Prehistoric Burial Traditions in the Qaleh Khan Settlement (North Khorasan) with an Emphasis on Bronze Age

Subject Areas : Prehistoric Archaeology

Kheironesa Judi ¹ , Omran Garazhian ² , Mahdi Rezaei ³

1 - M.A. Student in Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
2 - Assistant Professor, Department of Archaeology, Neyshabur University, Neyshabur, Iran.
3 - M.A. in Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Received: 2023-07-10 Accepted : 2023-07-10 Published : 2011-08-23

Keywords: Khorasan, Bronze Age, Qaleh Khan Depe, Burial Traditions, Bronze Age graveyard,

Abstract :

Traditions of burial and their locations in relation to the settlement are characteristics of the Bronze Age. Burial and its corresponding traditions are among the abstract issues in archaeology. Qaleh Khan is located in the North khorasan province in the vicinity of Ashkhaneh city. So far, two seasons archaeological excavations have been carried out in that settlement. The first season was devoted to trenching for the purpose of stratigraphy and was carried out vertically. The second season was carried out for determining the functional size of the site and trenching around the settlement was done during this season. One of the major goals of the second season was first to determine the area of the site and to propose physical protection of the site. In this season, 27 soundings were excavated around the Qaleh Khan archaeological site. Preparing a map of the expansion of the monuments, identifying the records of Iron Age in the original context which have not been identified through stratigraphy beforehand, identifying the cemetery of the Bronze Age, and consequently obtaining general information about burial traditions of this period, have been the main achievements of this research. Broadly speaking, remnants of the Bronze Age burials were identified in trenches 22 and 24 to the west of the settlement. These graves are the so-called accompanied burials. 3 burial remnants were obtained from the above-mentioned trenches. This paper presents a description of the Bronze Age graveyard in Qaleh Khan archaeological site along with an analysis of its location in relation to the settlement.