ResourceScapes in the Iranian Highlands

The Iranian highlands are characterized by very special resource conditions: although being dominated in large parts by aridity, the presence of ecological niches and specific weather phenomena, along with rich deposits of minerals and raw materials, provide livelihoods for pre-modern societies. These conditions have favoured the development of different but also specific practices based on intricate knowledge of individual resources. Ancient communities in this region have developed very special strategies that utilise the originally unfavourable circumstances to their advantage and have thus similarly shaped the landscape accordingly.

Everyday practices of resource acquisition and utilisation can thus be understood as culturally integrating latent factors, which in turn have to be examined diachronically in regards to their particular appearance, their temporal representation as well as their effects on subsistence and exchange systems. Unfavourable soil conditions were exploited, as were extreme winds, and the development of resilience strategies led to the development of new technologies that can also be helpful today in times of extreme climate conditions. Furthermore, resources are not only experienced as mere materials to support physical existence but are often also deeply interwoven with cosmic ideas and the spiritual well-being of humans and communities.

This volume represents the contributions of the international workshop on ‘ResourceScapes in the Iranian Highlands – Water, Wind and Minerals as Factors of Appropriation and Integration’ held on the 12th and 13th September 2022 at the Institute of Archaeological Studies, Ruhr-University Bochum in cooperation with the German Mining Museum.

This book is the third volume of a series published by the German-Iranian research cooperation The Iranian Highlands: Resiliences and Integration in Premodern Societies. The goal of the research project it is to shine a new light on communities and societies that populated the Iranian highlands and their more or less successful strategies to cope with the many vagaries, the constant changes and risks of their natural and humanly shaped environments.