In the latest excavation project in the Ziviyeh Hill in the western province of Kurdistan, Iranian archaeologists have managed to trace back secret routes used by Iranian warriors at the time of Median dynasty to enter their fortress and also to discover a pottery oven.

The hilltop fortress was built by Medes 2700 years ago. It has been explored since 1975 and after a 10-year hiatus, the excavation has resumed. “We have discovered and mapped the entrance passage ways to the fortress, from the above and beneath the castle, starting from the eastern slope to the hilltop,” said Simin Lakpour, one of the archaeologists involved in the project.

The hilltop fort is located in the Ziviyeh village, 55 km southeastern of Saghez, overlooking a vast area.

The Medes were a tribe of nomadic, horse-riding peoples speaking Indo-European languages, who began moving into the Iranian cultural area from Central Asia near the end of the second millennium B.C. They settled over a huge area, reaching as far as modern Tabriz in the north and Isfahan in the south. They had their capital at Ecbatana (present-day Hamedan) and annually paid tribute to the Assyrians.