TEHRAN -- Archaeologists unearthed another 3000-year-old fireplace at the Qoli Darvish Tepe near Qom, central Iran, the Persian service of CHN reported on Wednesday.

“The fireplace was discovered at the temple, which was discovered during previous phases of excavations. This is the fourth hearth discovered at the site,” archaeological team director Siamak Sarlak said.

“The fireplace, which is smaller than the central one, consists of a room with an offering stand and was used to keep the other large fireplaces lit,” Sarlak added.

The walls of the fireplace had been covered with plaster stucco mixed with straw in ancient times.

About 150 square meters of the 200-square-meter temple has been destroyed by construction of the Qom-Jamkaran Highway over the past decade.

The Qoli Darvish Tepe once covered 50 hectares and was 30 meters in height, but now it is just 6 meters in height and only 10 hectares of the site remain untouched due to the highway project.

There is evidence that Qoli Darvish was inhabited from the fourth millennium BC to the ninth century CE.