Tabas County in Southern Khorasan province is one of the regions that have high capacies in terms of mining and metallurgy studies, and compared with the other regions of Iran, this region is unknown. The abundance of smelng areas and accumulated slag and the presence of mineral cavies to extract minerals in the central part of Tabas are proof of extensive mining and metal producon in this region, which plays an important role in the economy and ecological sustainability of the region along with other economic acvies. Iran, Central Asia & Iraqi Kurdistan Archaeology of the Ancient Mining and Smelng in the Central Part of Tabas Country, on the Edge of Loot Desert (Hassan Hashemi Zarjabad, Abed Taghavi & Zabihollah Masoudi) several ruined selements south of Harar. Although regularly menoned in the historiography, it had not been thoroughly examined unl the compleon of this research. The 2021 and 2022 surveys allowed the idenficaon of various remains including the ruins of stone-built defensive wall, mosque, monumental stepwell, storage pits and burials. Material culture collected from the surface by local inhabitants was also documented for the first me. It includes a carnelian-made arfact with an Arabic inscripon, beads of various kinds and poery providing parallels with other Islamic sites in the region among many other discoveries. This pilot research has provided new archaeological insight into the medieval Islamic site of Fedis, offering a foundaonal understanding of its historical significance and cultural heritage. It is hoped that future work on the site will allow for a beer understanding of the Islamizaon process and the condion of emergence of the medieval Muslim principalies of Ethiopia. Research results: While Herat is known as the polical and cultural capital of the Timurids, its earlier history is largely based on historical sources and a few architectural remains. This evidence has been enriched by archaeological surveys and excavaons carried out from 2004 to 2012 by the joint German-Afghan 'Ancient Herat' project, a threepart research and training programme. Excavaons in the city of Herat city (2004-2010), on the citadel, in Kohandez and in the Musalla area, have documented human occupaon from the mid1st millennium BC and from the 9th/10th to the early 20th centuries. The Islamic finds, although mostly found in debris layers rather than Regarding the quanty and quality of the studies prepared so far on mining and metallurgy in this city, the cultural and historical capacies of this cultural area have not been introduced as they should be. Cing the results of the field method, reviewing texts and wrien sources related to the central part, and idenfying evidence related to the metalworking industry, smelng technology, and type of ore deposit thoroughly, thisstudy has been provided to understand beer the process and cycle of ancient metalworking, which includes three stages ofmining, extracon, and melng. By typological and comparave studies of discovered slag with adjacent metal centers, itseems that the composion of slag includes the main elements of iron, lead, and copper. The typological and comparave studies of slag discovered in neighboring metal centers indicate that the composion of slag includes the main elements of Iron, lead, and copper. The archaeological field studies conducted on the mines and smelng verify the fact that metallurgists in this area used open and underground methods to extract the ore, and aer transferring the mineral parts to the smelng workshops and furnaces, they used the roasng method.
