The Methodical Study of Qale’h-ye Golrokh Site in Hinterland Ala-Marvdasht Plain

The Hinterland plains of the northern Persian Gulf are almost unknown in Iranian archeology. These plains are the link between the shores of the Persian Gulf and the northern regions. Numerous sites from the Sassanid era have been identified in the plains of Lamerd, Mohr and Alamarvdasht. The Site Golrokh is located in the east of Ala-Marvdasht plain, on a natural ridge in the shape of a fort enclosed in the southern foothills overlooking the city of Chahvarz. Considering the necessity and importance of recognizing Sassanid pottery, at first the main question of the research project was about how Sassanid pottery was designed. Accordingly, the cultural exchanges of this area with other contemporaries in the shores and offshore areas of the Persian Gulf were studied. This site was sampled by regular (systematic) survey method with the aim of identifying the settlement periods of networking and terrestrial pottery of 30% of the networks. 9364 pieces of pottery were collected, classified and analyzed and typologically in the statistical community. The sum of quantitative and qualitative analyzes of pottery shows: 5 samples of container body shape, 13 types of edges, 3 types of container floor, 2 types of container handle shapes and 7 types of decorative methods have been used on the surface of the container body of this area. The relative chronology of the pottery species discovered from this area shows that this area was inhabited in the late Parthian period and the beginning of the Sassanid era, in the Middle Ages and the end of the Sassanid era and finally the beginning of the Islamic era. This area was inhabited throughout the Sassanid era and in addition to being connected with the Persian region and the Persian Gulf in the commercial, economic and cultural process, the existence of a kind of red Indian pottery indicates Golrokh’s trans-regional connections in the Persian Gulf trade with India.
Introduction
The hinterland and coastalland of the Persian Gulf have always been considered by different people in different periods. During the Sassanid period, the The hinterland and coastalland of the Persian Gulf were important due to the existence of sea trade routes and possibly religious reasons, according to indications about the existence of fire temples in Karian (Askari Chavardi, 2013: 397) and witnessed an increase in Sassanid settlements on the hinterland and coastalland of the Persian Gulf. Information about the Sassanid settlement periods on the northern coastal land of the Persian Gulf is limited to a number of areas such as Siraf, Qeshm, etc. The situation of the northern coastalland of the Persian Gulf during the Sassanid period is more unknown than the hinterland of the Persian Gulf‚ Lamerd city which is located along and it is the mountains of South Zagros in Fars province, considered in the geographical area of the northern coasts of the Persian Gulf. This region was considered a part of Ardeshir Khoreh furnace in the Sassanid period. Qale’h-ye Golrokh area is located in the eastern part of Ala-Marvdasht plain in Lamerd city, and on the edge of a residential area. The basis of the present study is the classification of pottery in the area of Qale’h-ye Golrokh. Therefore, during this research, the area was first mapped and topographed. Then the area was divided into 10×10 M‚ networks and 30% of the pottery networks were collected. Typology, classification and comparison of pottery with similar samples in the hinterland and coastal land areas of the Persian Gulf are discussed. For this purpose, library studies were performed and finally the descriptive-analytical method was used for the final result. The results of this classification are compared with other regions of the Sassanid era, especially the Sassanid areas located in Persia and the hinterland and coastal land of the Persian Gulf. This comparison has been done to identify the Sassanid style of pottery, the influence of other regions on the region and to explain vice versa, as well as the economic exchanges and social interactions of different cultural fields and based on that the cultural status of one of the coastal regions of the Persian Gulf was determined.
Identified Traces
The most important cultural materials in Qale’h-ye Golrokh are the pottery collected from the studied networks from the surface of the area, which are culturally important. Most of the pottery was black (39.7%), gray (10.3%), dark gray (10.3%), dark brown (4.2%) and brown (6.9%). Among the pottery pieces of Qale’h-ye Golrokh, some groups of pottery are of great importance, which include the following groups.

Glazed pottery (Qale’h-ye Golrokh glazed pottery can be divided into two groups: alkaline glazed pottery and sprinkled glazed pottery), 2- Pottery with thick red and brown slip (this type of pottery was produced in the late Parthian and Sassanid eras) 3- Indian red polishing pottery (this pottery was first defined in Baruda and dated to the 1st century AD and in other areas between the 3-5th century AD, and in some cases to the end of the 6th century AD (Whitehouse and Williamson: 1973, 39-38), 4- Pottery with Black Slip, 5- Large Incised Storage Vessels with carved patterns (similar examples of them are generally from the Sassanid and early Islamic periods (Kennet, 2014: 159), 6- Coarse Black pottery (These pottery have been found in Maliha and Addor from the 2nd century BC to at least the 4th century AD (Kennet, 2014: 158), 7- Sassanid Clinky (this type of pottery has been introduced in the southern area as Sassanid Clinky pottery (Kennet: 2002, 158-157), 8- Red & Black Polished Burnished pottery.

 
Conclusion
As a result of reviewing and studying 9364 pieces of pottery according to the mentioned variables and taking into account the error coefficient (destruction of the area and the possibility of losing part of the pottery of Qale’h-ye Golrokh), it can be said that the shape of dishes obtained from Qale’h-ye Golrokh includes more ordinary pottery. It is used daily, which is rough in terms of manufacturing quality and average production, and in general, it has been a functional container with daily use. According to the results, in the area of Golrokh Castle, based on the typological comparison, Sassanid pottery makes up the largest percentage of the pottery collection, but in this area, there are also pottery of the late Parthian or early Islamic era. In Qale’h-ye Golrokh pottery collection, there is a variety of colors and different types of utensils, which indicates the commercial relations of this area from the late Parthian period, during the Sassanid period and the beginning of the Islamic era with the shores, hinterland and the Persian Gulf.
The technical characteristics of Sassanid pottery in Golrokh Castle and their comparison with contemporary vessels in other areas of this period show that this area has played an active role in political, commercial and economic interactions in southern Iran. In addition to the existence of Darabgard coin in this area, similar decorative patterns or close resemblance of the edges of the dishes of this area with the areas of Suhar, Ras Al Khaimah, Siraf, Qeshm, Hajiabad, Darabgird, Bishapur, Qasr Abu Nasr and Karian show that this area Not only has it been associated with the sites and ports located in the Ardeshir Khoreh basin, but it has also been active and dynamic in the economic relations and trade route of Ardeshir Khoreh with the Persian Gulf ports. The presence of red pottery attributed to Indian red polishing pottery in the area of Qaleh Golrokh indicates direct and indirect connections within and outside the area of this area in the Persian Gulf trade.