google-site-verification=mPlVZxFT00cp3wt61Vyp9f3WIbemYS89aj4HBoXqnpQ
Journal of Sistan and Baluchistan Studies

Journal of Sistan and Baluchistan Studies

ZOOMORPHIC IMPOSTS AND DOUGONG BRACKETS: A CROSS-CULTURAL EXAMINATION OF INTELLECTUAL INFLUENCES BETWEEN ACHAEMENID PERSIA AND ANCIENT CHINA

Document Type : Original Research Article

Author
Department of Architecture, Faculty of Arts and Architecture, Tarbiat Modares University
Abstract
This interdisciplinary study explores the potential influence of Achaemenid architecture on the Chinese dougong bracket system by examining structural, symbolic, and mechanical similarities. Challenging traditional regionalist perspectives, it proposes a comparative framework to analyze shared engineering logic, particularly in load distribution, seismic performance, and mortise-and-tenon joinery. A comparative analysis of ancient architectural remains, material culture, and historical trade routes reveals striking parallels: Achaemenid hypostyle roofing techniques demonstrate modular flexibility and layered force dissipation similar to features of the Chinese dougong system. Both traditions used semi-rigid timber joints to span large spaces and enhance seismic resilience, while embedding symbolic meanings such as cosmic order and royal authority into their structures. Archaeological and iconographic evidence from Central Asian nomadic cultures suggests the existence of transcontinental knowledge exchange during the Achaemenid period (550–330 BCE), possibly enabling the indirect transmission of architectural and technological ideas into China during the Warring States period (475–221 BCE). The Achaemenid Empire’s eastern satrapies—located in present-day eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northwestern India—formed a dynamic frontier shaped by networks of trade, governance, and cultural interaction. Excavations at administrative centers like Dahaneh-ye Gholaman, along with ancient texts, highlight the strategic importance of these regions. Within this broader context, the Himalaya–Karakoram corridor emerges as a plausible channel for long-distance intellectual exchange. Although direct transmission remains unconfirmed, shared spatial arrangements and timber jointing strategies suggest interconnected architectural innovation across Eurasia. The study calls for a re-evaluation of conventional diffusion models and emphasizes the role of material and cultural intermediaries in facilitating pre-modern cross-cultural knowledge transfer.
Keywords

چکیده: در این مطالعه میان‌رشته‌ای، امکان تأثیر معماری هخامنشی بر سیستم‌های چوبی دوگونگ در چین با تمرکز بر شباهت‌های ساختاری، نمادین و مکانیکی بررسی می‌شود. برخلاف دیدگاه‌های سنتی منطقه‌گرا، مقاله چارچوبی مقایسه‌ای برای تحلیل منطق مهندسی مشترک ـــ به‌ویژه در توزیع بار، مقاومت در برابر زلزله و اتصالات کام‌و-زبان—ارائه می‌دهد. تحلیل تطبیقی معماری‌های باستانی، آثار هنری و معماری، و مسیرهای تجاری تاریخی، شباهت‌هایی چشمگیر را نشان می‌دهد: شیوه‌های سقف‌سازی در تالارهای ستون‌دار هخامنشی با ماژولار بودن و الگوی انتقال نیرو در سازه‌های دوگونگ همخوانی دارد. هر دو سنت معماری با بهره‌گیری از اتصالات نیمه‌صلب چوبی، به دهانه‌های وسیع و عملکرد مناسب در برابر زلزله دست یافته‌اند و مفاهیم نمادینی مانند نظم کیهانی و اقتدار شاهانه را در سازه‌ها جای داده‌اند. شواهد باستان‌شناختی و تصویری از فرهنگ‌های کوچ‌نشین آسیای مرکزی نشان‌دهنده تبادل دانش فرامنطقه‌ای در دوره هخامنشی (۵۵۰–۳۳۰ پ.م) است، که می‌تواند انتقال غیرمستقیم مفاهیم معماری به چینِ دوره جنگ‌سالاران (۴۷۵–۲۲۱ پ.م) را ممکن کرده باشد. همچنین، ساتراپی‌های شرقی امپراتوری هخامنشی در افغانستان، پاکستان و شمال‌غرب هند امروزی، به‌عنوان مرزهای پویای فرهنگی و اقتصادی، در این فرآیند نقش داشته‌اند. یافته‌های باستان‌شناسی در مراکزی مانند دهانة غلامان و شواهد متنی اهمیت این مناطق را تأیید می‌کنند. مقاله با تأکید بر همگرایی‌های معماری، بازنگری در مدل‌های سنتی انتشار فناوری را پیشنهاد می‌دهد و نقش واسطه‌های فرهنگی و مادی در انتقال دانش را برجسته می‌سازد.

کلیدواژه: معماری هخامنشی، سیستم دوگونگ، سازه‌های چوبی، تبادلات میان‌فرهنگی، طراحی مقاوم در برابر زلزله، انتقال دانش معماری.

Barfield, T.J. (2001). The shadow empires: Imperial state formation along the Chinese-nomad empires. In: S.E. Alcock et al., eds. Empires: Perspectives from Archaeology and History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.122–132.
Berberian, M. (2014). Earthquakes and Coseismic Surface Faulting on the Iranian Plateau. Oxford: Elsevier.
Berberian, M., Moqaddas, M. and Kabiri, A. (2017). Archaeological and architectural evidence of historical seismic activity along the Zāgros Main Recent Fault. In: R. Sorkhabi, ed. Tectonic Evolution, Collision, and Seismicity of Southwest Asia. Boulder: Geological Society of America, pp.171–212.
Berberian, M., Petrie, C., Potts, D., Darabi, H. and Yazdi, K. (2014). Archaeoseismicity of the mounds and monuments along the Kazerun Fault since the Chalcolithic period. Iranica Antiqua, 49, pp.1–81.
Bopearachchi, O. (2017). Achaemenids and Mauryans: Emergence of coins and plastic arts in India. In: A. Patel and T. Daryaee, eds. India and Iran in the Longue Durée. Leiden: Brill, pp.15–47.
Briant, P. (2002). From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.
Bunker, E. C. (1992). Significant changes in iconography and technology among ancient China's northwestern pastoral neighbors from the fourth to the first century BC. Bulletin of the Asia Institute, 6, pp.99–115.
Chang, C. (2018). Rethinking Prehistoric Central Asia: Shepherds, Farmers, and Nomads. London: Routledge.
Charleson, A. (2008). Seismic Design for Architects: Outwitting the Quake. Amsterdam: Architectural Press.
Curtius, Q. (1904). Historiarum Alexandri Magni Macedonis Libri Qui Supersunt. Lipsiae: Teubner.
Dandamayev, M. A. (1994). Media and Achaemenid Iran. In: J. Harmatta, B.N. Puri and G.F. Etemadi, eds. History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. 2. Paris: UNESCO, pp.35–65.
Davtalab, J., Heidari, A. and Sarabandi, Z. (2021). A study of the architecture and urban planning of Dahaneh-ye Gholaman in Sistan, Iran. Journal of Sistan and Baluchistan Studies, 1(1), pp.21–30.
Dieulafoy, M. (1885). L’Art Antique de la Perse. Paris: Librairie Centrale d’Architecture.
Fang, D.-P., Feng, W.L., Xu, Y.F. and Song, Y.P. (2001). Ancient Chinese timber architecture. I: Experimental study. Journal of Structural Engineering, 127(11), pp.1348–1357.
Farshād, M. (1995). Tarikh-e Mohandesi Dar Iran. Tehran: Balkh.
Flandin, E. and Coste, P. (1851). Voyage en Perse. Paris: Gide et J. Baudry.
Ferrario, M. (2022). Before Serindia: The Achaemenid empire along and astride the Silk Roads. Acta Via Serica, 7(2), pp.133–152.
Francfort, H.-P. (2008). Ancient Altai culture and its relationship to historical Asian civilizations. In: J. Han, ed. Preservation of the Frozen Tombs of the Altai Mountain. Paris: UNESCO, pp.35–40.
Francfort, H.-P. (2023). Behind and beyond the archaeology of the Silk Road: Laboratory analyses in Eurasia. Acta Via Serica, 8(2), pp.53–78.
Frankfort, H. (1970). The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Fleming, D. (1993). Where was Achaemenid India? Bulletin of the Asia Institute, 7, pp.67–72.
Genito, B. (2000). The Achaemenids and their artistic and architectural tradition: An archaeological perspective. In: P. Matthiae, A. Enea, L. Peyronel and F. Pinncock, eds. Proceedings of the 1st ICAANE. Rome: Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, pp.533–554.
Giumlia-Mair, A. (2016). Technology transfer from ancient Egypt to the Far East. Silk Road, 14, pp.126–146.
Gopnik, H. (2010). Why columned halls? In: J. Curtis and St. J. Simpson, eds. The World of Achaemenid Persia: History, Art and Society in Iran and the Ancient Near East. London: I.B. Tauris, pp.195–206.
Grant, M. and Hazel, J. (2002). Who’s Who in Classical Mythology. London: Routledge.
Guo, Q. (2005). Chinese Architecture and Planning: Ideas, Methods, Techniques. Stuttgart: Edition Axel Menges.
Harper, P.O. (2005). From earth to heaven: Speculations on the significance of the form of the Achaemenid censer. Bulletin of the Asia Institute, 19, pp.47–56.
Herzfeld, E. (1941). Iran in the Ancient East. New York: Oxford University Press.
Hejazi, M. (1997). Historical Buildings of Iran. Southampton: Computational Mechanics Publications.
Henkelman, W. (2017). Imperial signature and imperial paradigm: Achaemenid administrative structure and system across and beyond the Iranian Plateau. In: Die Verwaltung im Achämenidenreich – Imperiale Muster und Strukturen. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, pp.45–256.
Juliano, A. L. (1991). The Warring States Period—The State of Qin, Yan, Chu, and Pazyryk: A historical footnote. Notes in the History of Art, 10(4), pp.25–29.
Killen, G. (1994). Egyptian Woodworking and Furniture. Princes Risborough: Shire Publications.
Kim, M. (2021). The pinnacle ornament of flowers: Quatrefoils of early China and their Achaemenid parallels. In: Occult Arts, Art History, and Cultural Exchange in Early China, 1, pp.185–249.
Knauss, F. (2006). Ancient Persia and the Caucasus. Iranica Antiqua, 41, pp.79–118.
Krefter, F. (1971). Persepolis Rekonstruktionen. Berlin: Gebr Mann.
Kuhrt, A. (2001). The Achaemenid Persian empire: Continuities, adaptations, transformations. In: S.E. Alcock et al., eds. Empires: Perspectives from Archaeology and History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.93–123.
Lecoq, P. (1997). Les Inscriptions de la Perse Achéménide. Paris: Gallimard.
Liang, S. (1984). A Pictorial History of Chinese Architecture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Lin, H. T. and Hao, H. J. (2022). Exploring the topological system of Dougong. In: 27th Conference on CAADRIA, Vol. 1, pp.667–676.
MacDonald, A. (2001). Structure and Architecture. Oxford: Architectural Press.
Mady, M. (2020). The emergence of using pegs in securing tenons in mortises by ancient Egyptian shipbuilders. Maritime Archaeology Graduate Symposium, 29.
Magee, P., Petrie, C., Knox, R., Khan, F. and Thomas, K. (2005). The Achaemenid empire in South Asia and recent excavations in Akra in Northwest Pakistan. American Journal of Archaeology, 109(4), pp.711–741.
Mark, R. (1990). Light, Wind, and Structure: The Mystery of the Master Builders. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Meadows, A. R. (2005). The administration of the Achaemenid empire. In: J. Curtis and N. Tallis, eds. Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia. London: The British Museum Press, pp.181–184.
Miller, M. C. (1997). Athens and Persia in the Fifth Century BC: A Study in Cultural Receptivity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Minardi, M., Betts, A.V. and Khozhaniyazov, G. (2017). Columned halls in ancient Chorasmia. Iran, 55(2), pp.208–226.
Morgan, J. (2017). Who has the biggest bulls? Royal power and the Persepolis Apadāna. Iranian Studies, 50(6), pp.787–817.
Motamedmanesh, M. (2018). The secret of zoomorphic imposts: A new reading of the Achaemenids’ roofing system. In: Building Knowledge, Constructing Histories, Vol. 2. Boca Raton: CRC Press, pp.959–966.
Motamedmanesh, M. (2021). Precursors of aseismic design: The case of Achaemenid monumental architecture. In: History of Construction Cultures, Vol. 2. Boca Raton: CRC Press, pp.9–16.
Motamedmanesh, M. (2022). Achaemenid building technology: The key to a new reading of royal Achaemenid architecture. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 81(3), pp.299–319.
Nylander, C. (1970). Ionians in Pasargadae: Studies in Old Persian Architecture. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis.
Pan, L., Zhou, M., Zhuang, H. and Wang, J. (2022). Construction forms and seismic performance of the ancient Chinese buildings joined by tenon–mortise joints. Applied Sciences, 12(15), 7505.
Pankenier, D.W. (1998). Heaven-sent: Understanding cosmic disaster in Chinese myth and history. In: B.J. Peiser, T. Palmer and M.E. Bailey, eds. Natural Catastrophes During Bronze Age Civilisations: Archaeological, Geological, Astronomical and Cultural Perspectives, pp.187–197.
Pashazanus, H. (2016). Iran-China cultural contacts: Achaemenians and Sogdians role in the formation and development of the Silk Road. Quarterly Journal of the History of Foreign Relations, 17(68–69), pp.5–34.
Polybius. (1960). The Histories (W.R. Paton, Trans.). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Pulleyblank, E.G. (1992). Chinese-Iranian relations, in pre-Islamic times. In: E. Yarshater, ed. Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. 5. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, pp.424–431.
Rawson, J. (2010). Carnelian beads, animal figures and exotic vessels: Traces of contact between the Chinese states and Inner Asia, c.1000–650 BC. Archäologie in China – Bridging Eurasia, 1, pp.1–42.
Rollinger, R. (2016). Royal strategies of representation and the language(s) of power. In: Official Epistolography and the Language(s) of Power: Proceedings of the First International Conference of the Research Network Imperium and Officium, pp.117–130.
Root, M. C. (1979). The King and Kingship in Achaemenid Art. Leiden: Brill.
Rudenko, S. I. (1970). Frozen Tombs of Siberia: The Pazyryk Burials of Iron-Age Horsemen. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Sainan, P. and Dolah, J. (2022). Structure and decoration art of Dou-Gong bracket sets and its cultural communication. Jurnal Gendang Alam (GA), 12(2).
Schmidt, E. F. (1953). Persepolis I: Structures, Reliefs, Inscriptions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Schmidt, E. F. (1970). Persepolis III: The Royal Tombs and Other Monuments. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Seidl, U. (2003). Wie waren die Achaimendischen Doppelprotomen-Kapitelle ausgerichtet? Achaemenid History XIII, pp.67–77.
Shaughnessy, E. L. (1989). Western Cultural Innovations in China, 1200 BC. Philadelphia: Department of Oriental Studies, University of Pennsylvania.
Sinopoli, A. (1991). Dynamic analysis of a stone column excited by a sine wave ground motion. Applied Mechanics Reviews, 44, pp.246–255.
Skaff, J. K. (2012). Sui-Tang China and its Turko-Mongol Neighbors: Culture, Power, and Connections, 580–800. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Stark, S. (2020). Central Asia and the steppe. In: R.R. Mairs, ed. The Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek World. London: Routledge, pp.78–105.
Steinhardt, N.S. (2019). Chinese Architecture: A History. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Stiros, S. (1995). Archaeological evidence of antiseismic constructions in antiquity. Annals of Geophysics, 38(5–6), pp.725–736.
Stiros, S. (1996). Identification of earthquakes from archaeological data: Methodology, criteria and limitations. Archaeoseismology, 7, pp.129–152.
Stolze, F. and Andreas, F.C. (1882). Die Achämenidischen und Sasanidischen Denkmäler und Inschriften von Persepolis, Istakhr, Pasargadae, Shapur. Zweit Band; Berlin: A. Asher.
Stronach, D. (1978). Pasargadae. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Subcommittee on Wood Research of ASCE Committee on Wood. (1986). Structural wood research needs. Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE, 112(9), pp.2155–2165.
Thomas, E. (2007). Monumentality and the Roman Empire: Architecture in the Antonine Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Trigger, B. (1990). Monumental architecture: A thermodynamic explanation of symbolic behaviour. World Archaeology, 22(2), pp.119–132.
Tourovets, A. (2014). The palace architecture of the Achaemenids under scrutiny. In: T. Daryaee, A. Mousavi and K. Rezakhani, eds. Excavating an Empire: Achaemenid Persia in Longue Durée. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publisher, pp.146–160.
Wright, G.R.H. (2005). Ancient Building Technology, Vol. 2: Materials. Leiden: Brill.
Xie, J. (2020). Pillars of heaven: The symbolic function of column and bracket sets in the Han Dynasty. Architectural History, 63, pp.1–36.
Xie, W. (2019). Enhancing the Seismic Performance of Dou-Gon Systems in Traditional Timber Structures. PhD diss., University of Bath.
Xue, J., Liang, X., Wu, C., Song, D. and Qi, L. (2022). Experimental and numerical study on eccentric compression performance of Dou-Gong brackets at column tops. Structures, 35, pp.608–621.
Yang, R., Mapesela, S., Li, H. and Lorenzo, R. (2023). Mechanical properties of Dougong bracket in Chinese traditional timber structure under vertical loads: A systematic review. Journal of Building Engineering, 68, 106125.
Zhou, Y.-L. (2007). An analysis on the ancient construction Dougong’s characteristic. Journal of Hunan International Economics University, 7(2), pp.75–77.
Zwerger, K. (2012). Wood and Wood Joints: Building Traditions of Europe, Japan and China. Basel: Birkhäuser.
Volume 5, Issue 1
June 2025
Pages 21-36

  • Receive Date 31 January 2025
  • Revise Date 02 April 2025
  • Accept Date 16 April 2025
  • Publish Date 01 April 2025