TEHRAN -- A team of Iranian and foreign archaeologists began the 11th season of studies and excavations at the Burnt City, a 5200-year-old site in southeastern Iran, on November 10.

Twenty experts from the Italian National Research Center on Aging, Rome’s National Museum of Oriental Art, and the University of Newcastle are participating in the project.
The team, which is led by Seyyed Mansur Seyyed-Sajjadi, also comprises experts from the University of Sistan and Baluchestan.
The experts from the University of Newcastle are to examine the diet of the inhabitants of the city by studying the hair discovered in the graves during previous excavations.
The team also plans to make a moulage of the 4800-year-old skull of a woman that had an artificial eyeball, which was discovered in grave number 6705 of the Burnt City’s cemetery, in order to make a reconstruction of her face.
Covering an area of 150 hectares, the Burnt City is located 57 kilometers from the city of Zabol in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan Province.
It was one of the world’s largest cities at the dawn of the urban era and is one of the most important prehistoric sites of the country which was well developed during the third millennium BC.
The city had four stages of civilization and was burnt down three times. Since it was not rebuilt after the last time it was burnt down, it has been named the Burnt City.
Caption: Archaeological team director Mansur Sajjadi displays the artificial eyeball discovered in a 4800-year-old grave of the Burnt City’s cemetery. The eyeball was found in the skull of a sturdy woman who was between 25 and 30 years of age at the time of death