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Iran's Petroglyphs
Petroglyphs are the most ancient works of art left by human kind that secretly provide an opening to the past eras of life and help us to discover different aspects of prehistoric lives.
Petroglyphs are of two sorts; Pictographs painted ones are mostly seen inside the caves and caverns, and Petroglyphs that are engravings on the outside walls of caves and rock facades of mountains and valleys.
Tools to create petroglyphs can be classified by the age and the historical era; they could be flint, thighbone of hunted quarries, or metallic tools.
The oldest Pictographs in Iran are seen in Yafteh cave in Lorestan that date back 40000 and the oldest petroglyph discovered belongs to Timereh dating back to 40800 years ago.
It should be noted that Iran provides exclusive demonstrations of script formation from pictogram,ideogram, linear(2300 BC) or proto Elamite, geometric old Elamite script,Pahlevi script, Arabic script(906 years ago),Kufi script, and Farsi script back to at least 250 years ago. More than 50000 petroglyphs have been discovered, extended over all Iran’s states.
From 10 years ago I have discovered most of them , including 21000 petroglyphs around Timereh in Khomein and around Golpayegan located in central Iran . I have described the details of these discoveries in 3 books.
Petroglyphs in Iran also follows the same general categorization:
1-Pictographs that contain pictures drawn by pigments like smut, crystalized blood, ocher, that were employed by binders like animal fats, blood, seed oil and organic compounds or a mixture of all materials mentioned above. Lorestan has the most and oldest pictographs in Iran. Yafteh cave in Lorestan has pictographs dating back to 40000 years ago.Compared to petroglyphs, pictographs in Iran are scarce and rare.Sites that contain pictographs are listed as follows:
a. Lorestan state : caves like Hamian1 and Hamian2, Mir Molas around Kuhdasht, Dousheh, and Kalmakareh.
b. Hormozgan state : Ahu cavern in Bastak
c. Kerman state:Lashkour Gouyeh in Meymand
d. Northern Khorasan : Nargeslou cavern around Bojnord
1. Petroglyph include most discovered items in Iran, extended on states as follows:
a. East Azerbayejan: Arasbaran.
b. West Azerbayejan : Khoreh Hanjeran around Mahabad.
c. Isfahan : around cities like Golpayegan, Poshtkouh Khowansar, Teeran, Najaf Abad, Damab, Barzak near Kashan, Nashlaj village, Baghbaderan, and Meimeh.
d. Ardebil: sites around Shahriry, Sheikh Mady, and Ghah Ghahe castle in Meshkin Shahr.
e. Tehran:Dowlat Abad village near Sharyar, Kaftar lou mountain.
f. Southern Khorasan:Lakh Mazar of Birjand, Tengel Ostad, Bijaem, and Nahbandan.
g. Northern Khorasan:Nargeslou and Jorbat around Bojnord,and Bam Safi Abad near Esferayen.
h. Khouzestan: Lam Gerdou cavern around Shushtar.
i. Zanjan:Ejdeha cave near Veer village, around Abhar
j. Systan and Baluchestan: [caves around]Saravan,Khash, Nikshahr,Nazil,Ghasre Ghand,and Bazman.
k. Semnan:Chehel Dohktaran E Rashm mountain, near Damghan.
l. Kerman:Meymand, Shah Firouz near Sirjan, Farash near Jiroft, Sarcheshmeh, and Rafsanjan.
m. Kurdistan:Dehgolan,Saral,Kancharmi near Bijar, Huraman, and Carafto cave.
n. Kermanshah:Sorkhe Liziha, Cheshmeh Sohrab near Meravza,Dinevar, Songhor, and Harseen.
o. Fars: Abadeh, Gheer near Kazeroun.
p. Ghazvin:Chalalmbar, Yazli Ghelich Kendi, Yeri Jan YazGholi, AhgaGhoy, and Bayan Lou near Boein Zahara.
q. Lorestan:Moi Malas and Hamian near Kouhdasht, Khomeh near Aligoudarz, Mihad near Borojerd, Dareh Yal near Azna, Yafteh and Dousheh caves.
r. Mazenderan:Nava summer village around Bala Larijan near Amol.
s. Markazi:Ebrahim Abad near Arak, Ahmad Abad near Khondab, Farsi Jan, Shazand, Susan Abad near Farahan,Poshtgodar near Mahallat, Sarough, Sarband,Ravanj near Delijan,Yasavol near Komijan, and 31 sites of Timereh near Khomein.
t. Hormozgan:Ahu cavern and Dehtol near Bastak
u. Hamedan :Alvand Shahrestaneh valley, Ganjnameh valley,Mehrabad Noushijaneh near Malayer,Merianj, Nahavand, Ordoshahan mountains
Yazd:Tabas Nahrin valley,Ernan mountain, Hikhteh mountain, Sorkh Dodoushan mountain, Nasrabad village near Taft,Showaz,Ganj valley
The most recent chronology of petroglyphs in Iran was done employing the General Accelerator Spectrometer in 2008 that helped us gather a relatively notable amount of data from random samples; though, this is a demanding job that needs a systematic and comprehensive supported effort.
The following table offers the first classification of petroglyphs according to redundancy and frequency
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The theme occurance of petroglyphs by random sampling( percentage )
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percentage
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carvings
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number
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88
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Ibex, symbolically depicted by a long curved horn that extends to tail.
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1
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3
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Human figures as in rituals, roping [cattles] ,using arches on the back of the horses or on-foot , hunting dressed or not and etc…
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2
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2
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Cupmarks, codes, scripts, …
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3
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2
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Wild or domestic horses, being rode or not, in different postures.
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4
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1
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Camels with one or two humps.
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5
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1
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Pictographs of cats family like leopards, scaled skin tigers, male and female lions, dog family like wolves, dogs, foxes. Mice, pigs,…
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6
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1
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Deer(Maral,Shooka), antelopes, …
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7
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1
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Extincted unrecognizable animals.
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8
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.5
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Geometric marks.
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9
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.5
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Botanic marks.
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10
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One of the characteristics of Iran’s petroglyphs is the continuity of existence of prehistoric marks on the ancient potteries and bronze sculptures that reveal the impressiveness of petroglyphs of the facades of caves and rocks reflected on ancient work of arts.
This continuity can be traced from eighth millennium BC by the potteries in Ganj Darreh near Harseen in Kermanshah state, to third and first millennium BC , considering the bronze period in Lorestan.
There is a unique similarity between petroglyph marks and prehistoric potteries as if all these works are done by a sole artist.
Dr.Mohammad Naseri Fard
Summer,2013
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