Iranian archaeologist Dr Mohammad Naserifard has spent years exploring dozens of Iranian provinces, particularly in the hills outside Khomein. Naserifard now teaches at a local university, and he estimates that in Iran depictions of the ibex deer account for more than 90 percent of the ancient engravings.
Iranian cultural studies has long been defined by its interdisciplinarity. From the monumental decipherment of Old Persian inscriptions by Rawlinson and the philological achievements of scholars such as Henning, Nyberg, and Tafażżoli, to the more recent integration of archaeological survey, comparative mythology, and historical linguistics, the field has continually expanded its methodological horizons. Dr. Moqaddam’s research stands within this evolving intellectual landscape. Her work engages with the languages, texts, and symbolic systems that illuminate how ancient Iranian communities articulated identity, memory, and cosmology across millennia.
By examining the linguistic and cultural structures embedded in Iran’s ancient textual heritage, she contributes to a broader scholarly effort to understand how Iranian civilisation developed its distinctive forms of expression-from the ritual vocabulary of the Avesta to the narrative traditions of the Sasanian world. This research is essential not only for philologists and historians, but also for archaeologists and rock art specialists, because it provides the cultural and conceptual frameworks through which prehistoric and early historic imagery can be interpreted.
Iran’s prehistoric rock art research is in a phase of rapid growth, driven by UNESCO recognition, major new Palaeolithic discoveries, and expanding regional surveys. While Iran’s confirmed rock art record is still modest, the underlying archaeological evidence - symbolic artifacts, long-term occupation, and new hominin dispersal data - suggests that the next decade will likely bring significant new rock art discoveries.
Supporting the research of Dr Mohammad Naserifard, Ibrahim Rafiei's study of the rock art at Dehtal demonstrates that the ibex is the most common motif and constitutes one of the defining elements of the Dehtal cultural landscape.
To understand the cultural realm in which Iran’s early symbolic traditions emerged, we must also consider the geology and dramatic contrasts in landscape that define the Iranian plateau. Few regions in Eurasia present such a complex interplay of mountains, deserts, river basins, and highland corridors. This physical diversity was not merely a backdrop; it actively shaped patterns of movement, settlement, ritual practice, and ultimately the symbolic expressions we encounter in prehistoric art. Across these regions, geology shaped not only where people lived, but how they imagined their world. The interplay of stone, water, altitude, and horizon created distinct sensory environments that informed ritual practice and symbolic behaviour. Rock shelters in limestone zones became natural sanctuaries; basalt outcrops offered durable surfaces for pecked engravings; high plateaus provided vantage points that were woven into mythic geographies. In this sense, the physical landscape of Iran was an active participant in cultural formation - a generator of meaning, not merely a container for it.
