Copy in clipboard...
2,700-year-old metal workshops uncovered in central Iran
Javad Hosseinzadeh, director of the Sialk Archaeological Hills cultural heritage site, announced the discovery on Sunday, saying that the workshops were uncovered during the third phase of archaeological excavations at the site.
“The workshops date back to the Median era, and a similar workshop was also discovered last year during the second phase of the excavations,” Hosseinzadeh said.
In addition to the metal workshops, archaeologists also found remains of a pottery kiln and intact pottery vessels during the third phase of excavations, which began on August 16 and lasted for a month.
The excavations were carried out in collaboration with the University of Kashan, the National Museum of Iran, and the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts.
Hosseinzadeh noted that the first phase of excavations was conducted by Sadeq Malek Shahmirzadi from 2001 to 2005, and the second phase was led by Hassan Fazeli Nashli in 2008 and 2009.
The third phase of excavations, led by Jebrael Nokandeh and Hosseinzadeh, began in 2022 and has now come to an end.
“Sialk has preserved evidence of human life from the Neolithic period to the Median era, spanning nearly 8,000 years,” Hosseinzadeh said.
The Sialk site, which includes two northern and southern hills and several cemeteries, was registered as a national historical site in 1931. Archaeologists have so far discovered artifacts from the 7th millennium BC to the beginning of the Achaemenid period, except for the Bronze Age.
Archaeologists are still searching for evidence of Sialk’s situation during the fifth and sixth periods, the final stages of settlement in the hills, and the reasons for its abandonment.