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Iranian
archaeologists have discovered a subterranean Parthian era
village near the Mehr (mithra) Temple of
the northwestern city of Maragheh, the director of
the Maragheh Cultural Heritage and Tourism
Department said on Wednesday.
“Since
the Mehr Temple is one of the little known sites
of Iran, our team planned to carry out some
excavations around it to ascertain some details
about the temple. The excavations resulted in the
discovery of an underground village which
archaeologists believe dates back to the Parthian
era,” Nasser Zavvari added.
The
Mehr Temple, which was constructed in the Parthian
era (247 B.C.–224 C.E.), is located 65
kilometers from the city of Maragheh in East
Azarbaijan Province. It was one of the main
temples of the religion of Mithraism in ancient
Iran.
The
village is located at a depth of one meter below
ground level and some holes were used as entrances
into the underground community, he said.
“A
number of houses of the village of Varju’i are
located above the underground village. We plan to
buy the houses to protect the area for additional
studies,” Zavvari said.
Several
months ago, archaeologists announced they had
discovered a three-story underground shelter from
the Sasanid era in southern Isfahan Province.
Their initial study indicated that the shelter was
built for military purposes and could hide about
50 people.
The
underground shelter has seven halls as well as
three large and two small rooms. Each floor was
linked to the other through several holes and a
staircase leads to the main entrance of the
shelter.
Archaeologists
have determined that earthenware discovered inside
the shelter dates back to the Sasanid era (226-651
C.E.).
In
addition, a team of archaeologists has recently
unearthed another underground city near Nushabad,
Isfahan Province.
Experts
believe study of the newly discovered ancient
subterranean communities can provide valuable
information about the architecture of ancient
Iran. Thus, a new field of study called
subterranean or hand-dug architecture has been
established.
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