After the 8 year war Iraq imposed on Iran in 1980, many historical sites are yet to be cleaned from mines, robbing experts of any opportunity to conduct studies there, Iranian archaeologists lament.

In a bureaucratic procedure, the Iranian army is tasked with demining the war-torn areas, mainly in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, while the governor office is assigned to order the sections needed to be demined, making the work of archaeologists who wish to work in mine-infested historical sites as cumbersome as possible.

Last year the explosion of a decade-old mortar near a site in Ilam province halted an archaeological mission by experts from Chicago University. Masoud Azarnoush, head of Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization’s archaeological research center, has promised to make future expeditions as safe as possible.