Critical Discovery of the Springhouse in Sar-e-Koocheh Yakhchal District of Aran and Bidgol

In 2015, the springhouse in Sar-e-Koocheh Yakhchal district was accidentally discovered through construction operations by the central municipality of Aran and Bidgol in an important part of the historical context of the city.  Despite the fact that excavation operations had caused partial destruction in the building, the discovery group undertook the rest of the discovery project. The discovery was made for two main purposes:


Surviving and studying the building which was being destroyed
Reviewing the function and importance of the building (both individually and as an element of the historical context of this city)


This paper aims at, first, accurately describing the building, and second, dating and functional analysis of the building. In order to fulfill the above-mentioned purposes, in addition to discovering the area based on the principles of urban context discovering, the discoverers reviewed the historical context of the Sar-e-Koocheh Yakhchal district and adjacent districts, especially the buildings in the vicinity of the springhouse. Moreover, digging two trenches separated from the building as well as reviewing and analyzing various spaces of the building and various findings of the discovery were among the further measures taken in order to fulfill the above purposes. The cultural findings discovered in the building as well as the two trenches are the materials which are being reviewed in the study. The discovery is of a significant importance since it is regarded as the first archeologic discovery in urban context of Aran and Bidgol and introduces one of the most prominent and unknown architectural spaces in the context of desert cities, i.e. the springhouse. Finally, the paper introduces the springhouse as a historical hydraulic system with multiple functions. In addition, according to the fact that major of the obtained data have been discovered out of the main context, no strong statement concerning the ancientness of the building can be made.