The
wall is about 40 kilometres in length and surrounds the
Shirin Palace. It was used as a defensive device for the
palace, which was built by the Sasanian King of Kings
Khosrow II, Parviz (reigned 590-628 CE) for his wife
Shirin, said Ali Hodzabri, the director of the
archaeological team working at the site.
The
palace was 285x98 meters in diameter, and constructed
eight meters above the surface level.
The
wall is located 17 kilometres from Shirin Palace and is
near the Sasanian monuments Bân-Qaleh and Châhâr-Qâpi
fire-temple.
The
wall, which was constructed in the anathyrosis style
(stone-cutting techniques and building with dry stone
without mortar), begins at the Bâzi-Derâz heights and stretches into present-day Iraq.
No
historical document or study refers to the existence of
such a wall, which was discovered during the current phase
of excavations that began on January 5.
The
ruins near Qasr-e Shirin were excavated for the first time
in 1891 and later in 1910 by British archaeologist, writer
and government official, Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell (1868-1926).