“The
skeleton was discovered in a squatting position
with artifacts such as an iron awl, a leaf-shaped
arrow with two heads in front of its feet, and a
bronze knife with a broken tip under its neck,”
Cultural Heritage News (CHN) quoted Mohammad-Taqi
Ataii as saying.
No
mention was made of the gender of the skeleton.
Due
to the burial style and the items found with the
skeleton, the archaeologists believe that it dates
back to the Sassanid era.
The
skeleton, which was wearing an iron bracelet, had
been buried under stones in a megalithic cemetery.
Such a style of burial has not been observed in
any ancient site in Iran.
The
skeleton has been sent to the regional research
center of the Cultural Heritage and Tourism
Organization for more studies.
Last
week, the team of archaeologists unearthed the
first complete human skeleton ever found at Tang-e
Bolaghi in a cemetery where they had previously
identified over 40 graves.
The
joint team has been assigned to save artifacts and
gather information on the prehistoric sites of
Tang-e Bolaghi, which will soon be flooded by the
waters of the reservoir of the Sivand Dam.
Alongside
Iranian experts, teams of Italian, Polish,
Japanese, German, and Australian archaeologists
have been assigned to save 129 ancient sites at
Tang-e Bolaghi.
A
significant part of Iranian history will be
submerged by the dam, which is scheduled to become
operational in March 2006.
