پژوهش نامه انتقادی متون و برنامه های علوم انسانی
پیاپی 96 (آبان 1400)

While none of the possible historical sources of Achaemenid royal libraries are available to us, with the exception of Darius the Great’s inscription at Behistun and the Cyrus Cylinder, we do not have any other chronicle inscriptions of this period. A major part of the history of the Achaemenid era has been based on the information given from Greek and sometimes Jewish sources, which researchers often point out shortcomings, contradictions, and even their narrative nature. With the development and expansion of the new archeology since the 1960’s up to now, and exploring the most important Achaemenid centers, whose discoveries began about a century earlier, a large amount of inscriptional information as well as information derived from the interpretation of material culture made available to researchers. Among them, the discovery and reading of a significant number of tablets belonging to the Achaemenid administrative and economic archives of some states, such as Pars and Babylon, reveal new information on the Achaemenid administrative and economic mechanisms. In addition, through this information, researchers have been able to extract valuable information from court individuals, as well as socio-historical and Juridical trends, and even specialization in artistic events. According to them, Achaemenid history is brought closer to reality. The evolution of academic science from the middle of the twentieth century led to more specialized science, and social developments at that time also resulted in the formation of movements such as feminism and similar cases. The debates in these new branches have led the way to research into a wide range of history and have led to significant discoveries and perspectives. Maria Brosius is among the scholars who, according to this trend, presented their studies on Achaemenid women in the form of a doctoral thesis and then a book entitled “Women in Ancient Iran (331-559)”. This article reviews and criticizes this book along with one of its Persian translations.

The purpose of the settlement pattern analysis in archaeology is to study the relationship between settlements and analyze the impact of environmental and cultural variables on the distribution, displacement, and evolution of the settlements and population changes over time. These studies have been developed by using combined and interdisciplinary methods. But there are some criticisms regarding the published research works on the mentioned subject in Iran, including inaccuracy of the field survey methods, focusing only on relative chronology, total ignoring of interdisciplinary sciences, satellite and aerial photos, remote sensing methods, the size of sites, taphonomic processes, statistical analysis methods, theories and methods of spatial analysis, and economic factors. Accordingly, it is suggested here that the data collection and analysis could be done by using the combined method that considers the following items: the study of historical texts, full coverage survey of the region, and attention to off-site archaeology especially in Neolithic studies, regarding absolute chronologies before going through the settlement pattern analysis, analysis of animal and plant remains, soil analysis and geophysical methods, statistical analysis, use of models and analysis of economic relations between settlements, and finally, the spatial analysis of settlements based on up-to-date theories and models.

The book “Myths of Ancient Bactria and Margiana on its Seals and Amulets" is basically a catalog of seals and amulets of BMAC culture, which was obtained during illegal excavations and was auctioned in the antique market of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. All of these works have been documented by the author of the book, Sarianidi, one of the leading Russian archaeologists, and presented in English, along with a long article. The above work is one of the first publications of BMAC and since it was published in 1989, its study approach has been related to that time and also limited to the results and study hypotheses of the time of its compilation. Many of his hypotheses, especially about the origins of the people of this culture, and many others, need to be fundamentally reconsidered in light of recent research and findings. Since the above book is related to myths, in the present study, an attempt is made to critique and study it with an iconic approach and to explain and complete its study principles. The results indicate many strengths in terms of logical order of content, innovation and use of up-to-date sources compared to the time of compilation, as well as weaknesses in the archaeological foundations of Iran and in addition, strong weaknesses in specialized translation and editing.

The only translated book into Persian about the classification of archaeological chipped stones is one of the most important technical books named “Technology of Knapped Stone” by M. Louise-Inizan and colleagues. This book, which is a great source in English and French, is introduced and criticized in this article. Since the book is the only one of its kind available in Persian, its value for the sake of educational purposes is unequivocal, but the quality of the print in translated version is highly questionable regarding the layout, images quality, and graphic design. Another aspect that is criticized in this article is the quality of translation which has been discussed regarding the Persian equivalents chosen for the words describing lithics and the ambiguity of technical descriptions. As a result, proper selection and uniformization of the Persian equivalents of technical vocabulary are recommended.

This article tries to analyze and critique the book “Aesthetics of Photography”, according to set criteria. Francois Soulages, the author of this book, is an experienced professor in the field of aesthetics and philosophy of art in France. The book has an acceptable quality of print and published. There are few typographical errors, fluent prose, and footnotes, references, indexes, and bibliographies. Despite a few minor flaws, the book sounds well.  The translation of the book to Persian is also fine. Thematic variety and proper distribution of the book's contents in three general sections and 12 chapters have been done very cleverly. In terms of content, the book has been able to challenge the issues related to the aesthetics of photography from different perspectives and useful case studies. By constantly using the method of dialectical reasoning between conventional and unconventional metrics (in terms of type and time), Soulages has done very well in understanding the concepts of contemporary photographic aesthetics from the standpoint of a French expert and has been able to provide a useful perspective on contemporary aesthetic effects. The introduction of some influential photographers of late is also one of the desirable contributions of the book. The book contains very useful information for the university photography community in our country.

Bahram Beizayi is one of the most important artists in the field of drama in Iran. Nevertheless, after nearly 60 years of Beizai's artistic activity, and in the tumult of opponents and proponents of his works, what can be seen and heard is about what he says, not how he says: from mythological and historical critiques to feminist and political critiques that interpret his works in the politics of the time.  In this article, we try to examine 3 elliptical works including "The Eighth Voyage of Sindbad", " Reed Curtain" and "Facing Mirrors" from the perspective of narrative form. Elliptical screenplays are writings that are published before they can be made. From this perspective, we encounter a unique phenomenon that allows screenwriters to access, research and study the screenplay itself - even before the film is made. The way to explain and examine these works is to examine the narrative style and, in particular, the timing of the narrative, relying on the views of Gerard Genette, the French structuralist narrator. The purpose of this article is to study the relationship between time and causality as the basis of a narrative in Elliptical works and to explain how he views the universe, focusing on the form of his works.

From among the topics related to archaeology, archaeologists and researchers have always been interested in the archaeology of the Islamic era, as one the most diverse periods with currents regarding art, architecture, urbanism, etc. The present article intends to describe and review “An Introduction to Islamic Archaeology” by Marcus Milwright. This research aimed at archaeologically reviewing the Islamic era as one of the important areas in archaeology. The above-mentioned book introduces the Islamic period looking at the social and religious status, some monuments of the Islamic era, cultures, as well as customs and traditions. The current article seeks to review this work in terms of form and content. In such a review, the book is considered in three aspects: technically, structurally, and in terms of writing features. Then in the content review, the accuracy and validity of the material as well as the author’s deficiencies are addressed. The detailed review of this book indicates that despite its remarkable print quality and the relative fluency of the text, the book has several problems in some chapters. In terms of content, the book suffers from a number of drawbacks, for example, it fails to refer to first-hand sources, the images have no reference, there is no general structure for dynasties and governments of the Islamic period and finally, the contents are dispersed given the extensive scope of the subject matter.

Despite the prominent place of ancient Iranian civilizations in the study of the history of the Ancient Near East, it has been overshadowed by an overwhelmingly hostile press that is embedded in the European tradition originated in Greco-Roman sources. In fact, there are few works and authors who have not been affected by this negative west-centric approach. Maria Brosius’s book “The Persians” is one of the latest works dealing with the socio-cultural achievements of three great kingdoms of Pre-Islamic Iran, i-e Achaemenids, Parthians, and Sassanians taking an unbiased approach and up-to-date sources. The present article deals with the advantages and disadvantages of this book and the form and content of it will be examined within the framework of an academic review. The result of the present study indicates that in spite of many advantages of the book such as modernity, unbiased approach, coherent structure, logical order, simple and fluid text, and good translation, it has its own weak points just like any other compilation. Among the most important disadvantages of work can be lack of some significant chapters like Elamite, Median and Seleucid empire and absence of any discernable summary or conclusion.

In the prehistoric and pre-Islamic civilizations of Iran, human beings have used sculpture and iconography to express their needs and beliefs. These works show the attitude, culture, cover, religion, and progress in the life of the past in ancient Iran. These figurines included animals, humans, and even mythological and religious sculptures that were produced in each period according to the knowledge of the day with their own materials and methods. Each of these works had its own consumption and special application according to human needs at the same time and the changes in attitude, religion, beliefs, and daily life of the time made the figurines with different coverings, arrangements, decorations, exaggerations, and accents. The Iconography of pre-Islamic woman in Iran is a translation of two articles by Aurelie Daems, a Belgian researcher and archaeologist, published by Ali Akbar Vahdati in 2009. However, this book provides very useful and valuable information to researchers and archaeologists, but like any other scientific work, it has its drawbacks.

The settlement Archeology is a common method of analysis that uses scientific methods to study three important components, including individual structures, social settlement, and regional settlement. This method analyzes the relationship between environmental variables and livelihoods and social settlement, reconstructs the socio-economic organizations of past societies, and determines the size, function, distance, and relationship of settlements. The present study has succeeded in identifying more than 80 texts in the form of dissertations, thesis, and scientific-research and extension scientific articles that have directly and indirectly addressed this issue. Less attention to the basic issues and methods of the settlement archeology, and no use of paleontological research to identify environmental variables in the context of the ancient landscape, are the most important methodological and conceptual problems of the texts. To these problems must be added the poor utilization of scientific tools and methods such as Satellite and Aerial Photography, Archaeogeophysics, Virtual Reality, Geographic Information System (GIS) and Statistical Methods. Providing desirable research credits and playing the role of related institutes and universities are among the most important strategies for the correct and scientific implementation of this method.

This research is a critique of “How to use your eyes” by James Elkins. He is an important theorist of art historiography with a critical view of traditional theories about art history. The book's subject is "observation". Elkins carefully observes a wide range of visual phenomena in two main categories: man-made and natural, which have different dimensions: historical, artistic, technological, linguistic, cultural, social or completely natural. He intends to teach correctly seeing. Here, the main question is about pattern forms the book basis and tries to extract his mental pattern by analyzing various book elements. The initial assumption is that the author specializes in visual studies of art history, has indirectly proposed the qualities ideas and how art historian activity dealing with various phenomena in art and culture. Therefore, his writings and basic theories have been explored. The research shows that many cases related to observation can be adapted to activities and different approaches in the historical art research and some of the main views of the author can be identified beyond them. For Elkins, correct observation free from the defined formats is the key to und erstand art history. In his opinion, history cannot be perceived only by studying art works. Observations of other visual phenomena in today's culture can deepen its understanding. Different expertise and knowledge are required.

Inlay is one of the traditional arts related to wood with a variety of designs, which is not very popular today. The construction of Inlay, especially the Gereh Inlay, has been important since the Safavid period, and this method has been used in the construction of Inlay until the contemporary period. It is important to pay close attention to the research and critique its published sources in the field of research Which will bring about achievements such as introduction, presentation, and pathology. The deficiency of specialized information among the few published articles is Tangible and visible. The article on “The Study of Making Method and Golbandi Gereh Panj Inlay” has been published in the Scientific Research Quartely  Negareh Journal by Maryam Akbarzadeh and Mohammad Sadegh Mirza Abolghasemi in Autumn1397, No.47and pages 82-95 with the intention of examining Gereh Panj Inlay. The necessity to critique and evaluate this article indicates the importance of Gereh Inlay and emphasizes the publication of specialized and accurate information about Gereh Inlay. Gereh Inlay, with a rich background, is less important today for a number of reasons, including the difficulty of preparing the raw materials for the manufacturing process. Therefore, addressing the end of the Gereh and documenting it have been among the importance of research topics. This study tries to criticize this article, which has been done in content and scientific form, it also tries to explain the shortcomings, though few, in the specialized stages of making Gereh Panj Inlay.

Mitsukuni Yoshida, a former professor and director of Kyoto University, is one of the Japanese researchers in the field of Persian Pottery studies who has traveled to various historical and archeological sites in Iran and also Hormoz Island in the 1960s. He has written his findings on the history and techniques of creating Persian Pottery in the form of a book entitled “In the Search of Persian Pottery”. In this article, by reviewing the present book as a worthwhile source in the field of Persian Pottery History, the author's perception of the evolution of this ancient art and the type of his encounter with the category of stylistics Persian Pottery has been reviewed. On this basis, Yoshida's view was not only to describe his observations of Persian Pottery, but also to study the stylistics and works of Persian Pottery in terms of recognizing their cultural and linguistic origins. Considering his membership in the Japan Anthropological Institute, his treatment of the anthropological aspects of the art of Pottery in this work is not far off. Also, the role of cultural commonalities of the Oriental countries in shaping his attitude towards Pottery and Persian Pottery as an Oriental researcher is important.

The history of silent cinema is, in one sense, a record of the struggles, sufferings, victories, and failures that have been instrumental in achieving what we know today as cinema and its rules and attributes. It is also about the historical narratives that have been polished and expanded our understanding of the silent era over time. This book is a combination of two separate books by Liam Olieri and Paul Schroder Rodriguez, a concise, compelling narrative of those early years. The first book, by Liam Olivier, is dedicated to the history of silent cinema in Western countries, and the second, written by Paul Rodrigues, analyses the history of that time in Latin America. This article attempts to look at the omissions and shortcomings of the book in the Persian version to show which parts of it are repetitive and inconsistent and which ones are useful, fresh, and informative for readers.

Today the design development and management of its process has become increasingly important. Based on the book review model, this article examines and critiques a book in the field of design development and planning with the aim of recognizing the features of design texts. “The Design Brief book” contains a collection of discussions, lectures and seminars by a well-known director and consultant of design strategies in the field of organizational identity management. The book content is written in two general sections: Design brief and design management. This descriptive-analytical study pays attention to the visual and technical characteristics of the book as well as the meaning of the content text. Considering the visual literacy of book’s audience, the color combination of the cover, lettering, and page layout of the book, needs to be revised and edited. Also, the lack of visualization and image tools leads to poor functioning and less attractiveness of the pages. The findings of the research in the study of the text indicate that the content of the book lacks an analytical approach to the subjects. The thematic relationship between the content of some chapters is not sufficiently coherent, although it does include some key points in the design of cryptographic design and design management.

As an enthused group in the late Umayyad period, the Abbasids sought to mobilize their resources in the engagement with the ruling dynasty by presenting a new ideology, viz. the so-called Summon System, and undertook significant actions in enticing anti-Umayyad elements to bring them under the unified patronage promoted by the slogan “al-Riza min Al-e Muhammad.” The book “The Rise and Fall of the Abbasids (132‒324 AH): A Research into the Structure and Evolution of the Ideology, Economics and Military Institution” is an authored work by Mohammad Ahmadi Manesh, published by the SAMT Publications in 2018. The author has fittingly organized the book in the two sections of “A Historical Inquiry” (consisting of eight chapters) and “A Theoretical Inquiry” (comprising two chapters), producing a worthwhile work. The present article attempts to review the volume, pinning down and examining its strengths and shortcomings. At any rate, as a result of the lack of due care and laxity, the volume suffers somewhat from occasional shortfalls, among them being the choice of the title “The Fall and Down…,” and a series of points that are made in the Introduction but are not reflected in the text, not to mention the author’s failure to address the complexities involved in the Abbasid rule and to adopt a holistic approach to their rise to power, particularly in Khorasan.

Parvaneh Pourshariati’s study, “Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire. The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran”, is a substantial investigation that offers a novel perspective supported by a great number of details and data from multiple disciplines. This book has received various receptions in the scholarship. The paper is dedicated to the reexamination of three conceptual constituents in the Pourshariati’s narrative: first, her master thesis concerning the confederation nature of the Sassanid state. Second, the religious-cultural differences among the Persians and the Parthians. Third, the chronology of the Futuh. Through a critical-analytic approach, the authors argue that opposing Pourshariati’s master thesis, there seem to be sequential periods of centralization and de-decentralization in the Sassanid Empire. Furthermore, we discuss that, in spite of Pourshariati’s interesting idea about the religious differences between Pārsīg and Pahlaw, her argument is not justified.

Pottery is one of the most prominent aspects of Islamic crafts which flourished in both production and decoration. According to the archaeological pieces of evidence the Kūbāchi wares have been spread from Khorasan to Tabriz and it ever-known centers of production were Isfahan, Kerman, Neyshabur, Mashhad and Tabriz. The book of “The Pottery Known as Kūbāchi” is the newest and the possibility most prominent written source about this subject, which argues the archaeological aspects of these wares. This paper aims to introduce the book and review its structure and contents. The first step of review had been started with structural aspects and the process of the narration, and then the content. One of the strengths of this book is the concentration on the various archaeological aspects of this type of pottery. Besides, it can be mentioned that the book could be more attractive to the audience if the documentation and references were more precise. There are some other deficiencies in the typology and categorizing the potteries, those can be edited by the author.

Professor Robin Dennell is one of the most well-known Paleolithic archaeologists with a specialty on Asia. His recent book, published by Routledge Publication in 2020, is a good example of borrowing ecological and biological concepts, and in particular, invasion biology in archaeology. The focus of this book is on the dispersal of Middle and Upper Paleolithic hominins and the dynamism of their range expansion/contraction in Asia. In the book, our species, modern human, is introduced as an invasive species from an ecological point of view; because such groups quickly settled across the whole ancient continent and in doing so, others, such as Neanderthals became extinct. This occurrence put an end to the biological diversity of the genus Homo forever. Due to its comprehensiveness, the use of the most up-to-date evidence and publications, as well as the interdisciplinary approaches, the book is a must-read for Paleolithic archaeologists interested in the mobility of human populations, landscape archaeology, the exodus of modern humans out of Africa, and the resultant colonization of Asia.

Explaining the basics and knowing the alphabet of each phenomenon is necessary to understand the concepts, content foundations, and existential philosophy. This is especially important in the field of humanities and has been considered by contemporary thinkers. Due to its geographical extent and semantic values, Islamic art has certain theoretical and practical principles that are very similar to the basis of traditional arts. The compiler of the book "Theoretical Foundations" has tried to explain the principles, principles and concepts of this art by combining the knowledge and opinion of experts and researchers active in various fields of Islamic art into a credible and valid scientific text. In this article, while introducing the published sections and articles, describing and interpreting the main themes mentioned in each text, it has been criticized and evaluated. The findings of this critical study indicate that the unity of existence and the existence of common and hidden beliefs in all works show a semantic continuity and dependence on a single origin. The publication of the book "Theoretical Foundations" in order to introduce the characteristics and moral, value and mystical views of Islamic art is a useful step that has been made available to researchers, students and enthusiasts in this field today as a valid and reliable source.