Archeologists, renovation experts and surveyors plan to venture into 2,500-year-old drain canals in Persepolis in order to dredge them.

Achaemenid engineers designed these ducts to collect rainfall and waste water from the great palaces and archeologists have already recognized 2 km of these canals, whose height varies between 1.2 m to 2 m while measuring 0.45 m to 1.2 m in width.

“Since most water on the surface of Persepolis enters these ducts and since they have become run-down over the years, we intend to dredge as many as 100 sq m of them,” said Hassan Rahsaz, the technical head of Persepolis, adding the operation would cover those canals located beneath the southern part of the treasury and the so-called Half-Built palace.

A team of 6 experts are going to enter the ducts, hoping to find some valuable artifacts and potteries in there. Another team had dredged 610 m of the canals in 2002.