Iranian Zoroastrian History and Central Asia and Caucasus Area

Deutsch: Im Rahmen des Projektes Ancient Mining and Metallurgy in West Central Iran hat das Deutsche Bergbau-Museum in Zusammenarbeit mit den iranischen Institutionen das vorgeschichtliche Kupferabbaugebiet von Veshnaveh in Zentraliran untersucht. Dabei wurde in einer der Gruben für den Bergbau gänzlich untypische Funde entdeckt. Zu Tage kamen Keramikgefäße, Holzobjekte, Textilfragmente, Nahrungsreste und Schmuckartefakte aus Glas - v.a. Glasperlen -  Halbedelstein, Gold und anderen Metallen. Offenbar wurde das ehemalige Bergwerk über einen Zeitraum von etwa 1400 Jahren (von ca. 800 v. Chr. bis  8. Jh. n. Chr.) als ein Naturheiligtum genutzt.
Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit den Kleinfunden dieser Grabung sowie der Deponierungspraxis und stellt für die Problematik der vorislamischen Religion in Iran, aber auch für das weltweit verbreitete Phänomen der Höhlenheiligtümer einen wichtigen Aspekt dar, auch kann sie einen wichtigen Beitrag in der Parther- und Sasanidenforschung leisten.

English: Within the programme „Ancient Mining and Metallurgy in West Central Iran“ the German Mining Museum examined prehistoric copper mines in the central mountains of Iran. The archaeological area is located between the cities of Ghom and Kashan, near the village of Veshnaveh, about 150 km South of Teheran. In five excavation and survey campaigns during the years 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005 the region was examined, while in 2003 small finds of the first three seasons were documented and processed at the Mirasfarhangi-je Ghom (Archaeological Insitute in Ghom). The intention of the archaeologists was to investigate the regional prehistoric copper supply, the technique that was used to extract the metal from the rock and how the copper was traded. Several mines were accessible in the mining district of Laghe Morad, Mazrayeh and Chale Ghar and they were systematically examined and documented. The utilisation phase of the whole mining area obviously lay between the early 3rd and late 2nd millennium BC.

However, much later non-mining activity was proved by revealing finds in two of the mines: In the mine called Ghale Ghar 1, the archaeologists unexpectedly came across an ensemble of objects that were obviously not related to the mining activity at all. That happened in the year 2001, during one of the first excavation campaigns. In mine 1, thousands of finds were found: ceramic vessels and sherds, wood and wooden vessels, remains of nuts, shell and baked goods, animal bones, one textile fragment, jewellery such as glass and stone beads and pendants, metal finger rings and ear rings, as well as one glass vessel and sheets of decorated metal.

Based on comparative studies and a stratigraphical analysis, this research study gives an outline of the chronology of the small finds that were excavated in the mines Chale Ghar 1 and 2. Most objects could be dated to Arsacid and Sasanian periods. An interpretation of the popular belief and the religious meaning of the site is on of the central points in the study.

Selected essays on Iranian subjects dealing with philology, linguistic, cultural studies, literature, ethnology and anthropology, art, numismatic, history of religions (Mazdeism, Manichaeism, Mazdakism, Hinduism, Islam, Kurdish beliefs, Yaghnobi folklore)

In southern Central Asia, the Iron Age saw the almost-complete disappearance of burial (Sine Sepulchro period covering the Yaz I-III sequence, ca. 1500-330 BCE), a fact generally interpreted as an evidence of excarnation.
This paper intends to present an exceptional discovery of a set of human bones made by the DAFA (Délégation archéologique française en Afghanistan) at the site of Tepe Zargaran, Bactra, in Afghanistan. It groups human bones including calvaria, elements of the torso and long bones- belonging to several individuals of different ages and both sexes. This discover is well dated in the second half of the 4th c.
BCE, at the end of the Achaemenid period. It is compared to similar atypical burial pits of the Iron Age, which indicates a very long socio-cultural tradition of nearly a millennium, involving handling of the corpses, shifting of part of the bodies from a first deposit, and reoccupation of ancient storage structures.

In southern Central Asia, the Iron Age saw the almost-complete disappearance of burial (Sine Sepulchro period covering the Yaz I-III sequence, ca. 1500-330 BCE), a fact generally interpreted as an evidence of excarnation. This paper intends to present an exceptional discovery of a set of human bones made by the DAFA (Délégation archéologique française en Afghanistan) at the site of Tepe Zargaran, Bactra, in Afghanistan. It groups human bones -including calvaria, elements of the torso and long bones- belonging to several individuals of different ages and both sexes. This discovery is well dated in the second half of the 4th c. BCE, at the end of the Achaemenid period. It is compared to similar atypical burial pits of the Iron Age, which indicates a very long socio-cultural tradition of nearly a millennium, involving handling of the corpses, shifting of part of the bodies from a first deposit, and reoccupation of ancient storage structures.