Harunābād

Harunabad stands on a plain west of Kermanshah, where routes cross the Zagros between Mesopotamia and the Iranian plateau. The ancient mound of Chogha Gavaneh preserves evidence of settlement from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age and again in Islamic times. Clay tablets from the site record deliveries of barley, oil and cloth, offering glimpses of the work and exchange of an early community.

Tradition attributes the foundation of Harunabad to the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid, although local accounts also preserve a different explanation of its name. In later centuries the settlement lay in the country of the Kalhor Kurds. The surrounding plain offered summer pasture, while travellers on the road between Mahidasht and Kerend could find lodging at a caravanserai in the village.