Ardakan Museum of Anthropology

About Ardakan Museum of Anthropology

Ardakan Museum of Anthropology is the first museum in Ardakan and the first ethnographic museum of Yazd province, which was opened in 1991 with the help of Ali Sepehri, a researcher from Ardakan when there was no Cultural Heritage organization in Ardakan. The museum was originally located in the 30-m2 basement of Shahid Beheshti Teacher Training Center of Ardakan, however; 2 years later it was transferred to the 110-m2 basement of Fazel Library. So far, four museums have been established in Ardakan.

Works and Objects in Ardakan Museum of Anthropology

This museum of anthropology is a rich and unique treasury including about 4,000 objects, most of which are collected and donated by the caring people of Ardakan.
The museum has 3 halls and several sections. These sections include archeology, paleontology, children's museum, anthropology, zoology (types of eagles, northern goshawks, falcons, Eurasian hoopoe, snakes, pelicans, cranes, varieties of herons, pinnipeds, wildcats, all kinds of poisonous snakes, monitor lizards, eagles, parrots, etc.), botany (cumin, fleawort, asafetida, tragacanth, groundnuts, etc.).

There is also another section called Iranology in which you can visit rugs, tabarzin axes of Dervishes, copper cressets, inscriptions, silver and gold coins, various kinds of swords, daggers, handmade chains, a maquette of old city of Ardakan and Zardog Mosque and many other things.

In document section of Museum of Anthropology, you can see documents, old printed and manuscript books such as Quran in various calligraphies, prayer books, jurisprudential and medical books, marriage contracts, endowments, contemporary scholars' printed books; cultural supplies like loudspeakers, gramophones, cameras, old telephones, old radios; several photos of the local scholars in Ardakan; and the poetry books of some Ardakan poets.

Anthropology section is one of the richest parts of the museum in which more than 1000 pieces of objects and means of life of the people from Ardakan have been exhibited. Some of these works are in collections and some are single items.

The most Important Collections of the Museum

1-     The equipment for producing fabrics containing equipment and instruments related to cottonseed cultivation and toile, rug and carpet weaving. This equipment includes nails for cottonseed weaving, bows and other cotton-carding tools, spinning wheels (special for converting cotton to yarn), as well as reels and Rokni (specific for twisting yarns into reels), capstans, toile weaving machines, rug and carpet weaving machines and sewing equipment;

2-    Steps of wheat cultivation to bread-making which include a special basin or water clock for measuring irrigation time, wheat cultivation instruments, straw separators, quern or hand mill, local furnace and equipment for baking bread, etc.;

3-    A kind of couch on the pond, which was basically used in Ardakan aristocratic houses, with all the tools on it such as tableware and dishes, tea-making utensils, hubble-bubble, etc.;
4-    Smithery tools include furnace, bellows, anvil, hammer and some handmade tools of Ardakan blacksmiths, such as braziers, locks, keys, studs, braces, chains, etc.;

5-    Carpentry tools such as grate types, saws, drills and wheel drills, along with samples of doors and windows made since the ninth century;
Unique Equipment in Anthropology Museum

As mentioned above, Ardakan Museum of Anthropology, besides the works of the collection, has a series of individual works that include the following:
Special tools for peeling sesame and pistachio, all types of shovels for cultivating madders, types of scales (leather, fabric and metal), types of lights and their use, types of carbonic samovars, saucepan utensils, Ardakan’s braziers, types of stone boilers, all kinds of carbonic heaters, types of enamel and copper utensils, a variety of handmade instruments (shoes and hats) and other living things.

Recently, with camel statues the way to trip with camels have been shown to the public, as well as with the cow statues the way to grind wheat has been showed.

Some of the other spectacular and historic attractions of Ardakan include Jameh Mosque of Aqda, Qaleh-ye Khargushi Caravanserai, Rige Zarrin Eco Camp of Ardakan, Shahzadeh Ribat and Kharanaq Monar Jonban, Chak Chak, Taqdiri House, Carpet Museum of Ardakan, Kharanaq Village, Ardakan Monastery, etc.
For more information about Anthropology Museum of Ardakan, please contact Raadina Support.