چكيده لاتين :
The Hamadan-Bahar Plain has been one of the most important center for human societies in the
various periods, especially in the Islamic Period. The archaeological explorations of this plain
was done in the years of 2006 and 2009. But for study and analyze the settlement pattern the
Islamic Period and for answer to questions such as, what have been the most important factors
for the formation of Islamic Period sites in the Hamedan Plain? and the main volume of Islamic
settlements in the Hamedan Plain were have been related to which century of the Islamic
period? this plain was reviewed in the year of 2015. The main purpose of this review is to
identify the settlement patterns of Islamic sites in the Hamedan plain based on the review of
identified sites. In this study, which was conducted in the field study and in the form of a
marching, 14 sites were reviewed and 2 newly sites were discovered in the study area. In order
to better understand the settlement patterns, spatial information of sites was entered in the GIS
and then analyzed. Due to the importance of the position of pottery data in the relative
chronology of a region, after studying the typology of pottery and recognizing the types of
special pottery products, it was found that the Islamic sites of Hamedan Plain are scattered
based on two factors: first fertile lands and second caravan routes. The presence of defensive
features in some of the sites which adjacent to the caravan routes indicates the importance of
this issue in the distribution of sites. In addition, the influence of significant sites such as
Hegmataneh site as the central settlement of this plain in the Islamic period has been effective
on a number of sites around it.
The lowlands, north of the Alvand Mountain is one of the middle plain in the central Zagros
Mountain which in the past was known as Hamedan Plain and today is known as Hamedan-
Bahar Plain. (Figure 1). Archaeological studies show that the Hamedan-Bahar Plain with about
880 square kilometers has been one of the most important centers for the establishment of
human societies in the prehistoric and historical periods. Studies on prehistoric and historical
sites have clarified the course of human cultures of this plain during that periods, However, the
lack of sufficient attention to the sites of the Islamic period and the findings related to this
period have left many archeological angles of this period unknown. The archaeological
explorations of this plain has been done in the years of 2006 and 2009. (Mohammadifar and
Motarjem, 2006; Balmaky and Motarjem, 2009). During these studies, a large number of
discovered sites have been introduced as sites of the Islamic period. The Intended plain in the
form of a master's thesis, was reviewed in form of field study in the summer of 2015 for the aim
of studying and analyzing the settlement patterns of the Islamic sites (in the time period from
the beginning of the Islamic period to the end of the Safavid period) and to answer the questions
such as; what have been the most important factors for formation of the Islamic Period sites in
the Hamedan Plain? and the main volume of Islamic settlements in the Hamedan Plain were
have been related to which century of the Islamic period?
Due to insufficient attention to the artifacts and findings of the Islamic period, especially pottery
in the surveys of previous years, out of about 50 identified sites, that were introduced as Islamic
sites, only 14 sites had cultural artifacts belong to this period. During this review, two other
newly Islamic sites discovered and a total of 16 sites were introduced as sites of the Islamic period. for better understand the settlement patterns, spatial information of sites such as;
Geographical location, geological features, altitude, shape, area, access to water resources,
access to the routes, etc. were entered in the GIS and then analyzed. Based on these studies, the
Islamic sites of Hamedan-Bahar plain were divided into six groups (Figure 2). The first and
second groups are related to sites that have been completely destroyed, due to the invasion of
agricultural lands or relatively large amount of residential area, and very little evidence of these
sites remains today. The third group are the sites, that are less than 10 meters high and less than
one-hectare area. The next group is related to sites, that are more than 10 meters high and their
areas are less than one-hectare. The sites of this group, like the previous group, do not have a
clear and orderly shape. The fifth group is related to sites which have more than 10 meters high
and have an area of more than one-hectare to 10 hectares. The shape of this group of sites is
geometrically regular, such as squares and rectangles (Figure 7). In the survey of these sites the
evidence of defensive fortifications has been seen. The last group is related to sites, that are
more than 10 meters high and more than 10 hectares in area. (Table 1). The only settlement of
this group is the Hegmataneh/Hamedan Mound, with an area of more than 34 hectares which is
considered as the settlement center of the plain. The studies have shown that the sites of groups
three and four, around 75% of the total identified sites, dedicated to themselves which are
located in the area with very fertile land and often located next to a site with an area of more
than one hectare and there are specific defense structures. (Figure 3 and 4). These sites are most
likely belong to very small villages that are directly related to the surrounding agricultural lands
to be affected by large sites that have a defensive structure. The sites with a defense structure,
which are often more than one hectare, are located next to the entrance of caravan routes into
the plain. (Figure 7). The existence of sites with defense structures inside the plain, in addition
to emphasizing the importance of the transit position of the region, has also shown the existence
of insecurity. Based on the analysis of spatial information, the Islamic sites of the Hamadan-
Bahar plain are scattered based on two factors: fertile lands and caravan routes and the presence
of defensive features in some of the settlements along the caravan routes, shows the importance
of this issue in the distribution of sites. The collected pottery was carefully analyzed and their
typological studies were carried out with well-known centers sites of the Islamic period.
During the study more than 20 types of pottery were identified (Table 2). The discovery of a
large amount of evidence of the production of pottery, welding furnaces and metal and glass
ornaments of the Islamic period in the Zino-abad shows that this site and Hegmataneh/Hamedan
were used as an industrial site in the Islamic period and most probably their products were
exported to other sites. Existence of similar species of pottery from large known pottery centers
such as the Sultanabad and Soltanieh with local products of the plain, most probably the pottery
of these centers transported to the Hamedan region through known routes. According to the
pottery data, all the Islamic sites studied have several settlement periods. It seems that the
arrival of the Arabs in this region did not have much effect on the continuity of settlement,
because the first centuries of the Islamic pottery was found in almost all the studied sites. More
than 56% of the sites were inhabited between the 4th and 7th centuries AH. It seems that the
region from the beginning of the fourth century AH with the rise of local governments such as
the Buyid dynasty and especially from the second half of the fourth century during the Seljuk
period, the goal of many economic reforms were to provide livelihood. The importance of the
region in this period is such that Hamedan has been chosen as the capital for several years since
the Seljuk period. After this period, despite devastating the Mongol invasions of this region,
about 62% of the plains were inhabited. It seems that in this period, despite the negative effects
of the Mongol invasions, due to the presence of high-ranking people, life in the region has
flourished. With the savage invasions of the Timurid period and the conflicts of the Aq Qoyunlu
and Kara Koyunlu dynasty in this region between the early 8th century and the early 10th
century AH, many settlements were reduced to less than 19%. During this period many of the
settlements that flourished in the previous period were abandoned forever. This trend is also
seen with less intensity in the Safavid period. In this period, despite the relative attention to the
Hamedan and possibly the surrounding areas, the settlement patterns of the plain do not change
much compared to the previous period.
