TEHRAN – A team of Iranian archaeologists has recently unearthed pre-historic human remains, coffins and potteries during an urgent excavation in Hamedan, west-central Iran.

“Five graves with clay coffins in shape of a bathtub or boat, two jar-shaped coffins, and two tombs bearing no coffins were among the excavated objects,” CHTN quoted archaeologist Mohammad Shabani as saying on Thursday.

“The emergency excavation was carried out in Hamedan’s Imam Khomeini Sq. along a pedestrian path and within an area in the middle of the square, which was previously dig out for making a fountain,” he said, addressing audiences at the 16th Annual Symposium on the Iranian Architecture.

The survey yielded “large volumes” of cultural data on earthenware, burial services, and archaeology, Shabani stated.

“Excepting one of burial places, others are dating from Achaemenid era (550-330 BC) to early Parthian epoch (247 BC–224 CE).”

A large proportion of the findings around Imam Sq. is associated with vestiges of potteries that date back to various historical times including the Islamic era, he said.

Modern Hamedan largely lies on ancient Ecbatana, which was the capital of Media and subsequently a summer residence of the Achaemenian kings.

AFM/MG