Espahabad Khorshid Cave, Mazandaran, Iran: Some Insights into Sasanian Period Buildings

Abstract

The Espahabad Khorshid Cave, located in Savadkooh District, Mazandaran province, is a huge natural cavitythat opens on the northern flank of Mount Lakamar, in the Khatir Kooh Valley, just above the River Talar. Thecave has long been used as a natural refuge and during the Sasanian period it was the stronghold of the last ruler ofṬabarestān. From the mid-1950s the cave has been visited and described by various professional and non professionalarchaeologists. Over the years, few scholars have paid attention to these ruins, although the site has alwaysbeen visible because of its location. In general, the position of the cave and the arrangement of the internal architecturalstructures makes it impossible for casual visitors to gain access to the site, especially to the upper levelswhich can be reached only by expert climbers. The archaeological and architectural structures preserved in the cave(mostly from late Sasanian times and later periods) were systematically documented by a team of Iranian architectsbetween 2008 and 2011. In 2015, with the permission of the Mazandaran Provincial authorities, a preliminary Iranian- Italian archaeological expedition started the systematic collection of data regarding architecture and artefacts.The study of the various classes of building materials has been initially focussed on the analysis of some timberstructures in the eastern building complex. The remains of some wooden planks and beams were still in situ, roughlyconfined in the margins of the main walls. The preservation of the wood was excellent and has allowed detailedanalysis of the wooden building material, and indirect analysis of the local environment. The wood used for theseplanks/beams was found to belong to two different species, Fraxinus sp. and Quercus sp., providing the first preliminaryinformation on the use of the local wood resources. Further collection of structural timbers from the destroyedbuildings will allow us to investigate ancient wood technology and the exploitation of the woodlands together withthe history of human occupation of the Espahabad Khorshid Cave.

Keywords

• archaeology of mazandaran
• sasanian period
• espahabad khorshid cave
• wood analysis