The Introduction of the Archaeological Site of Sibeh-Koukherd, Based on Archaeological and Archaeogeophysical Surveys Data

There are many archaeological sites in Iran that have been remained unknown and have been ignored during these years with our neglect and under the pretext of the growth of cities and villages. The study of these sites, each of which is a ring in the history of human studies, is necessary for the correct understanding of the culture of the past. In the village of Koukherd -which is located in Bastak, Hormozgan province- there is a less well-known ancient site, which is called “Sibeh” by inhabitants of the village as well as in some written documents, too. Today, the ancient city of Sibeh is located on the southwest of the village of Koukherd, where a several residential houses are built on the site core zone of the historic city in the north-east. The dispersion of remains from prehistoric to the late Islamic era around the Koukherd region, the existence of rock paintings from prehistoric to Islamic, the water structure of Tereneh, which is constructed in Sassanid period and the Islamic tomb of Dogonbadan, all demonstrate the richness of this region. In 2017, archaeological surveys and in particular, the geophysical survey were carried out by the archaeological mission under the direction of Mohammadkhani in the ancient site of Koukherd village. The collect of some of sherds pottery were one of the actions carried out during the archaeological surveys. Glaziers and design of the collected pieces indicate their belonging to the Islamic period, but their exact dating will definitely require more studies and experiments in the future. Other activities were included studying, photographing, and survey of two tomb building and bathroom/Hammam which carried out by the archaeologists. The purpose of this research was to introduce the ancient site of Sibeh city and to express the results of the surveys which will cause acquaintance with this ancient site and future supplementary studies by other researchers. At first, the contents from written sources was presented where it was tried to provide a brief description of the site. In the following, with the pictures and short written, two ancient buildings, the tomb and the bathroom/Hammam were introduced. Also, by presenting the tables of pottery analysis, got acquainted with the site's pottery and by showing maps obtained from geophysical surveys and digital maps, and studying and analyzing data, the contents have been arranged. One of the including activities done in these surveys was the determination of the site core zone of the ancient city of Sibeh, and the identification of archaeological monuments in the sphere of influence of site that included the tomb and the bath/Hammam. With geophysical surveys, subsurface structures appeared in different parts of the site. The most important anomalies appeared in the magnetic survey in the eastern part of the ancient site are regular linear anomalies, which are marked on the map (Fig. 10) in the western part of the Sibeh bath/Hammam area and show a rectangular structure that is located in the northwest corner of another square structure. In the west of the Sibeh city, in the cemetery part of the Dogonbadan - because of the existence of the Bunjeron part/Stone town and ancient graves, the eastern part of the Dogonbadan was selected for magnetic survey - in the north part of the magnetic map, there are regular linear magnetic anomalies that clearly indicate the plan of subsurface structures. Although the existence of some monument around the archaeological site confirms that this geographic area has been settlement in pre-Islamic, the results of this fieldwork and superficial pottery samples studied have lead the authors to doubt about assigning the site to pre-Islamic period.