TEHRAN – Iranian authorities have recently discovered several relics from a gold shop in Sari, the capital of Mazandaran province.

The police discovered a bronze dish, a dagger with a bone handle, a spoon with an animal handle, and a spoon with a copper handle during their investigation at the shop, following receiving reports from cultural heritage enthusiasts.

The relics are estimated to date from the Seljuk ear, a provincial tourism official said on Tuesday.

A suspect was surrendered to the judicial system in that regard for further investigation and trial, the official added.

Seljuks, also spelled, Seljuqs, were a ruling military family of the Oguz (Ghuzz) Turkic tribes that invaded southwestern Asia in the 11th century and eventually founded an empire that included Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and most of Iran. Their advance marked the beginning of Turkish power in West Asia.

According to the available data, the first well-documented evidence of human habitation on the Iranian Plateau was found in several excavated cave and rock shelters, located mainly in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran, dating to the Middle Palaeolithic or Mousterian period (c. 100,000 BC).

AFM