نشریه پیام باستان شناس
پیاپی 13 (بهار و تابستان 1389)

Nowadays, constructive activities such as dam construction, villages and cities development and etc. are some of the main human factors in destroying many of archaeological sites. By the same token, during road construction in Buin Zahra- Sagz Abad, transit axis widening project in Qazvin province, southern parts of Maya tepe which have been located in road boundary would be destroyed. Therefore, urgent excavation of mentioned site was implanted in fall 1389 by an archaeological expert of cultural heritage organization of Qazvin city. Maya tepe is located in 5/5 km of the west of Buin Zahra City and in northern side of Buin Zahra- Sagz Abad axis and is an important site due to its particular location which is near to prehistoric sites of Qazvin plain such as Charbone, Zagheh, Ghabrestan and Sagz Abad. During the excavation in 10 trenches 2×2 meters and with preliminary researches about obtained results specially ceramic typology, within a semi-permanent settlement pattern, this site has a culture from late Neolithic I and early late Neolithic II (end of the first half of the sixth millennium BC), whose similar cultures in Qazvin plain have been identified in Charbone and Ebrahim Abad sites. In this paper, findings and results of an urgent excavation are presented and ultimately a comparative chronology of Maya Tepe is presented.

Zanjan province, especially Abhar Rud basin, located in the middle of three cultural-geographical zones of the central plateau, west and northwest of Iran, is an important but unknown region as far as archeological studies are concerned. Climatic features, unique geographical situation and the exceptional location of the region on the natural pathway from the central plateau to northwest of Iran, have made this region attractive to all human groups from very old times. The geographical situation and location clearly explains why Abhar Rud basin is significant in archeological studies of Iran. However, we have little information on the changes that the region has undergone during prehistoric eras and about its relations with other cultural regions. Therefore, doing archeological researches, especially regional surveys, seem necessary. Knowing about the settlements pattern of the region can help us understand the interactions between this region and its neighboring culturalgeographical regions. Thus archeological surveys in the basin were carried out in two seasons between the years of 1382 and 1384. The surveys provided us with valuable information about the history of the settlements in the region. Here we will present the results of the archeological surveys carried out in the region and we will try to analyze them. 

Within the irrigation of Talvar storage Dam, constructed on the river Talvar, a 30-kilometer-length lake would be created. Consequently, a large number of the archeological site would be flooded. Thus, it was necessary to perform some studies and discoveries around this Basin. After recognizing and identifying the archeological sites, the discovering around the key areas and sites was started. Tel No. 11 was excavated with the basic aim of saving and achieving the archeological information. This site was excavated during one season through stratigraphy and in a horizontal way. In these excavations, some works of Chalcolithic and historical Parthian periods were obtained which paved the way for the possibility of performing some comparative studies as well as understanding cultural interactions in this area. With regards to the conducted comparisons, most of the cultural exchanges of Chalcolithic period in this area have been with Zanjan and Takestan regions. However, these infra-regional interactions with Dalma cultural areas in Central Zagros and NorthWest could be observed. The ceramics related to this area, in Parthian Period, reveal the features of Iran’s west region. 

Pileh Qaleh is a settlement site in Roudbar region of Gilan Province and it is located in 500 meters from the well-known Marlik cemetery. Nearly 50 years ago, the site was extensively excavated by Dr. Negahban. Based on limited published information, this site has remains from Iron Age, Historical and Islamic periods. But the findings from this excavation have not been published yet. A part of these findings is a pottery collection from trench M that is being maintained in National Museum of Iran. In this article, the Iron Age pottery from this trench is introduced and studied. The pottery belongs to the Iron Age I, of Roudbar region, and has many parallel indicator types with important sites such as Marlik, Ghalekuti, Lamehzamin and Lasulkan. 

Due to the lack of enough information for studying the long period of Parthians, the coins are the best sources of information. There is a direct relation between elemental analysis of coins and the economic and political conditions at the period of their minting. In the current study, 12 silver coins including 8 samples from the period of Mitridat I and 4 samples from the period Mitridat II are analyzed using XRF. This test showed that at the period of Mitridat I the amount of silver in the coins was 90/863 to 96/869 percent. This large amount of silver in the coins indicates the opulence of Parthians which was the outcome of mastering the Mesopotamia trading path and pillages obtained by plundering the rich temples of Elimaid. The test on the samples of Mitredat II period reveals that the amount of silver in the coins varies from 95/671 to 65/995 percent. This significant reduction in silver content from last years of Mitriedat II period is the result of Gutares independence (who overpowered Babel and its trading path) and losing Susa. Losing these rich areas caused economic problems for Parthia ns at that period. Due to the shortage of silver, mints decreased the amount of silver used in the coins and replaced it with copper. 

Archaeologists always pay attention to human and animal remains to understand manners of living in prehistoric societies. Rate concentration of Strontium in human skeletons from prehistoric societies is one of sources to study these societies. Rate concentration of this element in archeological skeletons gives us information about social conditions of prehistoric societies’ inhabitants. For many years, archaeological human skeletons had been studied for understanding social situation in human societies.

Soghdi Language is one of the ancient Middle East languages that have left us with a treasure of words and texts. Unfortunately, though this language was the only interface one in the Silk Road at that time, there only exists one of its dialects in the small part of Tajikestan in Yaghnab Vally – as Yaghnabi language. This article has intended to show if there is a link between Soghdi's language with other Iranian languages like Avestan or Median Farsi and so on, in terms of word formation  to see if the words are simple, derivative or combined. Then Soghdi's Language is compared with Yaghnaby's regarding grammatical and meaning in simple expressions and suffixes of an expression in sentences.

First, in this study, Khwarazmi's handwriting and language as well as their sources in Ancient and Middle time and after rising of Islamin in Transoxiana and its remaining works would be considered. Then the characteristics and traits of khwarazmi's language will be beheld and compared with one of the important middle Iranian's language, (i.e. Soghdi's language). Anywhere in this study, these two languages will be compared, both in grammatical and expressional aspects, and their combinations will be indicated as much as possible. On the other hand, it is attempted to express unique grammatical features that only belong to Khwarazmi's language such as: dedicated rule, the principle of seeking protrusive or chancellery, extensions and sequences and so on. At the end, there are some common samples of Soghdi and Khwarazmi's expressions representing the Middle Eastern group of Iranian languages with Pashto language that were remnants of Khwarazmi's language representing the connection among these languages.