TEHRAN - Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh on Wednesday visited special exhibitions of Iranian and German studies on ancient mining and relevant objects, which is currently underway at the National Museum of Iran.

Jebrael Nokandeh who presides over the museum, and his deputy Fereidoun Biglari accompanied Khatibzadeh during his visit to “Human Search for Resources, Highlights of Ancient Mining from the German Mining Museum Bochum” and "Death in Salt, Archaeological Research at the Chehrabad Mine in Zanjan".

During the visit, the foreign ministry official emphasized the importance of holding such international exhibitions in cultural diplomacy, a museum official told Tehran Times on Thursday.

He added the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is ready to facilitate these cultural contacts.

The exhibits put the spotlight on the appropriation of humans to mineral resources and the development of the history of human experiences and achievements in mining, which led to the development of technologies, the formation of professions, trade, and specialization of industries.

The Iranian exhibit showcases arrays of personal objects, tools, and corpses once belonging to the famed Iranian salt mummies discovered in the Chehrabad Salt Mine of Zanjan province.

According to Nokandeh, the museum and the German Mining Museum in Bochum have made considerable cooperation in line with an agreement they signed in 2017, based on which the two institutions are set to hold exhibitions of each other's historical and cultural artifacts related to the subject of ancient mining.

It is worth mentioning that similar loan exhibitions featuring ancient mining and relevant documents were already staged in Iran and Germany. 

Last year, a team of experts from the two countries started a project for purifying, cleansing, and restoring garments and personal belongings of the mummies which were first found in the salt mine in 1993.

What was a catastrophe for the ancient miners has become a sensation for science. Sporting a long white beard, iron knives, and a single gold earring, the first salt mummy was discovered in 1993. He is estimated to be trapped in the mine in ca. 300 CE. In 2004 another mummy was discovered only 50 feet away, followed by another in 2005 and a “teenage” boy mummy later that year.

AFM