Historical Developments of Damavand Jame Mosque Based on Archaeological Evidence

Abstract
Damavand Jame Mosque is one of the oldest and courtyard hypostyle mosques (Shabestani mosques) in Iran, which was located in the center of city and at the current location of Jame Mosque. The outline of the main map is a rectangular courtyard (Ravagh) with porticoes around it. The most important part of the mosque is its nave, which has five naves with six rows of columns. The importance of Damavand Jame Mosque is in terms of its plan and design, but it had not been paid attention to. The view of the nave from inside the courtyard (Ravagh) has three opening with pointed arches, the middle opening is slightly wider and higher than the adjacent openings, which is one of the characteristics of the early mosques of Iran. This same mosque with the characteristics of the Seljuq period brings its history to this period. Therefore, there is an inconsistency between the plan, map and characteristics of Shabestani with the characteristics of the Seljuq period of this mosque. This research tries to review the construction date of this building. The research method of this descriptive-historical writing is analytical based on the library and it is necessary to collect historical information, which was analyzed with the data obtained from the field investigation. The main questions are: First, how can one prove the existence of the original mosque and the existence of pre-Islamic constructions in the place of the Jame Mosque? Second, according to the available data, what date does Damavand Jame Mosque go back to? The investigation shows that the original mosque was built on the foundation of pre-Islamic and it is also possible to suggest three periods of consumption for the Jame Mosque. The first period: the early mosque with the plan of the nave, which was destroyed by the earthquake. The second period: the Seljuq Mosque was built on the remains of the original mosque with the same hypostyle (shabestani) plan with the features of the Seljuq period which was also destroyed by an earthquake. The third period: the current mosque was built on the foundations of the Seljuq Mosque in the second Pahlavi period. 
Keywords: Damavand Jame Mosque, Hypostyle Mosque, Early Jame Mosque, Seljuq Jame Mosque. 
Introduction
The city of Damavand, with its legendary foundation and Kings with the nickname “Mas Moghan” who traced their lineage to “Ermaeil” (the story of Zahhak) in their castle “Stunavand” in any way, kept their land safe from the invasion of foreigners. After the complete defeat of “Mas Moghan” by al-Mansour Abbasid Caliph from 141 AH/ 758 AD onward, Damavand was governed by the governors appointed by the Caliph. In this Islamic period, as the past, Damavand, in addition to having a good climate and fertile land, has always been important due to its special location, proximity to Ray, Tabarestan and being on the road Central Plateau. Therefore, simultaneously with the flourishing of urban development in Iran from the 3rd century AH/ 9 AD onwards, it gradually gained urban importance in addition to the population growth and expansion of the city. For this reason, Abu Dolf (1342, 76),  Moqadisi (without date, 585) and Ibn Faqih (1349: 113) mention Damavand as a city that has a “Menbar” that is, a “Jame Mosque”. The city of Damavand gradually ith its four famous neighbourhoods (Etemad-al-Saltaneh, 1363: 12), it has a wider structure and the Jame Mosque was built in the most important part of it. Thus, this mosque is located in the center of the city, in the old context of the city near the Damavand Bazaar, with a Shabestani foundation (fig 1), on a high and famous Tepe called Sar-e-Qale and Qale-y- Dokhtar (daughter’s castle) which overlooks the city between Qazi neighborhood and Cherik (Farameh) with its simple and beautiful facade was located as a free and independent building, which is limited from four sides to an open and wide space. The current mosque was built in the same location. This work was published on the 15th of December 1342 AH/ 1935 AD in the list of historical works, number 230 of the Seljuq period, 5th century AH, has been registered in the national register. 
Discussion 
The method of determining the date of the building, in addition to using the inscriptions and decorations that were mentioned, is possible through sources and texts and the history of the city as well as construction method.  Therefore, according to the research done, it seems that all parts of the original mosque except the northern part of the hypostyle (Sahn) have been preserved, which shows that the original mosque plan was designed and built with the common plan of a pillared nave.  It includes a hypostyle with a pillared nave in the south and porticoes around it. The irregular construction of the mosque wall has changed the shape of the map in the form of the pillared sides. So far, such irregularity of the mosque wall that has changed the shape of the map has not been reported. Although evidence of this kind of irregularity of the wall may be found in Iranian mosques, such irregularity, which can be seen in important parts of the mosque and caused fundamental changes, has a logical justification. The only reason and logical justification can be that the mosque was built on the remains of an older building.  The cities of the Sassanid period have the characteristic of an old fortress, considering that the city of Damavand was the center of the district in the Sassanid period, it can be said that there was a building from this period at the place of the mosque. Applying the word “Qala’-y-Dokhtar” and the name “Sar-e-Qala’” to the place of the mosque are idioms related to the buildings of the common story about the “Qala Dokhtar” which still exists, according to the explanations can be another witness.  Especially because according to this oral narrative, there was a mound of soil belonging to the castle (Qale or kuhandiz) at the top of the castle (Qala or kuhandiz ) people used it for their construction. Another evidence is the presence of two tunnels under the hypostyle (Sahn) of the mosque, which have nothing to do with the mosque.  Now it is accessible in about 1km from these two tunnels and the rest of the route is closed.  The next reason is the “Qibla “ direction of the mosque. The Qibla  direction of a number of mosques in Iran has always been built appropriately towards the west. Since this mosque is facing south towards Mecca and not west, such a mistake can have a logical justification that the wall of the mosque was built on the remains of a building that had another function. The last reason for referring to the existence of an older building in the place of the mosque is a repeated tradition that exists about some mosques in Iran. According to a very common and serious oral story among the people of Damavand city, there was a fire in the Jame Mosque and the mosque was built on its remains. No evidence has been found in the investigations so far. 
Conclusion 
Based on the investigations and researches of pre-Islamic masonry remains, probably the Sassanid period existed at the site of Damavand Jame Mosque. No evidence of the existence of the fire temple, which is often mentioned in local narrative, has been found so far. Therefore, in order to determine the matter, it is suggested to carry out an archaeological excavation in the place of Jame Mosque.  Therefore, according to the obtained results, it is possible to propose three periods of construction for this mosque: The first period, this mosque has the common plan and map of hypostyle (Shabestani) mosques with the features of early mosques and also with the parallelogram form that due to its construction it was on the remains of a building form the past and suffered a lot of damage due to the earthquake. According to the investigations and the history of the region, this mosque is very close to the date presented in the manuscript of the Safavid period. Therefore, the suggested date for this mosque is the 3th century AH. In the second period, the Seljuq Mosque was built on the remains of the first mosque with the same plan and map of hypostyle  (Shabestani) with the features of the Seljuq period, of course, with the changes that can be seen in this mosque from the decorations and inscriptions, this mosque undoubtedly belongs to the Seljuq period of the fifth century AH. So, the second date of the mentioned manuscript is 444 AH.  According to the investigation and evidence presented, this date of the first half of the 5th century seems to be the correct date.