Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Kurdestan avenPostal Code: 1437774681
Abstract: (32 Views)
Problem and Objective: Previous studies of the historic Gombroon–Lar route have mainly focused on reconstructing its course and identifying its waystations and caravanserais. However, differences in water-provision practices and their relationship to the spatial organization of waystations have received limited comparative attention at the scale of the route and through shared analytical criteria. This study examines how waystations in the water-scarce environment of southern Iran used different local resources and practices to meet the needs of stopping, settlement, production, and movement. Its objective is to analyze the relationship between water sources, waystations, and the stage-by-stage functioning of the route in the seventeenth century.
Research Method: The study adopts a historical–spatial approach based on the comparative analysis of selected waystations. Contemporary accounts by García de Silva y Figueroa and Jean-Baptiste Tavernier are assessed alongside historical and field-based studies of the route. The analysis distinguishes between direct statements in contemporary sources, cases supported by corroborating evidence, and analytical inferences. It also treats the historical existence of a waystation, the dating of surviving remains, and the chronological and functional relationship between water facilities and stopping places as separate claims.
Findings and Conclusion: The examined waystations did not follow a single technological or spatial model of water provision. At Gachin, access to a reservoir and its use were important; at Kahurestan and Hormud, water resources were linked to settlement and productive activities; and at Tang-e Dalan, water conveyance and distribution extended beyond the immediate stopping place. These differences indicate that the functioning of the examined sections of the route did not depend on a fixed technology, but was supported by resources and practices adapted to local conditions. The study’s main contribution lies in comparing relationships among water, settlement, production, and stopping and in redefining the unit of analysis through the “water–waystation–route” relationship. Without directly transferring historical models to present conditions, the findings emphasize resource diversity and the adaptation of water-provision practices to local characteristics in studies of infrastructure revitalization.
Research Method: The study adopts a historical–spatial approach based on the comparative analysis of selected waystations. Contemporary accounts by García de Silva y Figueroa and Jean-Baptiste Tavernier are assessed alongside historical and field-based studies of the route. The analysis distinguishes between direct statements in contemporary sources, cases supported by corroborating evidence, and analytical inferences. It also treats the historical existence of a waystation, the dating of surviving remains, and the chronological and functional relationship between water facilities and stopping places as separate claims.
Findings and Conclusion: The examined waystations did not follow a single technological or spatial model of water provision. At Gachin, access to a reservoir and its use were important; at Kahurestan and Hormud, water resources were linked to settlement and productive activities; and at Tang-e Dalan, water conveyance and distribution extended beyond the immediate stopping place. These differences indicate that the functioning of the examined sections of the route did not depend on a fixed technology, but was supported by resources and practices adapted to local conditions. The study’s main contribution lies in comparing relationships among water, settlement, production, and stopping and in redefining the unit of analysis through the “water–waystation–route” relationship. Without directly transferring historical models to present conditions, the findings emphasize resource diversity and the adaptation of water-provision practices to local characteristics in studies of infrastructure revitalization.
Article number: 3
Keywords: Gombroon–Lar Route, Water Provision, Historic Waystations, Spatial Organization, Mobility Infrastructure, Water Infrastructure Revitalization.
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