فصلنامه اثر
پیاپی 84 (بهار 1398)

Karaftu ancient castle and cave are located in the northwest of Iran and in a mountainous region between Saqhez and Takab in Kurdistan province, Iran. For the first time, an English physician and surgeon in the early nineteenth century, John Cormick, visited the Cave. The famous English explorer Sir Robert Ker Porter also visited the cave using Cormick’s notes and made a map and a copy of the Greek inscription.  After him, various scholars of various nationalities, translated the Greek inscription, or reviewed the cave, and provided photographs and reports with details, but archaeological excavations were postponed in this place for nearly two centuries. In the summer of 1997, the first archaeological team, in collaboration with the Cultural Heritage Bureau of the Kurdistan province, excavated this cave, and then the exploration and organizing operations continued in three seasons. The study of site and the adjoining areas indicated the ritual use, and temporary residence of humans from prehistoric times to the present. This paper aimed to analyze the archaeological evidence obtained in the field study performed in 1997 from the C floor and especially the well in one of the rooms. The findings point to the ritual use of this well.

Shrines are important in architecture and Iran culture in Islamic era. These buildings have different names based on the shape and function. The most important of these names include tower, cupola, monument, shrine, Imam shrine, Step, tombstone, tombs, burial, mourning and similar terms refer to a building that is placed on a grave. In the past, for graves, terms such as “Nahoft” (cache), “goorgah” and “goorjay” (both meaning place of grave) were also used, which was and indoor place with the grave placed inside it. Monument of Mir Heidar Esfandagheh is one of these places that is made on Mir Heidar’s grave, one of the mystics and elders of the tribe Mehni and of Abu Said Abolkheir descendants. The building is in the village of Dolatabad Esfandagheh from Jiroft city district and it belongs to the Safavid period. From inside the building map is crossover which in the top becomes eight sides and eight arcades and then round dome built on it. The tomb has bed decorations, geometric and arabesque with the Shah Abbas painting. The main question is, what are the architectural and decorative elements of the grave, and are similar to which buildings in terms of     spatial structure and plan? The purpose of this paper is to investigate the architectural structure, decorative and artistic elements of the graveyard. The results showed that this building in terms of plan is similar to the monumental monuments such as the tomb of Mulla Hassan Kashi and Akhund Kouhbanani, Farfan Isfahan, Nask and Keshit of Golbaf. This paper studied the art and structure of Mir Heidar tomb. To achieve this goal, the architecture and details of this tomb were identified, introduced and analyzed. Data collection was performed in the field and library and data analysis was conducted based on inductive reasoning.

Gilgamesh is the oldest epic poem in the world, one of the most popular heroes of Mesopotamia and the semi-celestial kingdom of the second millennium BC in Mesopotamia. The image of this legendary king, after showing its power in Sumer, became one of the gods in Ilam and was accepted in other parts of Iran such as Lorestan. Apart from these basins, the new discoveries of the Jiroft Halilrud and the discovery of traces of soapstone engraved on Gilgamesh, which is more than five thousand years old, return the presence of this legend to an earlier period. The significance of the discoveries of this ancient region is due to the discovery of soapstone, which testify to the cultural connection between the two regions of Lorestan and Jiroft over a period of several millennia. Despite the importance of this issue, identifying the visual relationship between the role of Gilgamesh on the works of Jiroft and Lorestan in order to explore the common intellectual heritage between the two rich ancient regions in Iran, has received less attention. For this purpose, the research question is formed on the basis of: What is the connection between the role of Gilgamesh in the Soapstone works of Jiroft and the bronzes of Lorestan? And what are its distinguishing features?
The general results of the research showed that in terms of structure and content between the role of Gilgamesh in the two civilizations of Jiroft and Lorestan, there is a close relationship that shows a common knowledge of the myth of Gilgamesh and has been present in their lives and beliefs. The role of Gilgamesh in two civilizations is in the form of a horned man and a combination of animals with open arms and a symmetrical and balanced combination. The distinguishing features of the two regions show the logical and emotional approach of their artists. In the Jiroft soapstone, Gilgamesh has a serious, mythical and powerful, extroverted and idealistic state, but in the primitive Lorestan Bronze, images of Gilgamesh are expressive, imaginary, surprised and smiling, disturbed, introverted, skinny and religious. The representation of the figure of Gilgamesh in the two ancient civilizations of Jiroft and Lorestan, is irrigated by a single intellectual and cultural source that shows many similarities despite the differences in the method of representation.

In addition to the place of entry of goods into the city by livestock, caravanserais in the inner city were also considered as livestock, inn and caravanserai residence. In the important northern cities such as Sari, Babol, Gorgan and Rasht, there were several caravanserais, only a few of which have remained. The aim of this study was to study the inner-city caravanserais in the northern regions and the factors affecting the formation and structure of their architecture. This research is based on the author's library and field studies between 2015 and 2019. The architecture of these buildings is mainly similar to other caravanserais in Iran in the form of a central courtyard and chambers around it, but the type of roof covering, local materials, decorations, number, type of openings and type of building are influenced by the temperate climate of the north and architectural features of Qajar period. These halls are mainly built on two floors with commercial chambers, wharfs, and stable in ground floors and resting room for caravansaries’ people were located in the upper floor. In the Pahlavi period, with the growth of urbanization and increasing use of cars, the importance of these caravanserais decreased. These places also changed their use, and some of them became two-story commercial buildings along the main street.

The inscription of the Shapur I (Šāpur I) on the wall of the building known as "KAʿBA-YE ZARDOŠT" (Kaʿba of Zoroaster) located in the historical site of Naqsh-e-Rostam (Naqš-e Rostam) in Fars province is undoubtedly one of the largest and most important historical documents of the early Sassanid dynasty in Iran. This inscription is engraved in three scripts of Parthian language, Middle Persian (Sassanid Pahlavi) and Greek on the three walls of the Kaʿba of Zoroaster. Since the excavation of Naqsh-e-Rostam site and the removal of this inscription from the ground, scientists have studied it many times and extracted valuable insights into the geographical, political, cultural and military situation of Shapur's reign. By examining this inscription more closely, it seems that new findings can be made from this valuable inscription that researchers have not yet noticed. In the present study, with more logical reasons for the word nibušt in the inscription of Shapur on the Kaʿba of Zoroaster, which has confused many scholars, a more precise meaning has been provided. Thus, the Parthian word nibušt is a special name and corresponds to the term "Dezhnebesht / Deznafesht" (diz [ī] nibišt) in Persian, Arabic and Zoroastrian texts and is probably a name that was used in the early Sassanid period for the historical collection "Naghsh-e Rostam".

The Great Mosque of Borujerd (Loristan) with its dome hall (dated 533-39 HQ/1139-45 AD) counts among the important monuments of the Saljuq period. It was object to a campaign of architectural documentation during which a complete 3D laser scan of the dome hall was produced. On this basis, exact ground plan and sections of the building were drawn, which depict its true shape without idealizing. Considering the seismic history of the place, the use of laser scanning as a basis for future conservation and restoration issues is obvious. In the present study, the laser scan measures and the drawings were taken as a basis for examining the structure of the dome hall in more detail than hitherto possible. It can be concluded that the original building was erected with considerable tolerances in measures. Nevertheless, measures were examined for a possible underlying module. Conclusions involve a set of very rough proportioning, although it seems clear that the interior has been much altered and even the present shell of the dome has been re-built. The new documentation makes it most likely that the dome hall at Borujerd was never planned with a double-shell dome, as a single-shell dome on the profile of the present inner dome would have presented an aesthetically satisfying profile.