TEHRAN Some important discoveries have been made during the 7th phase of the excavation operation in the historic city of Darre-Shahr located in Ilam Province.

Simin Lakpour, the head of the excavation team, said, "The new discoveries show that, as many have believed, the city does not belong to the Sassanid era but to the beginning of the Abbasid era."

She added, "There are some signs of pottery workshops in the city and some buildings with plaster works which are among the most important discoveries in Iran. It shows that plaster working is among the local arts of the region."

Lakpour said, "Darre-Shahr was founded in the beginning of the Islamic period. More excavations of that historical place can clarify the lost points of Iranian history."

She added that the art is in the Sassanid style and that one of the most important things of the recent excavations is that they show the transition of Iranian art from the Sassanid style to the Islamic style.

On the tourist potential of the city, she said that there is a program to renovate and preserve the new discoveries in order to display them to the public. Darre-Shahr is located in the southern Ilam.