TEHRAN –Two historical objects have recently been unearthed accidentally in the historical texture of Gorgan, the capital of northern Golestan province, previously known as Astarabad.

The relics, dating back to the Islamic era, were discovered during a restoration project on an old building, a senior police official in charge of protecting cultural heritage said on Wednesday. 

The locals soon informed authorities in charge of protecting the cultural heritage and the objects were handed over to an archaeological museum for further study and better preservation, Seyyed Faramarz Mir announced. 

Astarabad is situated along a small tributary of the Qareh River, 37 kilometers from the Caspian Sea. The city, which was prosperous during the Achaemenid era (c. 550 – 330 BC), for long suffered from inroads of the Turkmen tribes who occupied the plain north of the Qareh River and were subjected to incessant Qajar-Turkmen tribal conflicts in the 19th century according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. 

It was renamed Gorgan in the 1930s after being devastated by a massive earthquake. In modern times the plain around Gorgan has become a flourishing granary.

Golestan is reportedly embracing some 2,500 historical and natural sites, with UNESCO-registered Gonbad-e Qabus – a one-millennium-old brick tower – amongst its most famous.

Narratives say the tower has influenced various subsequent designers of tomb towers and other cylindrical commemorative structures both in the region and beyond. The UNESCO comments that the tower bears testimony to the cultural exchange between Central Asian nomads and the ancient civilization of Iran.

ABU/MG