TEHRAN – More than 10,000 new ancient petroglyphs and rack-carved arts have been discovered across the northwestern plains of Meshginshahr county. 

“A total of 15 fields of [ancient] petroglyphs have been found near Meshginshahr, which bear over 10,000 petroglyphs,” CHTN quoted Meshginshahr’s tourism chief Imamali Imani as saying on Wednesday.
Preliminary works are being done to register the fields on the National Cultural Heritage list, Imani said.

“There is a treasure trove of thousands of years of art, seen as an example of the oldest human habitat in the plains of Meshginshahr that helps us to look at the evolution of human life over the span of thousands of years.”

In November 2018, Imani announced that new traces of prehistoric relics and petroglyphs were detected through an archeological survey in Meshginshahr county. 
“Ancient relics have been discovered in 10 new places, apart from rock arts or petroglyphs scattered in two villages of Moradlu District,” he said.

“The discovered objects bear depictions of human beings in archery, cavalry in rhythmic and magical themes,” the official added.

There are also petroglyphs that depict mountain goats, boat anchors, shooting and scenes of war, and scenes of deer hunting in individual and collective forms, he concluded.

Amongst the most significant fields of petroglyphs in Meshkin Shahr, is Shahr-e Yeri [“city of the mouthless”]. Situated near Pirazman village, the site embraces an Iron-Age fortress, three prehistorical temples and tens of carved stones on which mouthless faces are depicted, all stretched across 400 hectares of several small hills. Shahr-e Yeri was inscribed on the list of National Heritage Sites in 1931.

The rock art can be seen in some mountainous regions across Iran where roaming life and livestock farming are prevalent typically. The rock-carved figures of animals, associated tools are regarded as good clues to help shed light on daily life in the distant past, though some figures might be symbolic.

AFM/MG