Lafourak Male Skeleton Wears Gold and Silver Earrings

30 May 2005

Archaeologists have found a male skeleton in Lafourak historical graveyard wearing a gold earring on his right ear and a silver one on his left.

Lafourak graveyard is a historical graveyard dating to 2800 years ago located in the northern province of Mazandaran.

The skeleton belongs to a 25 year old man which is believed to have been of a respectable position due to its gold and silver earrings. The find comes as a surprise to archaeologists working on the site, as all previous earrings found on male skeletons of Lafourak were either of bronze or iron.

According to head of the excavation team, Mehdi Abedini, all the other male skeletons of the area were wearing earrings, but none gold or silver ones.

“Among the opened tombs of the site, we found three that were decorated with clay pieces and had burial methods completely different than the rest. They include less burial objects than the other and their corpses are decorated and consolidated with a clay cover over and around. The golden earring came out of one these tombs,” explained Abedini.

So far, the archaeologists had thought that since not much gifts were buried along the dead, they should have been of low income people of the society, but the gold and silver earrings have caused them to change their view of the skeletons and to now consider them of high respectable status.

Further excavations and studies are necessary to find out more about these exceptional tombs and their owners.