TEHRAN – A group of Japanese cultural heritage experts have joined Iranian fellows to restore prehistorical metal artifacts previously excavated from Tepe Bazgir of Gorgan province in northeastern Iran.

In this project, Iranian and Japanese experts are currently engaged in preliminary scientific research aimed at restoringat restoring metal objects being kept in the Gorgan Archeology Museum, Golestan province’s tourism chief said on Saturday.

Scientific examination and research will play an important role in the protection and better introduction of these relics, Mohammad-Javad Saravi said.

Metal objects discovered in Tepe Bazgir belong to the New Bronze Age (about 2100 to 1600 BC), the official said.

They constitute one of the large-scale metal collections in the country, which are kept in the Gorgan Archaeological Museum and Minudasht Museum, Saravi stated.

In January 2011, archaeologists unearthed over 500 ancient metal artifacts in Bazgir Tepe. The artifacts, all of which are made of copper, comprise weapons, farming tools, drug tubes and pans, which date back to about 1800 years ago, according to the provincial tourism directorate.

The artifacts are comparable to relics previously discovered in archaeological excavations on Gorgan’s Turang Tepe and the Teppeh Hesar of Damghan in northern Semnan Province, and several ancient sites in Turkmenistan and Tajikistan.

In the lower stratum, they have also found several legged earthenware dishes of the Achaemenid era. The artifacts are similar to the pottery first unearthed at an archaeological site near the town of Aq-Qala in northern Golestan Province.

The diversity of the artifacts indicates that the region had enjoyed brisk commerce in ancient times.

Covering an area of two hectares, the Bazgir Tepe is located near the village of Bazgir, about four kilometers north of the city of Minudasht.

AFM