Kandovan historical village, in the vicinity of Osku town is one of the most important attractive sites in East Azerbaijan province which is outstanding and prominent due to the hewn-cut house of rock skirt of the Sahand volcano. This site has been registered in 1998 on the national cultural heritage list of Iran. Kandovan rocky architecture, from geological point of view, is on the surfaces of a thick ignimbrite layer that this layer, due to natural weathering and erosion along the main joints and discontinuities of Kandovan valley, has created conical forms and structures. According to the existing theory, Kandovan village was inhabited and settled in these conical buildings since the Ilkhanid era. Recent developments on rock decay in rock-cut architecture of the Kandovan historical village, have heightened the need for recognizing the role of different factors of weathering process on this site. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to assess the effect of inherent vice as a fundamental factor in deterioration patterns. For this purpose, field and laboratory investigations like sampling and observation, characterization with thin section petrography and X-ray diffraction analyzes, along with the measurement of physical properties and durability of rock in rocky houses, the role of inherent vice rock with intensity of rock mass Kandovan weathering has been done. Nowadays, intensity of decay and weathering in Kandovan village rocks causes of poor living conditions, ruination, and seasonal residence or nonresidential conditions. Based on the rock characterization, water absorption, dry density, total porosity content, saturation coefficient, slake durability and experiment for resistance to freezing-thawing demonstrated that Kandovan ignimbrite rock have poor durability and high sensitive to predisposing factors to deterioration such as wetting and drying and freezing-thawing cycles. The collection of these inherent properties causes of the internal structure to be non-resistance to the tensions arising from the impact of climate cycles. The local climate could be considered (or suggested) as the main reason of weathering and erosion of this rocky architecture.

Shahr-I Sokhta is a historical settlement in south-eastern of Iran in the province of sistan-baluchestan, where the first settlement history goes back to 3200 BC. The results of excavations show four cultural-settlement period (I-IV) in this city that is divided into 11 phases. Period (II) goes back to 2500-2800 BC. The history of period (III) is equivalent to 2300-2500 BC, and history of period (IV) is suggested between 1750 and 1800 BC. This archaeological site is located 57 km from Zabol-Zahedan road. This site is registered as seventeenth heritage of Iran in UNESCO. One of the prominent features of this archaeological area is the existence of a lot of pottery shards on the surface of hills. Most of these pottery shards are buff color and have extensive domain from light buff to brick and greenish. Also, red and grey potteries have put in the next classification which the number of them is so little. Archaeological excavations carried out in this site pulled out thousands of pottery shards from the soil that are mostly buff-colored pastes. Also, among the pottery remnants of this 150 hectare site, clay pottery with red and gray paste have been seen. Archaeologists believe that most of the buff pottery shards are locally made. Hence, to determine whether this hypothesis is true, a scientific analysis was done to determine the chemical compositions of the pottery shards. In this paper, 15 pottery sample have been selected which all of them belong to settlement period II-III and goes back to 2200-2800 BC. The samples was tested using instrument analysis XRF to determine the major and trace elements of these potteries. The results analyzed using hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) to specify pieces of pottery in two group local and nonnative. The results show that most of pottery is locating in a specific group with name of production group, where the samples no. 18259-9, 18265-10, 18266-13, 18273-4, 18271-15 are not locally made and located in another group. Based on the instrumental results, red and grey pottery are not related to Shahr-I Sokhta and probably these potteries are imported from another place.

Archaeological sites in desert areas are at risk for destroying and reburied with sand dunes by sand storms. One of the most important issues for archaeologist and conservators in these regions are maintenance of archaeological remains, during the excavation process and after it, There are several sand dune stabilization methods such as mechanical dune stabilization, mulch or protective screen, aerodynamic method and biological fixation (woody and grassy species, planting). However they are mostly expensive and time consuming and may have some harmful effects on environment. In this regard, the bio-grouting technique which produce calcite cements are new approaches to consolidate land in geotechnical engineering. This method has created a potential for archaeological conservation, stabilization procedure for sand dunes or soil. This method works according to the chemical reactions of natural non-pathogenic microorganisms that exist in the soil. The main objective of this research work is to evaluate the possibility of using biological stabilization with calcite-forming bacteria, for consolidating of sand dunes in desert areas with an approach in the conservation of archaeological remains, and archaeological conservation during and after the excavations. In this case sand grains/soil particles are coagulated and make a more dense soil with higher mechanical properties than natural condition. Biological stabilization of sand dunes and soil has been conducted with Sporosarcina Pasteurii Bacteria. When this bacteria supplies with suitable substrates, micro-organisms can catalyze chemical reactions in the subsurface resulting in precipitation of inorganic minerals. These bacteria could microbially catalyze hydrolysis of urea and calcium carbonate reaction when it is cultivated with enough nutritions under proper environmental conditions at laboratory and then it is located on the soil surface with other reactive substances. It results a scaffolding calcite between soil/sand particles. The best reactive environment is achieved at pH 7-9, temperature of 25 °C to examine the depth of penetration of biogrout, a cylindrical mold (PVC) tube (by 1 meter high) is filled with dry sand and consolidates with bio-grouts. The results show that the measured depth of bio-consolidation is 50cm in dry sand. Soil density is 1.6gr/cm3; the permeability of soil is smaller than the normal condition. To control the functional rate and also surface resistance of biogrouted sand, the standard penetration test with 250 g plummet in the dry and wet conditions have been examined. The results of this test show that bio-consolidation was successfully conducted and depth of plummet penetration becomes negligible.

The scientific research regarding investigation, characterization and protection of the archeological specimens is manifested through a notable participation of multidisciplinary subjects and experts, scientists and archeometrists. One of the main principals which are considered by archaeometrists in the study of the precious specimens is the utilizing nondestructive methods. As an example, in synchrotrons, parameters such as the high photon flux, the small source size and the low divergence attained make it a very efficient source for a range of advanced spectroscopy and imaging techniques, adapted to the heterogeneity and great complexity of the materials under study. The use of synchrotron radiation techniques to study cultural heritage and archaeological materials has undergone a steep increase over the past 10–15 years. The techniques mainly have been focused on are: X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray absorption (XAS), X-ray tomography microscopy (XTM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analyses. Among these, XRF spectroscopy is based on the detection of characteristic X-rays emitted. Impinging X-rays on an atom creates inner electron vacancy in it, where the excited atom returns to its ground state, the fluorescing photon is emitted. The energy of this photon is the difference in energy between the vacancy and the electronic state of the electron filling the vacancy. Analysis of the XRF spectra includes identification of the elements from the fluorescence spectra observed. On the other hand, XAS (or X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy) relies on the absorption of X-rays by atoms of the materials in the vicinity of the absorption edge of one of its constituting elements. This technique gives chemical information on the coordination sphere of the absorber.  In X-ray tomography, a set of radiographs are taken and used to reconstruct a 3D morphology of the studied object. With two procedure, the obtained 3D morphology corresponds to what is measured in the radiography: X-ray absorption contrast where the image formed on the detector is described assuming an straight trajectory for each photon when the density of the transversed matter modulates its intensity on the detector; where the main effect of the matter is refraction and the absorption is negligible, X-ray phase contrast plays role while the photon direction changes as it travels inside the material. Diffraction takes place whenever the wavelength of the interacting wave is comparable with a length scale of a periodic structure. Therefore, the analysis of X-ray diffraction patterns gives information about the atomic and molecular structure of matter. For amorphous systems, however, the absence of an ordered structure limits outcomes of the XRD technique. Nevertheless, it gives significant information on average interatomic or intermolecular distances. Infrared spectroscopy is based on a transition in the vibrational state of the molecules when the incident photon is absorbed. The energy of this photon is a characteristic of the nature of each vibration, involving a single bond or chemical group in the molecule. In this research, how synchrotron radiation, identified with super brilliant and parallel micro x-rays, can be applied to characterize archeological specimens is presented, and then, some results by which the advantages of using the synchrotron radiation technique over the prior ones can be stressed, noticeably, will be reasoned.hich the advantages of using the synchrotron radiation technique over the prior ones can be stressed, noticeably, will be reasoned.