Archaeologist Ali Mahforuzi said on Wednesday that 400,000-year-old stone tools discovered in the valleys of Shuresh near the Rostam Kola, Huto, and Kamarband caves are the oldest ever found in the area.

The previous studies had dated human settlement in the region to have begun about 50,000 years ago.

“The recent studies conducted by a joint team of archaeologists from the Mazandaran Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department and archaeologists from the Mazandaran National Museum led to the discovery of several stone tools.

“The primary studies on the tools did not reveal their exact age, so the tools were sent to Professor Marcel Otte of the University of Liege in Belgium. He happened to be in Iran and he dated the tools to be 400,000 years old,” Mahforuzi explained.

Archaeologists are currently following up their studies to learn more about the people who made the tools.