مطالعۀ ساختار معماری و تاریخ‌گذاری استودان گبرها (برج خاموشی ری)

 یکی از شیوه‌های دفن مردگان در آئین زردشتی، خورشیدنگرشنی و قرار دادن مردگان در برج‌های خاموشی است. با استناد به متون کلاسیک و یافته‌های باستان‌شناسی، این سنت تدفینی در آئین زردشتی از آغاز دورۀ تاریخی تا به امروز گزارش شده است. تاکنون مطالعات معدودی راجع‌به برج خاموشی ری انجام گرفته است. این مطالعات اغلب به توصیف محوطه و ویژگی‌های معماری آن پرداخته است؛ لذا از ورای آن نمی‌توان از تحول ساختار معماری و تاریخ ساخت محوطه درکی جامع به‌دست آورد. این پژوهش از یک‌سو، تلاش می‌کند تحول ساختار معماری برج خاموشی ری از سده‌های نخست تا سده‌های متاخر اسلامی را ارزیابی کند؛ و از سویی دیگر، درپی دستیابی به شواهدی راجع‌به تاریخ نسبی ساخت محوطه است. بر این‌اساس، پژوهش حاضر تلاش می‌کند به دو پرسش پاسخ دهد؛ 1) ساختار معماری برج خاموشی ری چگونه بوده است و چه تحولات معماری در آن صورت گرفته است؟ 2) با استناد به منابع نوشتاری و مطالعات مقایسه‌ای، برج خاموشی ری در چه برهۀ زمانی ساخته شده است؟ در راستای پاسخ به پرسش‌های فوق، از رویکرد توصیفی-تحلیلی استفاده شده است. مطالعات میدانی و کتابخانه‌ای به‌همراه بررسی مقایسه‌ای مهم‌ترین روش‌های گردآوری اطلاعات در پژوهش پیشِ‌رو است. این پژوهش نشان می‌دهد برج خاموشی ری مربوط به سده‌های نخست اسلامی است و تا سده‌های متاخر اسلامی نیز حیات داشته است؛ به‌علاوه، بررسی مقایسه‌ای ساختار معماری محوطه، ضمن تایید تاریخ‌گذاری پیشنهادی، برج خاموشی ری را همراه با برج خاموشی کوهستان یزد و دخمۀ قدیمی کرمان در یک نسل مشخص از برج‌های خاموشی قرار می‌دهد. نسلی که ادامۀ نسل برج‌های خاموشی پیش از اسلام و نمایندۀ برج‌های خاموشی سده‌های نخست اسلامی است.

study of the architectural structure and dating of gabrs’ sotōdān (the tower of silence in ray)

one of the burial methods in the zoroastrian religion is the xwaršēd nigerišnand the placement of the corpse in the towers of silence. with reference to the classical sources and archeological findings, this burial tradition has been reported in the zoroastrian religion from the beginning of the historical period until today. so far, few studies have been carried out on the tower of silence of ray. these studies often focus on description of the site and its architectural features. it is not possible to acquire a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of this architectural structure and the construction history of the site by solely relying on these studies. this research tries to evaluate the evolution of the architecture of the tower of silence of ray from the early to the late islamic centuries. in addition, it seeks to obtain evidence regarding the relative construction dating of the site. as a result, this research tries to answer two questions: 1) how was the original architectural structure of the tower of silence of ray and what architectural developments have taken place in it? 2) with reference to the literary sources and comparative studies, when was the tower of silence of ray constructed? in order to find answers to the aforementioned questions, a descriptive-analytical method has been used. the library method, alongside with field and comparative studies were the most important information gathering means for this investigation. the results of this study indicates that the tower of silence of ray belongs to the early islamic period and continued to be used up to the late islamic era. furthermore, the comparative study of the architectural structure of the site, while confirming the proposed dating, places the tower of silence of ray alongside with the tower of silence of the yazd mountain and the ancient dakhma of kerman in a particular generation of towers of silence. a generation that continued the tradition of the pre-islamic era towers of silence and represented the towers of silence of the early islamic centuries.keywords: tower of silence, ray, early islamic centuries, late islamic centuries, architectural structure.introductionone of the oldest burial traditions in the ancient world is the xwaršēdnigerišn or the exposure of a corpse to open air. this burial tradition has been reported from the epipaleolithic (mcauley, 2013: 8) and neolithic periods (hole & flannery, 1963: 245-246; lambert, 1980: 6) to the present day (geiger, 1885: 88). there is still no accurate information regarding the entry of this burial tradition into zoroastrianism and the quality of its spread in ancient iran. literary sources and archaeological data provide scattered information about this burial tradition in the achaemenid (550-330 b.c.), parthian (247-224 a.d.) and sasanian (224-651 a.d.) periods. herodotus mentions the prevalence of xwaršēdnigerišn among the magians (herodotus, histories: i: 140; godley, 1920: 179) and strabo considers it a common tradition in the eastern regions of iran during the parthian period (strabo, geography: xxi. 3. 15; sanatizadeh, 2003: 327).although the xwaršēdnigerišn was mostly carried out in the mountains, without involving or creating architectural constructions, in some cases this tradition was performed in circular and enclosed spaces known as the towers of silence. the tower of silence of chil’pyk in khwarezm dates back to the 2nd - 4th centuries a.d. (abdullaev, 2014: 309) and while confirming strabo’s claim, represents the oldest instance of a zoroastrian tower of silence in the eastern domains of the parthian empire. at the same time, the performance of xwaršēdnigerišn in the theater of ai khanom, after the departure of the greeks, is another evidence of dakhma burial in the eastern parthian lands (frye, 1984: 190). so far, only the roofed tower of silence of bandian has been reported from the sasanian period (rahbar, 2007: 455-473).this burial tradition later emerged in the islamic period and became the most common burial method among zoroastrian minorities.an instance of zoroastrian tower of silence burials can be seen at the slopes of mount tabarak in the city of ray. on the one hand, this tower of silence follows the tradition of the tower of silence of chil’pyk(abdullaev, 2014: 309), and on the other, it is a reminiscent of the dakhma of yazd mountain and the ancient dakhma of kerman(huff, 2004:620-623). the lack of entrance space and the use of grave-like pāvis for the xwaršēd nigerišnare the architectural features of this burial structure that cannot be perceived in similar cases. the reports of the european travelers of the qajar period (d’allemagne, 1956: 803; dieulafoy, 1992: 146-148; orsolle, 2003: 303;feuvrier, 2006: 190; williams jackson, 2008: 495), along with the monograph of wolfram kleiss (kleiss, 1987: 369-382), and the brief description of ghadirafround and khosropourbakhshandeh who surveyed the city of ray (afround&pourbakhshandeh, 2002: 62), constitute the bulk of available information regarding the tower of silence in ray. in this research, in the first place, an attempt has been made to identify the architectural structure of the tower of silence in ray. in the next step, the architectural developments of the tower of silence will be evaluated, and finally, some hypothetical assumptions regarding the construction date of the site will be presented. in order to achieve the aforementioned goals, the study of literary sources and a comparative study of the tower of silence of ray with similar structures is the approach of the present research.description of the sitethe tower of silence of ray is an isolated structure and does not have any extensions. it is situated on the northern slope of bibi shahrbanu mountain, overlooking the seventh unit of tehran cement factory in ray county, at 39.217 ′51 ′ longitude and 15.388 ′36 ′ latitude and an elevation of 1203 meters above sea level. this burial structure is built with stone rubble and plaster mortar and has a diameter of 1780 cm, a height of 450 cm, and an average thickness of 100 cm (figs. 1-2).evaluationthe evolution of the architectural structure and the dating of the site are the two research problems of the tower of silence in ray.abu dulaf al-khazraji’s reference and nizam al-mulk’s explanation are indicative of a zoroastrian burial structure at the slopes of tabarak mountain in ray.