TEHRAN – Some ancient petroglyphs have recently been found on the outskirts of Aligudarz in Iran’s Lorestan province.

“A total of 20 hand-carved petroglyphs have been discovered in Aligudarz county,” provincial tourism chief Seyyed Amin Qasemi announced on Monday.

“This newly discovered collection includes several carvings on the rocks and is of great archaeological and historical importance,” he explained.

The petroglyphs bear various depictions with animal, human, and plant motifs….  And they offer valuable information for researchers in this field.”

Lorestan was inhabited by Iranian Indo-European peoples, including the Medes, c. 1000 BC. Cimmerians and Scythians intermittently ruled the region from about 700 to 625 BC. The Luristan Bronzes noted for their eclectic array of Assyrian, Babylonian, and Iranian artistic motifs, date from this turbulent period. Lorestan was incorporated into the growing Achaemenid Empire in about 540 BC and successively was part of the Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanid dynasties.

AFM/