TEHRAN – A team of archaeologists has found one of the important human settlements of the early Islamic era in the Oshnavieh county of West Azarbaijan province while pursuing salvage work on the basin of a newly constructed dam in northwest Iran.

“We initially carved a trench measuring 7.5 by 5.5 meters till we reached intact soil at a depth of 240 cm below the surface,” ILNA quoted archaeologist Behrouz Khanmohammadi as saying on Saturday.

The team then discovered the remnants of nine architectural elements and four (clay) kilns, as well as some walls, believed to once protected a residential area of the villagers, the archaeologist said.

The architectural ruins include the remains of at least four small rooms on either side of a larger wall built with rubble and small slabs, Khanmohammadi said.

A clay kiln exists inside each room while the remains of dung fuel and animal excrement are still left in them, he said.

He also said those buildings were abandoned for unclear reasons, and the inhabitants left the place, and the contents of the ovens remained untouched.

“In the next stage of settlement in this area, the people who settled in this place, regardless of the remains of the previous architecture and the existing ovens, smoothed the floor of the place and filled the openings of the ovens with stones and proceeded to build a wall over them.”

In general, cultural objects and materials obtained at the site can be classified into four groups; potteries and objects made of metal, glass and stone, the archaeologist noted.

“More than 400 pieces of pottery were found in the excavation, which is a general classification can be classified into two categories: pottery with simple clay glaze and glazed ones using glass or a shiny layer.”

The dominant form of this category of pottery is bowls, jugs and drinking bowls, plates and special pottery with gray lids, although pieces of pots and tallow burners are also seen among this category of pottery, he said.

“The stone objects obtained from this excavation include pestles, stone fists, mortar handles, and ace handles made of sand, limestone, and river stones, and they are often used as agricultural and kitchen tools.”

Last week, another excavation conducted in Oshnavieh county unearthed arrays of relics estimated to date some 7,000 years.

A heaven for archaeologists

Oshnavieh, which is surrounded by towering mountains, lies on a thick layer cake of civilizations that emerged and disappeared over millennia. It is home to archaeological sites and hills, tomb chambers and bas-relief carvings belonging to the Kingdom of Urartu (860 BC– 590 BC). Moreover, it boasts some 100 sites registered on the national cultural heritage list.

Oshnavieh was once a prosperous settlement for the Urartu kingdom, whose entombed relics still draw the attention of archaeologists and even illegal excavators to the region. Over the past couple of years, Oshnavieh and its surrounding areas have witnessed a series of unauthorized, unprecedented drillings and excavations committed by unauthorized diggers and antique dealers, and smugglers.

The Urartu kingdom rose to power in the mid-9th century BC, but it went into a gradual decline and was eventually conquered by the Iranian Medes in the early 6th century BC. The Urartians were succeeded in the area in the 6th century BC by the Armenians.

According to Encyclopedia Iranica, the territory of the ancient kingdom of Urartu extended over the modern frontiers of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and the Republic of Armenia. Its center was the Armenian highland between Lake Van, Lake Urmia, and Lake Sevan.

Archaeological excavations suggest that agriculture entered into a new stage owing to the practice of irrigation by Urartus in northwest Iran. Thanks to the water management exercise, the Oshnavieh Plain was so productive for a long time. The water supply system realized by the Urartu in the first half of the first millennium BC has been so remarkable that the contemporaneous people imitated them.

AFM