Bakhtiari Cemeteries
This research project, which is a pilot study of cemeteries and funeral culture among the nomadic Bakhtiyari in northern Khuzestan, continued throughout 2005/6. The main emphasis is based on research about Lion tombstones, a field which until now has remained relatively unknown. This project has enabled a classification and analysis of this particular type of tombstones to be made. The Iranian collaborator, Pedram Khosronejad, is in the process of finishing his study of the origin and structure of these tombstones and will submit it as a PhD thesis to Sorbonne University, Paris, at the end of the year.
It is the first time that research of this type has been undertaken among a nomadic tribal group, which is a distinctive social formation of the past but is now under threat by the rapid urbanisation within Iran. The third and last phase of this field research will collect information from tribal groups living in the vicinity, who have preserved this tradition through oral history. It is planned to visit the area in April 2007. The result will be a comprehensive study about funeral culture in a nomadic tribal setting. A bilingual publication will be prepared in 2007 following the completion of this research project. The Institute for Nomadism in Iran has already proposed considering a follow-up study for another major tribal group, the Qashqa’is of southern Fars in southern Iran.