Giant Jar Burials Unearthed in Iran

ISFAHAN, IRAN—The Tehran Times reports that researchers led by archaeologist Alireza Jafari-Zand are investigating the site of Tepe Ashraf, which is located in central Iran, in the city of Isfahan. The northern side of the burial mound there has been damaged by construction and other projects. The researchers have uncovered two giant jar-tombs, and Jafari-Zand suspects the hill may contain a Parthian cemetery. The Parthians ruled the region from 247 B.C. to A.D. 224. The investigation has also uncovered a square-shaped stone well thought to have been built by the Sassanids, who ruled from A.D. 224 until the arrival of Islam in the mid-seventh century. To read about excavations at Hasanlu Tepe, a fortified Iron Age hilltop site in northwest Iran, go to "The Price of Plunder."