TEHRAN - Iranian authorities have recently confiscated tens of relics from a gang of illegal diggers and smugglers in northern Iran. The objects are estimated to date from the Iron Age to the Parthian era, CHTN reported on Wednesday.

“A total of 107 historical objects, which include bronze rings, clay vessels, and tone beads …, were recovered in Kelardasht county [of the northern Mazandaran province],” said Amir Rahmatollahi, a senior police official in charge of protecting cultural heritage.

“Based on assessments performed by provincial cultural heritage experts, the objects are of ‘historical values’ and date from the Iron Age and early Parthian era.”

“Four illegal diggers were detained in this regard and surrendered to the judicial system for further investigation,” the police official noted.

The Iron Age is an archaeological era, referring to a period in the prehistory and protohistory of the Old World (Afro-Eurasia) when the dominant toolmaking material was iron.

Establishing a primary residence at Ctesiphon, on the Tigris River in southern Mesopotamia, Parthian kings ruled for nearly half a millennium and influenced politics from Asia Minor to northern India, until they were overthrown by Sasanian armies from southwest Iran in the early third century CE. Parthian wealth obtained through lucrative trade networks resulted in substantial patronage of the arts, in particular, relief sculpture, statuary (large and small scale), architectural sculpture, metalwork, jewelry, and ceramics.

AFM/MG