Visual Reading of Human-Based Ritual Belief-Oriented Images in Ancient Iranian Prehistoric Culture

From ancient Iranian culture, there are several images that have been depicted on different devices. Human-centered portraits are special ones. Most of the human-centered images carry ritual-belief issues, which have created reflective images of human beings and their surroundings. The aim of this study was to introduce implicit reading of these kinds of portraits. The questions outlined in the studies are as follows: 1. Which ancient Iranian portraits are known as ritual-belief-based human portraits? 2. From the perspective of explaining the structure, in which axis can human-based ritual-belief portraits be emitted? 3. What implicit message do these images carry through video reading? The research method is analytical-interpretation. The approach adopted by this study will be the phenounology of visual signage. The method of sample selection and data analysis results from library data. The results of the study showed that 1. In ancient Iran, several human-centered portraits can be identified. 2. The structure of human portraits is ritual-belief, symbolic and religious. 3. Reading the visual emblem of ritual-belief images with human focus interprets the themes of mythical and belief-oriented codes, which symbolically interprets part of the narrative of ancient Iranian culture. The necessity of this research while recognizing and identifying some of the studies in the field of visual arts, cultural and artistic reading of the mentioned works in ancient Iranian culture has been neglected. This research is an effort towards the proper interpretation of human-centered religious images as a neglected part in the cultural studies and visual arts of pre-historic Iran. This importance includes the importance and necessity of addressing the topic of the article. Investigating the research subject will be possible by relying on archaeological discoveries and benefiting from modern sciences such as semiotic science. From this point of view, the results of the research seem novel. The authors have defined the basic structure of the article based on the explanation of the table in order to present and pay all the research documents and the most fundamental findings of the research. In their explorations and studies, archaeologists have found ancient and significant artifacts from the natives of the Iranian Plateau, among which decorated and engraved tools seem to be the hallmarks of human art. In this evolution of citation identification, the authors of this research found that numerous illustrated works of the culture of prehistoric peoples in ancient Iran can be identified, which should be considered with a deeper scrutiny in one order and with a single illustrated subject. It is interesting to note that these paintings have been depicted on different tools during many millennia and in geographically distant places from each other. The pictorial elements of these paintings are humans and their surroundings. Although at the first glance those works appear to be very primitive paintings drawn with simple visual elements, but in a deeper analysis and generalization of knowledge of the culture of those people to the context of the subject, the implicit meaning is hidden in the heart of the painting. The message and purpose of their drawing must be revealed. Archeology experts have called these paintings a subject; because it seems that the images have a special theme. The authors of this research did not consider the subject of these paintings to be unrelated to humans, their metanarrative rituals and beliefs, and on the same basis, they call those paintings human-centered religious paintings. Analyzing a part of the visual arts before the history of Iran and the role of religious beliefs in their formation, related rituals and rhythmic movements, the role of religious attitudes and symbolization in contemporary art will be among the results of the upcoming research. In addition, this research has shown that it is very important to pay attention to the symbolic application of religious beliefs in the depiction of ancient Iranian painting art. Also, due to these studies, the role and application of religious-cultural components in the thematic art-paintings of ancient Iran is clearly revealed. The available evidence and conducted studies show that prehistoric dances in Iran should be considered among the rhythmic movement symbols used in religious rituals. This is evident from the analysis of the paintings left from the mentioned period. The results of scientific, symbological and mythological studies show that the religious dances of the pre-historic people of Iran were formed and continued with the support of the intellectual-religious foundations, the mythological worldview and the living culture of those people. These people performed their many rituals with pluralistic religious symbolism and used rhythmic movements as a part of their rituals. These rhythmic movements provide symbolic facilities to this culture, with the use of which the people of this culture can hope for a more optimal life. In the meantime, dance as a ritual, mythological-symbolic movement is considered an integral part of their life and art. This importance is evident in the illustrated paintings.