A combination photo shows interlinked tunnels, rooms and corridors of Samen subterranean settlement that after more than a decade of excavations still keeps clues to ancient life in west-central Iran. Some human remains are also seen in the pictures released by entekhab.ir on April 10, 2017.

The subterranean complex appears to have been first used for religious purposes, then as a cemetery and finally as a shelter during emergencies. It lies beneath a modern city of the same name in Malayer county, Hamadan province.

The underground complex, located 400 km west of Tehran, is believed to be built sometime between the fall of the Achaemenid Empire (550-330 BC) and early Parthian era (247 BC-224 CE).

Excavations at the site began in 2005 and is still going on. So far tens of well-preserved skeletons have been retrieved from its interconnected chambers.

AFM/MG