Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Farid Ahmadzadeh ¹
• Hassan Karimian ²
• Mohammad Hassan Talebian ³

¹ PhD Student in Archeology, University of Tehran, Tehran,Iran

² Professor of Archeology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

³ Associate Professor, of Architecture, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

 This article examines the structure and function of water mills in Horaman mountain region. Water mills are a technical structure that is the result of indigenous knowledge and a smart method from the ancestors in creating a balance between the needs and demands of human societies with the actual and potential facilities available in different environments with different geographical conditions. Due to its connection with livelihood, nutrition and gathering of food (bread is the most important food) by people in the past periods, mills and miller are considering a part of social history studies. Therefore, by researching in these issues, one can get to know the important role and function of water mills in the cultural, social and economic fields of past societies. The purpose of this research is to investigate and recognize water mills as a part of the material culture left over from the Qajar and Pahlavi eras to finally answer this question: What role did Horaman mills play in the continuity and biological evolution of the region, in terms of socio-economic structure during the Qajar and Pahlavi periods? The method of this research is descriptive and analytical, and it uses field studies, travelogues, oral history in the form of interviews with local researchers and people who have been in charge of miller jobs for generations. The results of the research show that Horaman water mills, despite being established in a mountainous and inaccessible region, have always played a role in the social and economic life of the region in addition to their main function of flouring grains for baking bread;  and by this means, it has provided the connection between the plains and the mountains, and in a way, it has provided a unique role in shaping and regulating the social relations of the communities inside and outside the region. In the end, Horaman water mills were not just a tool for grain flour, but widely has helped for the socio-economic fabric of Horaman communities, which did not have proper agriculture due to the lack of land in the mountainous region.

Keywords

• Hawraman
• Water mills
• Bread
• Social structure
• Economic structure

Main Subjects

• Social history

Extended Abstract

Water mills: Socio-economic structure in Hawraman mountain region during Qajar and Pahlavi period

Horaman region due to environmental conditions, permanent rivers and more importantly, the topographical position and suitable slope of the land for building a mill has been one of the most favorable areas for the construction and expansion of water mill technology. Water mills have been formed with a technical structure that is the result of local intelligent knowledge of the past in order to balance between the needs and demands of human societies with the potential facilities in different environments. Considering the fact that bread was the most important of human's way of life in the past, the mill and the milling profession are considered a part of social history studies due to its connection with livelihood, nutrition and the way of gathering food. Understanding the importance of mills in the local communities of Iran requires attention and apprehension of its functions in the local and national system. As a place between the land and the house, and the personal miller between the farmer and the consumer, the mill has played a significant role in the cultural, social, political and economic life of the local communities of Iran, therefore, the study and research of the mill and milling culture in the Horaman region, provide significant grounds for understanding the life conditions of one member of the Iranian tribes, in the western part of Iran and in the middle of a mountainous region, to some extent the social, cultural and economic structure.

The purpose of this research is to study and understand Horaman water mills as a part of the material culture left over from the Qajar and Pahlavi eras. The question is what role did Horaman water mills play during the Qajar and Pahlavi periods in the continuity and biological evolution of the region, in terms of socio-economic structure? No research has been done in the ground of water mills in Horaman region. However, researches have been conducted on water mills in other areas and cultural regions of Iran, and most of these researches have focused on the architecture and components of mills. It should be mentioned that the present research is the first attempt to know the water mills in the mountainous areas and the studied part and its effect on the development and continuity of life in terms of socio-economic structure during the Qajar period until the present era.

Methodology: This research is focused on the investigation and study of water mills, its explanation and description based on the native-local culture of Horaman region. As regard the fact that the mentioned phenomenon today is not present as a live and functional element in the culture in question, mainly retrospective and historical methods have been used to investigate it and qualitative methodology has been used to collect and analyze data. The practical researcher of this study with an ethnographic presence in the place, while observing and documenting the remains of water mills in Horaman region by taking notes and taking pictures of it, from ethnographic interviews and oral history as one of the most common strategies used in Qualitative research has been used to understand the culture of the target society. In this research, oral history was able to reconstruct a part of the social and cultural of the studied community regarding the phenomenon of milling and milling profession. The way of managing the mills and its impact on the socio-economic structure of the region was one of the most important points that was mainly gathered through oral history. The use of existing researches on the cultural knowledge of the region form other tools of this writing to provide some analysis.

Findings: The Horaman mountain region has always been dependent on the lowland regions and neighbors due to its difficult geography and lack of suitable land for grain cultivation. But in the Islamic period, and especially during the Qajar and Pahlavi periods, they created an economic cycle, by building numerous water mills, while supplying the region with wheat and flour, commercial relations and connections were established at more levels in the region. Due to the process of making bread, which was the most important commodity in the past, the millers, at least to the extent of their and their families' needs, need wheat and flour, especially in high prices and droughts, when the lack of these items becomes an acute problem, and it becomes seriously accessible. This issue makes them have more food security than other people of the same level. Field evidence shows that the food security in Horaman was not only one of the concerns of the people in the past, but it was also the most significant and fundamental issue.

Conclusion: The water mills of Horaman mountain area in the present research show a unique case of water resource management, to understand the interaction between man and the environment, during the Qajar and Pahlavi periods, which caused the creation and continuation of settlement, and the creation of economic-social cycle in rural centers. The results of the this research showed that the mill, as a part of the materialistic culture of the past, on the one hand, with a special capacity, has shaped, gave an identity, and continued the life of local communities in the Horaman region during the Qajar and Pahlavi periods. On the other hand, has helped widely to the socio-economic context of Horaman communities, which have not had proper agriculture due to the lack of land in the mountainous region.