TEHRAN—A collection of 6,000-year-old grave goods, which were discovered in a grave at Tall Chegah-e Sofla, one of Khuzestan's largest prehistorical sites of fifth-millennium BC, have been put on show at the Susa Museum in southwest Iran.

Over three years ago, the goods were found in a grave with a female human skeleton and were being studied while the human remain was on display, Iranian archaeologist Abbas Moqadam said on Sunday.

“After three and a half years, the display case for the 6,000-year-old female burial in the Susa Museum was completed with the addition of these objects,” he said.

The grave goods were placed inside the display case identical to how they were found, he added.

The skeleton and the grave goods, including a large copper basin, a copper jar, a hairpin, two marble bowls, a clay cup, a dagger, a large sword, and numerous knitting hooks, were found in a single burial.

A weight stone was also placed near her forehead. The evidence shows that she was an influential woman in her historical period.

Back in 2015, over 70 conical-shaped stelae were discovered during the third season of excavations at Tall Chegah-e Sofla, as part of the Zohreh Prehistoric Project.

The historical site, which lies close to the northern coast of the Persian Gulf, was surveyed extensively during the early 1970s by Hans Nissen from the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.

After that, several archaeological surveys have been conducted on Tall Chegah-e Sofla, which leads to the discovery of several individuals and mass graves.

The UNESCO-listed Susa embraces the whole southern flank of modern Shush in southwest Iran. Originally similar in scale to the UNESCO-designated Persepolis, the city saw countless invasions and sackings during its history, which spans almost 6,000 years.

Susa served as a winter residence for Persian kings after being captured by Cyrus the Great. It became part of the Persian Empire under Cyrus II, the Great in 538 or 539 BC. Archaeological excavations in Susa have yielded numerous relics including pottery, arms, ornamental objects, metalwork, bronze articles, and clay tablets to name a few.

Khuzestan is home to three UNESCO World Heritage sites of Susa, Tchogha Zanbil, and Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System, yet it is a region of raw beauty that its visitors could spend weeks exploring. The province is also a cradle for handicrafts and arts whose crafters inherited from their preceding generations.

Lying at the head of the Persian Gulf and bordering Iraq on the west, Khuzestan was settled about 6000 BC by a people with affinities to the Sumerians, who came from the Zagros Mountains region. Urban centers appeared there contemporaneous with the first cities in Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium. Khuzestan, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, came to constitute the heart of the Elamite kingdom, with Susa as its capital.

ABU/AM