Archaeological Parks Planning for the Purpose of Developing Cultural Tourism in Different Communities: A Case Study in Ancient Area of Burnt City of Sistan

Abstract

Today, cultural attractions in countries are popularizing the cultural tourism and can bring about new approaches in recognition, development, and stability for the countries. Archaeological Parks as a cultural tourist attraction is a new topic to exhibit the ancient ruins in the context of nature, environment, and their surrounding perspective. The current study with the assumption that the use of tools and attractions such as the archaeological parks are key factor in the development of tourism industry, particularly cultural tourism, is trying to focus on the investigation of archaeological park and offering proper programs for the establishment and construction of these parks.  Ancient civilization of Burnt City of Sistan in the South East of Iran owed its existence to Helmand River which was full of water and its Delta in the fourth and third millennium BC, and indicates the interaction between history and nature in this country over years. But, unfortunately, no proper plans have been provided to introduce this ancient civilization yet. Accordingly, the required data were collected by using analytical research method and applying attributional procedures and field measuring and the potentials of the environment, tourism, and its archaeological sites were analyzed. The results show that the natural- ancient perspective of Burnt City of Sistan according to the terrain features and its historical potentials as a precious cultural symbol can play a key role to develop cultural tourism in the region and to identify important aspects of the ancient civilization in southeastern plateau of Iran. The results of the research lead to solutions and a model to establish an archaeological park in order to achieve the objectives in the region.