Khalid Nabi Cemetery, Rounded Type 2 Female Gravestone
Golestān Province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran, located in the north-east of the country, east of the Caspian Sea. Its population of million includes 43% Persians and 33% Turkmens. The latter live in the north of the province; they used to be nomadic people and follow the Hanafi school of Sunni interpretation. Khalid Nabi Cemetery ("Cemetery of the Prophet Khaled") is located near the border with Turkmenistan, in the Gokcheh Dagh hills of Turkmen Sahra. It is situated on a mountain ridge about 1 km distance from the mausoleum called “Khaled Nabi” who according to oral tradition of the Yomut Turkomans was a pre-Islamic prophet and whose mausoleum is visited by them for pilgrimage. There are 2 types of tombstones: - Type 1 being of a cylindrical column type with a cap-like top with heights between 60 cm to 4 m. Many of them have horizontal ribs on the shaft. They can be interpreted as depictions of men with their caps, helmets and in some case with clearly visible turbans, pointing to parallels in Turkic Ottoman gravemarkers. - Type 2 stones are generally smaller, have rectangular sections and two opposed high-set lobes. They can be interpreted as human shapes with arms in akimbo position as visible in two elaborately carved stones on the site which clearly show the human shape. Some say type 2 are female gravemarkers.
Size: 7360px × 4912px
Location: Khalid Nabi, Khaled Nabi, Golestan Province, Iran
Photo credit: © François-Olivier Dommergues / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: cemetery, dagh, gokcheh, golestan, gravestone, gravestones, graveyard, heritage, hill, hills, iran, khaled, khalid, mountains, nabi, national, penis, persia, phallic, phallus, prophet, tomb, turkmenistan
