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The most outstanding monument of the Median dynasty will
undergo its 12th season of excavations which is expected
to lead to the identification of the entrances of the
Ziviyeh fortress, located southeast of Saghez, in the
western province of Kurdestan.
Simin Lakpour and her archeological team will excavate the
area eyeing two goals: “In the previous phases, some
main passages of the fortress were found, and in this
season we intend to connect different parts of the
passages and finally find the entrance map of the
fortress. Entering it will give away many untold secrets.
“Preservation and organization of the parts discovered
in the previous excavations is the other goal followed in
the twelfth season.”
Discoveries made in the previous excavations include some
important parts in the Ziviyeh fortress. Also some
evidence was found that shows the monument has once been
two-storied. Unfortunately due to the depreciation of the
building, not much remains of the second story rooms.
Another discovery of the previous researches has been the
stone paved area in the western doorway which includes a
staircase. There is a dais in the northern part of the
fortress between the altitude of 90 and 100 meters,
exactly on top of the hill and in the citadel of the
fortress. The facilities of the area include rooms,
passages, staircases, and a columned hall.
At the southeastern part of the columned hall there is a
doorway that connects it to a stone paved trapezium
passage at the end of the entrance staircase. At the
eastern part of the trapeze, four rooms exist which were
built with mud and clay to prevent it from destruction.
In the beginning of the twelfth season of excavations, the
Ziviyeh hill still has so many things untold and according
to Lakpour, the number of the necessary excavation seasons
to complete the research is yet unclear.
In order to carry out more studies on the history of
Ziviyeh, recently a permanent research center was set up
near the fortress.
Ziviyeh hill is located 45 kilometers southeast of Saghez,
north of a village with the same name. It covers an area
of 800 meter long, 500 meter wide with an altitude of 100
to 140 meters.
Evidence from the archeological excavations in Ziviyeh
hill includes architectural, metal and engraved ivory
pieces. Archeological discoveries in the area generally
show architectural collections of the old ethnic groups
who lived in a vast area in today’s Azarbaijan and
Kurdestan in the first half of the first millennium BCE.
Besides revealing the secrets of the fortress, they will
also help in understanding the culture and history of the
first urban civilizations of Iran and the world.
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