TEHRAN -- A Sassanid era watermill was recently discovered at the ancient site of Takht-e Soleiman in West Azarbaijan Province.

“The watermill measures 17x7 meters and dates back to the late Sassanid era (226–651 CE),” Yusef Moradi, the director of the archaeological team working at the Sassanid site, told the Persian service of CHN on Tuesday.

Located 45 kilometers northeast of the city of Takab, Takht-e Soleiman used to be a fire temple called Azargoshasb in the Sassanid era, when the temple was at its apogee.

Azargoshasb was one of the three main fire temples built around the lake located in the region on the order of Khosrow Anushirvan, who ruled the Sassanid Empire from 531 to 579 CE. Associated with Jesus’s childhood in Christian legends, the lake is called “Chichast” in the Avesta, the Zoroastrian holy book.

“Water was transferred through a channel and was poured from a height at high pressure into the mill,” Moradi explained.

“Many water-related structures have been discovered at Iran’s ancient sites, particularly in Khuzestan Province, but I have never heard about such a discovery from this era. Thus, the watermill may be the first of its kind from this era,” he added.

The archaeologists also discovered a large Ilkhanid era bathhouse and a number of Sassanid and Ilkhanid coins during the ongoing excavations of the artisans’ district of the Ilkhanid section of the site.

Takht-e Soleiman was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2003.