2,000-Year-Old Burials Uncovered in Iran

ISFAHAN, IRAN—The Tehran Times reports that archaeologist Alireza Jafari-Zand and his colleagues have uncovered the remains of a teenage girl who was buried during the second Parthian era, between 247 B.C. and A.D. 224, at the site of Tepe Ashraf in central Iran. The girl’s poorly preserved remains were found next to a platform on which a large jar and part of a horse’s spinal cord were found. Last month, the excavation team unearthed the remains of a woman in a nearby tomb dated to the same period. She had also been buried next to a platform supporting a blue jug. Jafari-Zand suggests that both of the tombs were damaged in antiquity. “Tepe Ashraf is the second place after the Tepe Sialk (in Isfahan province) that has yielded the discovery of such jar tombs that offers valuable clues to uncover the obscure history of pre-Islamic Isfahan,” he explained. For more on recent archaeological discoveries in Iran, go to "Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow."