Preliminary Report on Archaeological Survey of Southern Side of Alborz Mountains at Abyek: First Season

Subject Areas : Prehistoric Archaeology

Farzad Mafi ¹ , Reza Akhoundi ²

1 - Assistant Professor, Department of Archaeology, Islamic Azad University, Abhar branch, Abhar, Iran.
2 - M.A. Student in Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, Islamic Azad University, Abhar Branch, Abhar, Iran.

Received: 2023-07-15 Accepted : 2023-07-15 Published : 2009-08-23

Keywords: Archeological survey, Eastern Eghbal, Abyek, Southern mountain side of centeral Alborz, Zyaran, Eastern and Western mountain sides,

Abstract :

The Quazvin plain along with the heights that overlook it is one of the important centers of foundation and development of human culture in Iranian Flat in different eras. The focus of archeological studies in recent decades on Quazvin plain and scientific archeological studies in heights overlooking the plain especially southern mountainsides has made the Alborz mountains inevitable for study. In this research¸ the results from a number of archeological findings and recent studies can get a view of the position of the area in prehistoric eras¸ past history and the history of Islam. For this purpose¸ three villages, i.e. , Ziaran Estern and Western mountain sides of Abyek city and the village of Eastern Eghbal locating at the territory governed by central part of Qazvin were studied. We studied 89 archeological sites and also a considerable number of mentioned and unmentioned works including stone tools, sculpture, metal tools and so on were identified and discovered we dealt with them in this research. The results from this research reveal that with regard to 7 sites related to the period of Paleolithic which had stone tools and traces that are the characteristics of middle and new Paleolithic. We can say that in the period of Paleolithic the heights of this area were of the important habitats of people in the North of Iranian Flat. Although the identification of traces and cultural materials of the period of chalcolithic (2 cases) and the bronze age (3 case) show the continuation of living of people in the mentioned era, the identification of a great number of sites of Iron age (21cases) and Parthian (38 cases) shows the witnesses of habitats and settlement of human communities (Regarding both the quality and quantity of witnesses) from the second half of the second millennium BC until the first half of millennium A.C Forwards movement regarding the vast number of sites and areas and cultural heritage of different Islamic periods (47 cases) in the course of Islamic periods that has moved ahead.