Geochemical and petrographic identification of stone quarries used for the construction of the Anahita Temple of Kangavar (West Iran)

Atefeh Shekofteh,Masoud Ansari,Giuseppe Cultrone,Omid Oudbashi

doi:10.1186/s40494-020-0361-z

Atefeh Shekofteh, Masoud Ansari + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-020-0361-z

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Abstract

The archaeological site of the Anahita Temple in Kangavar is one of the best-known stone monuments in western Iran and dates back to the Persian Empire period of Iranian history (about 550 BC to 650 AD). The Temple was constructed on a semi-artificial hill out of large stone blocks, many of which are cubic in shape, and short thick columns. In the Kangavar area (basin) there are various sites in which there is evidence of stone extraction. The aim of this paper is to characterize the stones used in the Anahita Temple of Kangavar and their correlations with the quarrying activities observed in the Kangavar regions. In fact, we tried to find out which of these quarries may have been the source of the stone blocks used in the construction of the Anahita Temple. To this end the stones used in the Temple have been characterized by conducting a multi-analytical study involving chemical, mineralogical and textural analyses including XRF, XRD and thin section petrography. The results show that although all the quarries could have provided the stone used in the construction of the Temple, the largest, most probable source was the Chel Maran quarry. It is due to the more similarity of stones used in the Anahita Temple and the samples from this quarry from geochemical point of view as well as the archaeological evidences present in this quarry. The results are also useful for conservators to select appropriate materials for reconstruction of the decayed parts of the Anahita Temple.

Highlights

Stones were the main building material used in the construction of both large and small buildings in the Iranian highlands during the Persian Empire period (6th century BC to 7th century AD)
With the development of advanced archaeological, geological, mineralogical and geochemical techniques for Shekofteh et al Herit Sci (2020) 8:14 the analysis of ancient materials, archaeologists and archaeometrists from around the world started to carry out investigations on the sourcing areas of stones and raw materials used for ancient buildings, especially large, decorative stone blocks [e.g. 15–21]
This study shows that the application of scientific experimental studies is very useful for characterizing the technological and archaeological features of ancient buildings, in this case the Anahita Temple, especially in the field of ancient mining and for identifying the source of the raw materials used in stone constructions

Summary

Introduction

Stones were the main building material used in the construction of both large and small buildings in the Iranian highlands during the Persian Empire period (6th century BC to 7th century AD). The extensive use of stone in the historical architecture of the Iranian highlands was due to the availability of the raw materials (especially limestone and igneous rocks) in the Zagros Mountains, a long range of mountains that starts in northwestern Iran (Azerbaijan) and covers significant areas of southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq It runs south along Iran’s western border, until it reaches the coast of the Persian Gulf [11]. These studies of the provenance of stone building materials, which have drawn the attention of experts from a range of different disciplines in recent decades, have three main purposes: sourcing stone for the conservation-restoration of ancient and historic buildings [e.g. 22–25], identification of the stones and quarries used in the construction of ancient buildings and monuments [e.g. 26–32] and the characterization of stone types, especially in decorative and gem stones, as a means of tracing trade and regional relations in the ancient world [33,34,35]

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