IranMap

This is a village of living traditions,architectural styles (all in red clay), With a unique reddish hue, with narrow and sloped lanes, and houses located on the slope as if placed on a stairway.

The language spoken by the literate people of Abyaneh is Parthian Pahlavi. They are deeply committed to honoring their traditions. No matter how well-educated a person from Abyaneh might be, he or she puts on the traditional Abyaneh costume on coming back to the village from anywhere in Iran.

Abyaneh is one of the oldest city in Iran, attracting numerous native and foreign tourists year-round, especially during traditional feasts and ceremonies.

Abyaneh has been called an entrance to Iranian history. The local clothing, for example, is in a style of great antiquity. An Abyunaki woman typically wears a white long scarf (covering the shoulders and upper trunk) which has a colourful pattern and an under-knee skirt. Even the most immediate villages’ women have different dress style so that one could tell if she is from Abyaneh or not.

Abyaneh also resisted conversion to Islam throughout the ages, and stayed Zoroastrian until it was forced to convert to Shi’ite Islam in the time of the Saffavid Shahs, as were many other villages and towns that had held onto the Zoroastrian religion until then.

On top of the village sits the ruins of a Sassanid era fort.

Forty areas in the region will be excavated by 40 archaeological teams during the project, considered to be Iran’s largest rescue excavation operation, which will be carried out during the second half of the Iranian calendar year beginning on September 23, the Persian service of CHN reported on Sunday.
During a series of rescue excavations in 2007, a team of archaeologists identified 100 ancient sites from various periods, including the Neolithic era, Bronze Age, Copper Age, and the Parthian, Sassanid, and early Islamic eras within the dam reservoir flood plain.

About 100 ancient sites from various periods, including the Neolithic era, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Copper Age, and the Parthian, Sassanid, and early Islamic eras have been identified a the dam’s reservoir during previous seasons of rescue excavations in 2007.

A great number of the sites will be flooded when the dam becomes operational.

The dam’s project officials have agreed to sponsor the rescue excavation operations, which will be performed over three consecutive seasons, ICAR Director Mohammad-Hassan Fazeli-Nashli said.

Signs of the Mesopotamians’ influence in the region have been identified by studies carried out on the ancient strata at the reservoir.

Traces of the Ubaid period, one of the eras in which the Mesopotamian civilization emerged, have been identified during the studies, Fazeli-Nashli said.

The Ubaid period includes I, II, III, and IV, which dates back to about 5600-3900 BC.

“The rescue excavations can help the archaeologists learn about cultural relations between the people living in the western Zagros region of Iran and the Mesopotamian civilization,” Fazeli-Nashli stated.

The construction of the Seimareh Dam is almost complete. However, the officials of the dam have postponed filling it for the rescue excavations.

The officials had previously announced that the filling of the dam would commence in early 2008.

The Seimareh Dam, constructed on the Seimareh River, is located 30 kilometers northwest of the city of Darehshahr.

Fazeli-Nashli had previously said that the archaeological sites discovered in the Seimareh Dam reservoir area are more important than the ancient sites obliterated by the Sivand Dam in southern Iran’s Fars Province.

In 2007, a number of archaeological sites were also destroyed in the Seimareh Dam reservoir area as a result of exploration activities by the Iranian National Oil Company.

The province’s four largest counties are Sari, Behshahr, Babol, Amol, and Qaemshahr.

Mazanderan diverse nature and climate include plains, prairies, forests and jungles ranges from the sandy beaches to the rugged and snowcapped Elburz sierra with the highest peak & volcano throughout Middle-East and Western Asia, Mount Damavand which at the narrowest point narrows to 5 miles and culminates less than 2 thousand meters from the coast.

A major producer of farmed fish in Iran and the neighbor regions, Mazandaran is the leading economic base of agriculture & dish productions, but also relies on the Tourism industry, as many tourists enjoy visiting the area. The area also leads in biotechnology and civil engineering.

Recent excavations in Goher Tippe provide proof that the area has been urbanized for more than 5 thousand years of civilization, and this area is one of the most important historical sites of Iran and has played an important role in cultural flourishing and urban development of the region.

Mazandaran was part of the ancient Hyrcanian Kingdom and former Kingdom of Tapuria. Indigenous people of the region are ethnic Mazanderanis, speaking a Caspian language which most resembles Gilaki and Sangiseri.

It is situated on the western side of Lake Urmia near the Turkish border with population in 2006 around 577,307.
The name Urmia is thought to have come from Sumerian tongue, the earliest known civilization in the world located in southern Mesopotamia. Ur was a principle Sumerian city. Some believe the name is derived from Syriac.
Ur, meaning “cradle,” and mia, meaning “water.” Hence, Urmia, situated by a lake and surrounded by rivers, would be the cradle of water.

Urmia (Orumieh) city

Azerbaijanis and Kurds are the two main ethnic groups in the city (over 95%) followed by Assyrian and Armenian minorities.
The city has been home to various ethnic groups during its long history. For this reason, the demographics of the city have undergone numerous changes.
Some historical documents show that at the beginning of the 20th century, the city’s population had a significant Christian minority (Assyrians and Armenians).

Lake Urmia

According to Macuch, and Ishaya, the city was the spiritual capital of the Assyrians from 1830 to the end of World War I by the influence of four Christian missions. Some of the Assyrians and Armenians left the region in 1914 after battles between the Russian and Ottoman armies which led to a shift in the city’s demographics. During the era of Reza Shah Pahlavi, Iranian Assyrians were invited to return to the region and several thousand did return.

Urmia, according to some historians, is believed to be the birthplace of the prophet Zarathustra, the founder of Zoroastrianism.

“We have found earthenware at the site, which have been sent for carbon 14 dating tests,” said head of the archeology team, Ali Khaksar. Archeologists also found some Parthian squat burials, which suggest the possibility that site was used as a burial ground by the Parthians.

“Some 54 human skeletons were found, which were buried along with some objects,” said anthropologist, Farzad Forouzanfar.
Studies also showed that the city was used as a secret haven during the Seljuk, Ilkhanid, Timurid and Safavid eras.
“The underground city has different entries and a number of openings have been created on its top to let in light and air,” explained Khaksar.

“Studies also showed that the inhabitants used torches and oil lamps to light the rooms,” he added.