Comparing bones dug out from two distinct cemeteries in northern and northwestern Iran, experts have concluded Iron Age Iranians dwelling in settlements enjoyed longevity.

While nomads in Kharand of Semnan province had brawny but fatigued bodies, their contemporaries in the northwestern city of Tabriz were immune from bone diseases, anthropologists said.

Experts reached the conclusion after studying bones unearthed from two typical graveyards from the Iron Age, one in Kharand and the other in Masjed Kabood of Tabriz.

While Kharand nomads used to migrate to the south of the Caspian Sea in the winter and return to the Semnan plateau when it got warmer, Masjed Kabood dwellers had a roughly settled and urban lifestyle, noted Farzad Forozanfar, an anthropologist with Iran’s Cultural heritage and Tourism Organization (CHTO).

“Bones discovered in Tabriz are generally smaller and indicate those people had a leisurely lifestyle, whereas those unearthed in Kharand show its inhabitants had brawny and muscular physique.”

 

Tabrizis used to suffer from genetic diseases, but their Kharandi contemporaries mostly had acute backaches, due to their harsh and austere lives, Forozanfar added.