TEHRAN–A cultural heritage laboratory in Kerman has restored 12 prehistorical objects, previously recovered from unauthorized excavators in the southern Iranian province.

“A laboratory affiliated with Kerman province’s cultural heritage directorate has restored 12 metal objects, which date from the third millennium BC,” the deputy tourism chief said on Sunday.

“Including decorative needles, ax heads, metal daggers, and arrowheads, these historical objects have been obtained from illegal diggers and smugglers,” Mojtaba Shafiei said.

“In addition, six coins dating back to the Islamic period have been restored,” the official said.

Taking about the magnificent Jiroft archaeological site, which was once a cradle of civilization, the official added: “Pottery pieces discovered in Jiroft excavations are also being restored at the moment by cultural heritage experts of the province.”

“The majority of the restored objects had been unearthed in excavations carried out in different cities of the province, especially (near or in) the southern towns and villages.”

“Many of these historical objects reveal the customs and (the way of) thinking in the past so that putting them on public shows may underpin social identification,” the official explained.

The big and sprawling province is something of a cultural melting pot, blending various regional cultures over time. It is also home to rich tourist spots and historical sites, including bazaars, mosques, caravanserais, and ruins of ancient urban areas. Kerman is bounded by the provinces of Fars in the west, Yazd in the north, South Khorasan in the northeast, Sistan-Baluchestan in the east, and Hormozgan in the south. It includes the southern part of the central Iranian desert, the Dasht-e Lut.

Kerman (the capital city) was probably initiated by the Sassanid king Ardashir I (reigned 224–241 CE). Under the Safavids, who took control in 1501, it came to be known as Kerman and was made the capital of the province. The city was sacked by the Uzbeks in 1509 but was quickly rebuilt. Declining Safavid power in the 17th and early 18th centuries allowed Kerman to be attacked and occupied by Afghan tribesmen in 1720.

From a wider point of view, and based on archaeological evidence, the first well-documented evidence of human habitation is in deposits from several excavated cave and rock-shelter sites, located mainly in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran and dated to the Middle Paleolithic or Mousterian times (c. 100,000 BC).

In fact, the first well-documented evidence of human habitation is in deposits from several excavated cave and rock-shelter sites, located mainly in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran and dated to Middle Paleolithic or Mousterian times (c. 100,000 BC). A 2019 study published by the Journal of Human Evolution suggests that Neanderthals were roaming over the Iranian Zagros mountain range between 40 to 70 thousand years ago.

It is worth mentioning that Neanderthals existed before and during the last Ice Age of the Pleistocene in some of the most unforgiving environments ever inhabited by humans. They fostered a fruitful culture, with a perplexing stone instrument innovation, that depended on hunting, some searching, and a neighborhood plant assortment. Their endurance during tens of thousands of years of the last glaciation is a remarkable testament to human adaptation.

The Iranian plateau extends for close to 2,000 km, stretching from the Caspian in the northwest to Baluchistan in the southeast. It encompasses the greater part of Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan west of the Indus River, containing some 3,700,000 square kilometers. Despite being called a “plateau”, it is far from flat but contains several mountain ranges, the highest peak being Damavand in the Alborz mountain range at 5610 m, and the Dasht-e Loot east of Kerman in Central Iran, falling below 300 m.

AM