Abdolreza Barqdahandeh said that the team was working on the walls of Imamzadeh Yahya in the village where they found the inscription as well as several murals.

“The inscription, which bears the phrase ‘Said the Prophet’ in Kufic, is in azure color and was found during the renovation of the walls of the 900-year-old Imamzadeh (a tomb of lesser Imams). Archaeologists estimate that the inscription dates back to the Ilkhanid era (1256-1343 AD),” he added.

“The two-meter murals covering the walls are the paintings which focus on religious issues and bear arabesque designs,” he noted.

An official of Tehran Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department, Qadir Afarvand, also said that the frontispiece of the tomb was covered with black and white cement over the past years, adding heavy burden to the monument.

“The heavy layers of cement led to the gradual destruction of the building, so the archaeologists are removing the layers during the first phase of renovation,” he stated.

The archaeologists also believe that the main dome of the tomb was previously cylindrical and that the present cement tomb was built over the main dome at a later date.

The team will reconstruct the main dome in the next stage of renovation.

Located in the southern part of the village, Yahya's Tomb is made of stone, stucco, and mortar, which were covered with black and white cement in recent years.