Seminar Reviews Zanjan's Salt Men

21 June 2005

Iran National Museum held a one-day seminar on Monday to review archeological operations to excavate the well-preserved remains of ancient humans known as 'Salt Men' which were found in a salt mine in Chehrabad, near Zanjan.

Latest findings at the site indicate that the mine does not contain the remains of just one prince.

According to Iran Daily, experts participating in the gathering discussed how the relatively well-preserved human remains were discovered in the salt mine.

They maintained that based on preliminary studies on the relics recovered during excavations, the findings from the western section of the mine dated back to second half of the first millennium.

Director of the team studying the items discovered in the site, Abolfazl Aali told Iran Daily that in 1993 the miners came across the remains of Salt Man No: 1.

The items found in the person of the Salt Man indicated that the man was a prince, he noted.

Aali further stated that 12 years after the discovery of the first salt man, three other salt men were also found.
Special conditions of the salt mine which prevented the activities of microorganisms caused the excellent preservation of organic and inorganic materials in the mine.

So far, Salt Man No: 4 is the best preserved of the four discovered natural mummies in Chehrabad mine, which is located 75 kilometers west of Zanjan.

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