy, East Chia Sabz, Choga Gholan, Tepe Boinou, surveyed sites of East of the Lake Urmia, Typical sites like Yanik, Hasanlu, Pisdeli, and relationship and comparison of ancient obsidian artifacts with known sources in order to studying obsidian sources and provenance of obsidian artifacts in Iran. This research proved that most of the analyzed obsidian artifacts of Iranian archaeological sites originated and imported from Caucasus and Anatolia in line with long-term inter-regional trade, although a handful of obsidian mines and sources have been brought to light in NW Iran that could be considered as second part of the raw material to supply the demands of local and indigenous communities of the prehistory of Iran. The implications of the findings will discuss along with limitations and future research directions.

Study of cultural and historical materials excavated from the archaeological excavation is one of the most important goals of Archaeometry, in order to answer a lot of questions in archaeology. In this regard, elemental analysis is important factors in the realization of this aim. Numerous analytical methods have been used for this purpose traditionally. Among them, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) methods, inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy (ICP-MS) or neutron activation analysis (INAA) can be noted. In recent years, the use of portable X-ray fluorescence instrument is one of the ways that has been received a lot of attention and is expanding and improving continuously. The good accuracy as well as fieldwork possibility of this non-destructive method has led it to increasingly attains more popularity. In particular, this method has been used more and more in classification and provenance study of pottery and stone artifacts. Although very few institutions in Iran, including Tehran Art University, have access to this tool but due to the unique features of this device, it seems that its use will be expanded in next year’s. This paper attempts to give a general idea about this technique to the researchers and students, and review its advantages, limitations and application in cultural heritage purposes. There is almost no any other portable analytical tool, which is become so familiar and user-friendly like portable XRF. As this technique is actually a surface analysis and penetration x-ray is limited to some millimeter, the target surface must be free of likely contaminations. However it would help researchers in different fields studies like museum studies, Archaeometry, archaeology, geoarchaeology or conservation of artifact. In theory, all elements except H & He could be identified with this technique. However, identification of light elements with low atomic numbers is very hard. With using a new generation of silicon drift detectors, it is possible that elements from Mg (Z=12) to U (Z=92) be detected. Besides qualitative studies, this instrument has been used widely for quantitative analysis. Classification and provenance studies are the main application of this tool in archaeology. With appropriate calibration and statistical methods reliable results would be acquired. Some examples of ancient potteries from Zanjan are given in this issue. Clustering test (CA) and principle component analysis (PCA) are the two most used statistical methods in interpretation of quantitative results of XRF.