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LONDON, (CAIS) -- Archaeological excavations at the historic site of Bolaghi Valley in Fars province resulted in unearthing large pieces of a clay bowl depicting the hunting scene of Achaemenid Emperors. The bowl is decorated with a royal hunting scene in relief showing a lion and a legendary creature. 

Regarding the new discovery, Ali Asadi, head of the team of Iranian and Polish archaeologists at Bolaghi Valley explained: “On this clay bowl, two Achaemenid horse riders can be seen, one of which is hunting a lion while the other one is hunting a legendary creature which is similar to the relief of the winged bull on a golden bowl discovered in Marlik Tappeh, Gilān Province.”

According to Asadi, the bowl was found in an area denoted to the Sassanid dynastic era (224–651 CE), which is embedded in the ruins of a building dated to the Achaemenid Dynasty (550–330 BCE). The monument is located on the west side of Area No. 64 where remains of a wine production centre had previously been unearthed. 

He also said that the broken pieces of the clay vessel have not yet been adhered together. Once put together, the newly discovered clay bowl is estimated to be 40 cm tall and 35 cm thick.

Several clay shards were also found recently by archaeologists in the same area, which are also dated to the Achaemenid dynastic era. The fragments can help reveal more information about this historic period.

The building in which the remaining pieces of this clay vessel was found was most probably a caravansary or a mailing house (Chāpār Khāna) during the Achaemenid dynastic era. It consists of a central courtyard with several rooms surrounding it. 

As recorded by Herodotus and Xenophon, the first regular postal system in history was established in Iran during the reign of Cyrus the Great the founder of Achaemenid Dynasty in 6th century BCE. This communication service was covering 6,000,000 sq.m. of Persian territories from Mainland-Iran to Europe, Asia Minor, and Egypt to Babylon, Aden, and Arabia to the Indian Ocean. The messengers were carrying mail by day and night; the relay stations were built only so far apart from each other so that a horse could run without resting or feeding. Thousands of kilometers of imperial roads were built to facilitate the delivery of mail throughout the Empire. The motto and emblem of US Mail and Pony Express, "we always deliver" were imitated from Achaemenid postal service of "Not snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor night keeps them from accomplishing their appointed courses with all speed (Herodotus Volume 4, Book 8, Chapter 98) ".

However, salvation project to save the remaining historic evidence of Bolaghi Valley has speeded up as the time to inundate the nearby Sivand Dam approaches quickly. The Dam is scheduled by to be inaugurated by March 2007. Four months is all archaeologists have to save as much as possible the heritage remains of Bolaghi Valley before the area is flooded by the Dam’s reservoir by the Islamic Republic.

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