Maymand, the prehistoric Iranian village

Photo published by Ali Majdfar on PBase.

A small village in the south of Iran has been suspended in time for thousands of years.

The historical village of Maymand, in the province of Kerman, has been inhabited for at least 3,000 years (some people say 12,000 years, which would make it a Mesolithic village). Its 150 inhabitants, semi-nomadic people people who make a living from farming and agriculture, reside in caves dug into the rock. There are 350 of these dwellings, called “Gonbeh”, some of which have been lived in for millennia.

And yet, the climate of Maymand is far from mild. With high temperatures in summer and extremely cold winters, the village certainly deserved UNESCO’s Melina Mercouri international prize, which it was awarded in 2005, for having preserved its ancestral way of life.

Contributors

Mariam Rahim Khani

“It’s a really beautiful village…. a work of art in perfect harmony with nature”

Mariam Rahim Khani is an architecture student. She lives near Maymand, in the Kerman province.  I visited the village of Maymand as part of an organised excursion for the architecture students. Several kilometres away from the village, the road became a rough path, without any asphalt.

The village of Maymand. Photo published on Flickr by Dmehrtash on August 11, 2008.

But as soon as we arrived, we saw the magnificent houses dug into the rock.

The countryside around the village. Photo posted on Flickr by m.gemma on August 11, 2008.

Around them were pomegranate and pistachio orchards, adding a touch of green to this arid landscape. Middle-aged men and women were working in the farms.

 The Maymand mosque. Photo published by Ali Majdfar on PBase.

We went to the village mosque. It consisted of a building that two brothers had built by knocking down the wall which had separated their two houses.

The village’s cafe-restaurant. Photo published on Flickr by HORIZON on May 29, 2009.

At lunch-time, we ate in the village restaurant, the tables and chairs of which were also made of stone and wood. Not far from the restaurant were some traditional ovens used for cooking bread.

Photo published on Flickr by Dmehrtash on June 1, 2007.

Not far from the restaurant were some traditional ovens used for cooking bread.

Photo published on Flickr by Dmehrtash on July 7, 2010

The dwellings are equipped with electricity but not with air conditioning. But given that the residences dug into the rock are naturally cool, they don’t have much need of the latter.

The inhabitants of the village. Photo publised by Ali Majdfar on PBase.

These villagers live a simple life which, even though some own one or two mod cons, is almost primitive. They don’t complain and seem to have a happy existence.

The inhabitants of the village. Photo posted on Flickr by sadeghkhan on November 28, 2005.

 

However, we did spot several abandoned houses and we didn’t meet very many young people. A lot of people have left the village to go and work in the neighbouring village of Shar-e Babak, one hour by car from Maymand.

This is a really beautiful village, full of peace and quiet. A work of art in perfect harmony with nature.".

Mariam Rahim Khani

Maymand, between the prehistoric and the modern

A house in the village. Photo published on Flickr by Ali Majdfar on September 22, 2009. 

A henhouse in the village. Photo published on Flickr by Dmehrtash on June 1, 2007.

An inhabitant of Maymand in front of her house. Photo published on Flickr by Dmehrtash on June 1, 2007.

Mercouri Prize Puts Iran's Maymand Village in Spotlight

Tehran, 8 September 2005 (CHN) – Yesterday the historical village of Maymand received the 20,000 dollar Mercouri World Prize with a certificate presented by the Director-General of UNESCO to Ahmad Jalili, Permanent Delegate of Iran to UNESCO.

The ceremony was attended by Petros Tatoulis, the Vice Minister of Culture of Greece, the Permanent Delegete to UNESCO of Greece, George Anastassopoulosi, and the Head of France's Sorbonne University.

The historical village of Maymand in Kerman, south of Iran, was awarded the Melina Mercouri International Prize for the safeguarding and management of cultural landscapes (UNESCO Greece).

The prize was awarded to the historical village of Maymand in recognition of its exceptional qualities as cultural landscape, a human settlement that has preserved a semi-nomadic agro-pastoral way of life over several millennia. The prize is meant to help support the Iranian Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization in its work to preserve the village and the lifestyle of its 140 inhabitants.

Maymand village, located between Shahr-e Babak and Maymand cities, used to be full of pistachio and wild almond trees. A lot of berry and black berry trees can also be seen not far from the village. Maymand plain is full of desert animals such as snakes, crocodiles, hedgehogs, and turtles. Besides in the mountains of Maymand there are different kinds of wild animals such as deer, leopard, wolf, fox, zebra, ibex and different kinds of birds.

Many seasonal rivers, qanats (aqueducts), and springs can be seen in Maymand village and its suburbs, which have helped the region with a fruitful agriculture.

Living conditions in Maymand are harsh due to the aridity of the land and to high temperatures in summers and very cold winters.

Maymand consists of a set of houses that have been dug in the hearth of the mountain and the rocks which are called Hand-dug houses.

"The houses which are used during the summer are called "Kapar" which are small wooden rooms with low ceilings. In these kapars, a stream of cold air is always flowing. Another architectural style which is called "Gonbeh" is a circled stoned wall houses with a wooden conical roof which has been covered by soil and mud. Inside the Gonbeh is warmer than Kapar," says Kiarash Eqtesadi, director of Maymand's research center.

Sometimes the villagers of Maymand live in a kind of white tent called "Pollas", the vertical fibers of which are of cotton and the horizontal ones of goat's wool. The villagers are busy with animal breeding or fruit gardens during the summer.

The rock houses of Maymand, some of which have been inhabited for as long as 3000 years, start at a height of 3 meters of Khorin Mountain and stretch to the flat plain of Khatoonabad.

The knowledge of general public about the historical and picturesque villages of Iran was limited to Masuleh in Gilan province and Kandovan in East Azarbaijan. A lot of people had not even heard the name of Maymand village, until the four-year long researches and studies on the village.

The US$20,000 prize, named after Greece's late cinema actress and Culture Minister Melina Mercouri, has been awarded every two years since 1999 to reward outstanding examples of action to safeguard and enhance the world's major cultural landscapes

maymand

  a۱۲۰۰۰ years old village of Maymand carved in living rocks located in Shahr-e Babak, Kerman-Iran; whose enjoy impressive architecture representing the peaceful coexistence of man and Nature.