TEHRAN – A team of archaeologists has commenced an extensive research on a centuries-old underground “city”, which is located in Salehabad district of Hamedan province, west-central Iran, ISNA reported on Friday.

The site, estimated to date 800 years, was found some three years ago but the story didn’t publicized in order to prevent any possible looting from the underground city before the appropriation of credits for the beginning of studies, a provincial tourism official Ahmad Torabi said.

The official said that initial works found at the site are pieces of pottery, which are related to the Islamic and earlier eras, emphasizing “We need more time to do further research and exploration so that we can fully investigate this area.”

“At the time when Russian soldiers crossed the area [during the World War II], the men of the region concealed their families in the underground city so that no one noticed their presence,” Torabi added.

It is the third underground city being discovered in Hamedan province after Samen and Arzan-Fud, which some archaeologists attribute the two to the times of Medes (678 – 549 BC) so that Hamedan may be named as a pioneering region of troglodyte architecture in the country, he explained.

Last October, Hamedan hosted the 3rd International Troglodytic Architecture Conference in which tens of experts, researches and academia discussed troglodyte-associated architecture, culture and technology.

Modern Hamedan largely lies on ancient Ecbatana, which was the capital of Media and subsequently a summer residence of the Achaemenian kings who ruled Persia from 553 to 330 BC.

AFM/MQ/MG