Parseh Journal of Archaeological Studies

fa مواجهۀ روایت‌شناسی و باستان‌شناسی (تحلیل الگوهای روایی دست‌ساخته‌هایِ تمدن جیرفت برپایۀ گونه‌شناسی روایت دیداریِ فرانس ویکهاوف) The Encounter of Narratology and Archaeology (Analysis of Narrative Methods of Jiroft Civilization Artifacts Based on Franz Wickhoff`s Typological System of Visual Narrative) تخصصی باستان‌شناسی Special Archeology پژوهشي Research <div style="text-align: justify;">خوانش آثار باستانی، نخستین‌گام پس از عمل کاوش است؛ از این‌رو، پرداختن به اشیائ باستانی به‌عنوان رکن اساسی علم باستان‌شناسی، به‌ویژه توجه به مسائل روش‌شناختی جهت تحلیل دست‌ساخته‌های تاریخی امری ضروری می‌نماید؛ به‌عبارت دیگر، لزوم به‌کارگیریِ ظرفیت‌های روش‌شناختی نو، با تأکید بر رابطۀ میان رسانۀ بصری و دست‌ساختۀ باستانی به‌عنوان منابع اطلاعاتی ارزشمند، کانون بحث حاضر را تشکیل می‌دهد. در همین راستا، در سه دهۀ اخیر روایت‌شناسی دیداری نیز به مثابۀ روشی نوپدید در تاریخ هنر معاصر، در کنار دیگر حوزه‌های بینارشته‌ای، جهت تحلیل معانی متون بصری و شناخت ژرف‌تر اسناد مکشوف باستانی موردتوجه قرار گرفته است. روایت‌شناسی دیداری از -مکتب نخست ویَن- سربرآورد؛ مبانی نظری آن، عمدتاً بر محور ایجاد تاریخ هنرِ علمی، صرف‌نظر از هرگونه داوری زیبایی‌شناختی، هم‌چنین تدوین یک روش دقیق تحلیلی که به‌وسیلۀ آن بتوان کلیۀ دست‌آفریده‌های فرهنگی را مورد خوانش قرار داد استوار بود. هدف اصلی پژوهش حاضر نیز شناسایی شیوه‌های مختلفی است که ازطریق آن آفرینندگان این آثار به خلق انواع روایت‌ها‌ی داستانی و انتقال معانی، به‌واسطۀ سه شاخص: «شخصیت»، «مکان صحنه» و «حرکت» پرداخته‌اند؛ بنابراین با استفاده از نظام گونه‌شناختی روایت تصویری «فرانس ویکهاوف» در مکتب وین، گونه‌های بنیادین روایت برروی شش نمونۀ مطالعاتیِ تمدن باستانی جیرفت مورد بررسی قرار گرفت. درنتیجه، پس از بررسی بسامد یا بیشینۀ گونه‌های پرتکرار درمیان نمونه‌های تصویری تمدن جیرفت، نشان داده شد که الگوهای روایت دیداری در این تمدن باستانی هم‌چنان از گسترۀ نظام گونه‌شناختی ویکهاوف تبعیت می‌کنند. درنهایت به کمک تحلیل گونه‌شناختی، نمونه‌های موردمطالعه منطبق‌بر الگوهای روایی منفرد، تداومی و تکاملی ویکهاوف، در قالب یک جدول صورت‌بندی شد.  </div> <div style="text-align: justify;">Abstract Reading ancient artifacts is the first step after the act of excavation. Therefore, dealing with ancient objects as a fundamental pillar of archaeological science, especially paying attention to methodological issues for the analysis of historical artifacts, is essential. In other words, the need to use new methodological capacities, with emphasis on the relationship between visual media and ancient artifacts as valuable sources of information, forms the focus of this discussion. In this regard, in the last three decades, visual narratology has also been considered as a newly emerging method in the history of contemporary art, along with other interdisciplinary fields, for analyzing the meanings of visual texts and for a deeper understanding of discovered ancient documents. Visual narratology emerged from the First Vienna School. Its theoretical foundations for the creation of art history, regardless of aesthetic judgment, also developed an analytical method by which All Kind of cultural creations can be read. The main goal of the present study is also to identify the Different methods through which the creators of these works have created narratives and transmitted meanings, through the three indicators of character, scene and movement. Therefore, using Franz Wickhoff`s typological system of visual narrative in the Vienna School, the basic types of narrative were examined on 6 study samples of the ancient Jiroft civilization. As a result, after examining the frequency or maximum of the most frequent types among the visual samples of the Jiroft civilization, it was shown that the visual narrative patterns in this ancient civilization still follow the scope of Wickhoff typological system. Finally, with the help of typological analyses, the studied samples are formatted into a table according to Wickhoff`s Isolated, continuous and Complementary. Keywords:  Visual Narratology, Archaeological Artifact, Jiroft Civilization, Wickhoff’s Typological System of Narrative. Introduction Narratology is one of the most important methods of textual analysis, first applied in the study of verbal-linguistic media. From the perspective of linguistic narratologists, a narrative is defined as a story that follows a chronological order and consists of a sequence of interconnected events with a beginning, middle, and end. The groundwork for the encounter between narratology and archaeology in the present era was laid with the help of Propp’s studies-recognized as the first modern narratological approaches-on Russian folktales, emphasizing recurring motifs within the literary genre. In other words, his formalist-structuralist method, by identifying repetitive and transformative patterns in narrative elements, was primarily developed in storytelling traditions and subsequently introduced archaeologists and anthropologists to this field. Moreover, in 1980, linguistic narratologists, recognizing the significance of non-verbal media, prioritized the study of visual texts as a rich source of knowledge. Consequently, although the historical background of visual narrative studies traces back to art history, archaeology, and the examination of various forms of narrative art in ancient Greece and Rome... (Horvath, 2010) However, following the fields of archaeology and art history, narratologists began studying visual narratives. This marked the first time in the history of linguistic narratology that, beyond literature and cinema, narrative theory extended into the realm of visual arts, including sculpture, figurative representation, relief carvings, inscriptions, and more. Consequently, since the 1980s, visual narrative studies have become a common ground for various disciplines, particularly art history, narratology, archaeology, anthropology, epistemology, semiotics, and others. The undeniable potential of visual narrative, alongside linguistic media and the communicative/cognitive nature of visual documents, led research in this field toward interdisciplinary approaches. Overall, it can be stated that contemporary studies on visual narratives widely agree that visual elements are essential for establishing a form of visual communication and constructing the meaning of an artwork. This consensus has contributed to the emergence of a new interdisciplinary branch known as visual narratology over the past two decades. In this regard, archaeologists such as Landau (1991) and Terrell (1990) explored narratives related to human evolution and prehistoric stories from the Pacific region. As a result, they primarily examined the perspectives of key narrative roles in the form of protagonists who undergo arduous trials, overcome significant obstacles, or return to their homeland (Pluciennik, 1999: 654). Discussion In this research, an attempt is made to introduce a new approach to the study of visual narratives by drawing on recent methodological frameworks in the field of visual culture studies across different civilizations-with a particular focus on reading narratives or stories within images. In addition to presenting an innovative method for analyzing visual narratives, this study aims to establish more objective and precise criteria for interpreting visual texts and ultimately uncovering their themes, messages, or implicit meanings. This is achieved through the examination of three key narrative components: the actor (agent), the representational space, and all directional or movement-evoking elements within the image. From this perspective, the proposed method significantly differs from other image and symbol analysis approaches, particularly iconography and semiotics. Overall, these components distinguish the present research methodologically from previous studies on the cultural heritage of Jiroft, which have primarily relied on semiotic and iconographic analyses of motifs-rather than exploring the narrativity of images. This distinction is considered one of the study’s key innovations. Conclusion Overall, the focus of this study was on the fundamental doctrine of the Vienna School, with a particular emphasis on Franz Wickhoff. In this regard, pictorial narration is inherently meaningful, generates cultural cognition, and is considered within a historical context. In other words, in line with Wickhoff’s teachings, an effort was made to examine seemingly indistinct events and ambiguous prehistoric incidents within overarching and universal metanarratives, which often reflect grand social transformations in various forms. The case studies of this research (see: Table 1) exhibit characteristics that demonstrate how the examination of the typological diversity of pictorial narration goes beyond textual analysis and delves into deeper subtextual and interpretative layers. Thus, every representational narrative is situated within a macro-narrative framework, which may encompass an archaeological site, a cultural civilization, or an evolutionary process transitioning from one historical era to another. In other words, the semantic appeal among the narrative samples of this research results from the interplay of the powerful poles of myth, nature, and culture. Therefore, the narrative logic of these artworks emerges through a permutation-based relationship and continuous movement between the cycle of natural life, the mythological realm, and cultural existence, centered around the main character or actors of the scene. In this ongoing struggle between the worlds of myth, nature, and culture, the dominant force within the scene is sometimes influenced by the mythological pole, manifesting in the figure of a king-hero (Figs. 4 & 6) such as Gilgamesh and Enkidu, who reflect the grand ideals of their culture and society. At other times, with nature prevailing over mythology, domesticated animals in the grasslands (Fig. s 5 and 7) are depicted as integral to their local ecosystem. In this way, pictorial narratives serve as tangible representations of the collective unconscious of these ancient civilizations, embodying their aspirations, desires, beliefs, and cultural and mythological needs through the artifacts and objects of their time. In this sense, beyond their decorative and aesthetic aspects, narrative motifs also reflect the worldview of their creators regarding ways of living, the geographical environment, and the prevalent cultural values and mythological concepts of that era. As Plato described in Timaeus, referring to nature as “the womb of all change”, the encounter between humans and nature in Jiroft civilization represents an ongoing process of transformation resulting from the clash of opposing forces in nature and the stabilizing power of human reason. Accordingly, the case studies of this research illustrate how historical human interactions with nature are reflected in the uninterrupted transition of pictorial actors through the three essential stages of existence—imitation and assimilation (myth), contact and interaction (nature/ecosystem), and desire and confrontation (culture) through various cultural-narrative patterns of the time. Thus, in their evolutionary and transformative journey (human-bull, human-lion, or human-scorpion), humans inevitably find themselves in a continuous struggle with the unknown and unstable forces of nature. Consistent with Frazer (1926), the urgent biological and existential necessity of direct contact with nature compelled ancient people to perceive themselves as defenseless against the uncontrollable forces of the natural world. In such a situation, they had to rely on collective intelligence to devise solutions for coping with the fragmented natural world and its creatures. On one hand, in response to existential questions and in facing the unknown forces of nature, as well as to alleviate their inner anxieties, they entered the mythological phase, passively and fearfully absorbing these uncontrollable forces into their collective unconscious. However, in the natural phase, in order to meet their biological and vital needs, they gradually became familiar with the enigmatic surrounding nature through constant contact, discovering its hidden forces. Finally, in the cultural phase-marked by the formation of urban societies and local states-they externalized the absorbed mythological forces and applied their accumulated experiential and cognitive knowledge of the surrounding nature to heroic actions aimed at establishing and defending their civilization and territorial boundaries against external threats. In other words, the passive and imitative human within the mythological realm transforms into a coexisting inhabitant of the natural order and ultimately into people with symbolic cultural identities, engaging in heroic acts. This heroic movement in ancient cultural and civilizational life frequently manifests in the figure of a king-hero. Consequently, emphasizing the maximal narrative quality in images, six pictorial types were purposefully selected from 144 pictorial samples of the Jiroft civilization. Upon analyzing the sample volume, it was demonstrated that Wickhoff’s three fundamental narrative patterns comprehensively encompass the various pictorial narratives (related to Jiroft civilization’s chlorite stone artifacts) under three general categories: “human narratives”, “grassland narratives” and “confrontational animal narratives”. In this way, the endless cycle of substitutions and transformations in the biological, mythological, and cultural systems of humans was structured under Wickhoff’s visual narratology framework in the form of three models: continuous, isolated, and Complementary  narratives. The isolated models in Figs. 8 & 9 revealed that by suspending movement, avoiding sequential framing, and focusing on the climax of the story in a single scene, they effectively captured the timeless and placeless mythological world in a tangible manner. In the continuous models, it was observed how, through the repetition of the hero figure within the scene (Fig. 5), the sequence of events could be followed until the hero’s fate was determined. The artist successfully arranged minor actions around the main actors (Figs. 6 & 7) to vividly depict the continuity of natural life in Jiroft civilization. Finally, by segmenting events into successive frames (Fig. 4), it was shown how an artist could convey the essence of a story in a cinematic manner.</div> روایت‌‍‌شناسی ‌دیداری, دست‌ساخته‌های باستانی, تمدن جیرفت, نظام گونه‌شناختی روایی ویکهاوف. Visual Narratology, Archaeological Artifact, Jiroft Civilization, Wickhoff’s Typological System of Narrative. 87 119 http://journal.richt.ir/mbp/browse.php?a_code=A-10-805-1&slc_lang=fa&sid=1 Ahad Variji احد وریجی a.variji@umz.ac.ir 0000-0002-2422-1268 Yes Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Crafts, Faculty of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism, Mazandaran University, Babolsar, Iran (Corresponding Author). استادیار گروه هنرهای صناعی، دانشکدۀ میراث‌فرهنگی، صنایع‌دستی و گردشگری، دانشگاه مازندران، بابلسر، ایران (نویسندۀ مسئول). Morteza Hessari مرتضی حصاری mhessari@yahoo.de 0000-0002-0893-2051 No Associate Professor, Department of Archeology, Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism (RICHT), Tehran, Iran. دانشیار گروه باستان‌شناسی پیش‌ازتاریخ، پژوهشکدۀ باستان‌شناسی، پژوهشگاه میراث فرهنگی و گردشگری، تهران، ایران.