TEHRAN – A team of archaeologists has dug research trenches around two neighboring ancient sites in Ilam province, southwest Iran, aimed to redraw legal boundaries for more safety.

“We have carved a number of speculation trenches around two ancient sites to propose legal boundaries and prevent their destruction concerning the expansion of the urban life nearby,” archaeologist Arman Biglari said on Saturday.

The sites are estimated to date back to the Sasanian and Il-Khalid eras, according to research conducted on the form and technique of potteries excavated from the two sites, he explained.

The appearance of the sites is such that they have a gentle slope on both sides of a river, and the difference in the level of the highest point with the river level is about seven to eight meters, he said.

Biglari said the two sites were initially demarcated in 2008 based on the surface evidence and the bulk of excavated objects.

Due to the expansion of the urban fabric towards the ancient sites, it is necessary to define exact legal boundaries to prevent their destruction, the archaeologist said.

Ilam province is located in the foothills of the Zagros Mountains. The land, which is called Ilam now was a part of the ancient Elamite civilization that was formed in ca. 3000 BC and was destroyed by Assyrian King Ashurbanipal in 640 BC.

Elam was an ancient pre-Iranian civilization centered in the far west and southwest of what is now modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of what is now Khuzestan and Ilam provinces as well as a small part of southern Iraq.

Sassanid and Il-Khanid eras are among the turning points in Iranian history. Il-khanid was a Mongol-origin dynasty that ruled Iran from 1256 to 1335. Il-Khan is Persian for “subordinate khan.” The Il-Khanids consolidated their position in Iran and unified the region as a political and territorial entity after several centuries of fragmented rule by small dynasties.

The Sassanid era is of very high importance in the history of Iran. Under Sassanids, Persian architecture and arts experienced a general renaissance. Architecture often took grandiose proportions, such as palaces at Ctesiphon, Firuzabad, and Sarvestan, which are amongst the highlights of the ensemble. Apart from architecture, crafts such as metalwork and gem engraving grew highly sophisticated, yet scholarship was encouraged by the state. In those years, works from both the East and West were translated into Pahlavi, the language of the Sassanians.

AFM