IRANIAN JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGY
Year:2005 | Volume:3 | Issue:6|Papers Count:13

The modern technology has not been well welcomed in the villages. The research findings show that this refusal is due to not matching with the local conditions. The experts in the rural development believe that in order to welcome modern technology more the native knowledge should be applied too. In this research it has been trieel to survey the native knowledge in Mamasani Town. The oak tree and its products have various usages among the villagers. Its products are used in constructing houses, vehicles. Refining, herbal medicine, tannery, dyeing etc. Hence the perts in the rural development should base their developmental planning on applying this native knowledge along with using modern technology.

The real name of Takht-e-Jamshid (Persepolis) was "Parsa" in the oldest ages of the Achaemenid dynasty. In this survey, first the attribute of “Takht-e-Jamshid" and the quality of this attribution to Jamshid, the legendary king of the ancient Iran, are discussed; then the theories of the two groups of Iranologists on the main function of the palace will be surveyed. The first group thinks that Takht-e-Jamshid was merely an official and political palace of Achaemenid kings. However, the second group believes that Persepolis was a ritual palace and even only a temple. Relying on the surviving documents and evidence esp. the Old Persian inscriptions and Elamite tablets, one can demonstrate that including to official and political affairs, vast ritual ceremonies esp. the rituals related to Norooz and Mehrgan-had constantly been executed here. Thus, we can emphasize the hypothesis of "Persepolis as a ritual palace" and regard the official aspect of the palace a little pale; and as a result, we cannot regard Persepolis only as a temple.

The Second World War ended on May 8th 1945. Apparently, the Allies victory offered a free and democratic world to the nations. The Iranian government dispite declaring their neutrality in the war their country had been occupied by the Allies forces since 1941. Now the Iranian people hoped the Allies would have evacualted their territories very soon.On the other hand, the decline of Reza Shah's dictatorship reign and the revival of the Iranian constitution granted to the Iranian people a more free and democratic country. This atmosphere created a soda-political excitement in the country, particularly in the large cities.Meanwhile, the Iranian took the opportunity to demand their socio-political rights which had been neglected for centuries. They joined the political parties, established womens institutions, published newspapers and magazines and held meetings. They discussed the Iranian womens difficulties and problems and demanded the modification of the constitution.

This short article aims to explain the modality of establishment and development of urbanization in the eastern parts of the Iranian plateau. The Main data and material of this study are extracted from the results of more than fifty years fieldwork in this part of country.There are at least two main cultural zones in the eastern and northeastern parts of the Iranian Plateau, within which the remains of the oldest urban centers and settlements with an extension of 10-12 hectars and a population between 2000-3000 have been found. The available data show that during the third millenium RC fertile lands, irrigation systems raw material, full time expert workers, the division of work and central organizations as parts of necessary conditions for the establishment of an urban society were present. Sistan with the Hyrmand River and the terminal lake of Hamun is one of the large cultural zones in the eastern Iranian Plateau. Sistan possesses a suitable condition for both agricultural and industrial activities. The main archaeological sites of the region are Shahr-e-Sukhta in Iran and Mundigak in Afghanistan, located near the banks of the Arghandab River. During the first half of the third millenium B.C. in both sites, the firmness and solidity of urban organization could clearly be seen in the societies settled in these cities.As in Mesopotamia, the cities in the Iranian Plateau possessed temples, palaces and large monumental buildings. More recent excavations have shown that most of the temples or public buildings in mud-bricks were built on top of platforms or the remains of older structures. Although the presence of Zigurats in the Iranian plateau is very limited, the temples found in Altyn Tepe, Turange Tepe, Mundigak and thre mud brick structures of Konar Sandal are only a few examples of such structures which are attributed to the second half of the 4th or the first half of the 3th millenium B.C.

The authors attempt to analyze the certain aspects of the everyday life in the Iranian society through studying the shopping centers. The important point to be grasped here is that how shopping centers turn out to be a kind of tool for displaying the subordinate citizens and cultural minorities in the Iranian society. The research data are gathered by the use of qualitative approaches-interview, discussion and observation-and have been, then, analyzed on the basis of "Cultural Critical Theory". Some subordinate groups, such as female house-keepers, retired men, the residents of slum areas and teenagers have been carefully studied. We eventually came to conclusion that all these groups have made use. of such centers in different ways than the normal/usual ones Therefore, their presence in these shopping centers contains some concealed senses to be discovered by the cultural critics.

One of the obscure notions in the anthropology of folklove is the concept of ethnos and ethnical frontiers. During the recent years due to the variour social economic, and cultural conditions caused by industrialization, globalization, migration, etc. the elements and factors which formed this concept have changed and developed the frontiers of social classes and groups. In this paper, based on a field anthropological research in a rural region in the northern part of Iran, it has been tried to demonstrate the development of the ethmical frontiers between two groups living in this area.The paper starts with a theoretical framework. Then, after defining the concepts of ethnos, identity, and ethnical frontiers, a perspective of the elements and factors forming the identity which determines the ethnical frontiers has been put forward. In the end, their development with an emphasis on the socio-economic factors of the Iranian community from the beginning of the second half of the 20th cent. to the present tine has been considered and analyzed.