Parthian sites on the northern coast of the Hormuz Strait were totally unknown till we increased our knowledge on the Parthian pottery from the Persian Gulf littorals in the recent years helping identify and record a large number of Parthian sites on the costs of the Hormuz Strait and Qeshm Island in particular. Surveys conducted on the Qeshm Island recorded 23 hinterland, littoral and burial sites. Though, the site location patterns remain intact, the results of these surveys suggest that by the Parthian period the number of sites and the population have increased with the sole exception being higher concentration of Parthian sites on the Turian plain and southern coasts of the Island (around the modern Bangali village). Areas on the Island which extent unsettled began to host some occupations particularly, on western half, and the dense settlements in the Turian plain remained unchanged, where the highest concentration of the 3rd millennium B.C. up to the Achamenid sites are attested. In fact, in the Parthian period the population growth sets the stage for the extension of the settlements to the hitherto unsettled areas of the Island as well. Moreover, the developed and expanded trade and establishment of adequate facilities related to exploitation of water and environmental resources leads to occupation of the coastal areas. The Parthian sites are larger than their earlier sites; the settlements all are in form of small or large sedentary villages or littoral sites and there is no large site with characteristics of an urban center was identified. In this period, Qeshm reflects cultural way of the southeastern regions in that the diagnostic wares of these regions (The coarse black ware) are present in the surface collections. The survey data of the Qeshm Island suggest a conspicuous increase in settlements and cemeteries during the Parthian period than those we know from Achamenid and Iron Age periods. The most significant interpretation one may infer, is that the maritime trade has splendored during the Parthian period, but it would not be the sole factor in wealth and economic prosperity of the Island. It should be emphasized that all coastal sites with exotic items should not be necessarily considered as trade center, but as they provided exotic items they may be included as a part of the indirect trade system; i.e. these items came to these sites from somewhere else of their origin, or these sites were mid-way sites to the final destination. These sites had not been established essentially as a trade center, but for other reasons, for example as small finishing villages. Although they were not as a trade center, but has had easy access to exotic items likewise. Dofari, Ramchah and Laft 1 were such sites. Close resemblance between Parthian ceramics of Qeshm sites with those of northern and southern coasts of the Persian Gulf suggests some interactions and indicate the incorporation of inhabitants of these sites into a larger network. But where these potteries came from? Considering the large distribution of pottery in these sites, it seems that the production of pottery was a specialized business which would not have took place in sedentary sites. There are some sites, for example, in Minaab area that were workshop and industrial in character. It seems that Qeshm Island was a hybridization zone for two regional traditions (Southeastern Iran and Southeastern Arabia), because there are frequent examples of painted, coarse black ware with red and brown slip and glazed ware which were recovered from the sites of Southeastern Iran and southern coasts of the Persian Gulf.
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