Covering 350 hectares, the cemetery of Tul Talesh is one of Iran’s unique ancient burial grounds. Located 140 kilometers northwest of Rasht, the site dates back to circa 1000 BC.
“The man and woman had been buried together in a megalithic grave. A full set of military equipment had been buried beside the man and the woman wore a complete set of ornaments and is situated beside him. This style of burial shows that the personal belongings were buried with their owners during that time,” the director of an archaeological team working at the site said.
“The military equipment includes a sword, a dagger, and a lance, and the grave holding the man and woman are indicative of their high status,” Mohammadreza Khalatbari added.
Megalithic graves were made for persons of a higher class with large pieces of stone weighing over two tons.
“The ornaments worn by the woman and her personal belongings buried with her include a bronze mirror, a number of ornamental beads, a necklace, a bracelet, and earrings. Due to the bracelet on her wrist and the earrings found on both side of her skull, as well as the buttons found around her skeleton, our archaeologists surmise that the dead person was buried dressed,” said Khalatbari, who is also the director of the history department of the Archaeological Research Center of Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization.
“The discovery of a warrior in a cromlech shows that the dead people came from a higher social class at that time. We surmise that the man and woman died in an event at the same time, so they were buried together,” he explained.
In addition, archaeologists recently discovered a cemetery dedicated solely to horses at Tul Talesh.
Last year, they also discovered a cromlech at the site in which members of a family had been buried. The body of a woman with a golden goblet and a cuneiform inscription had been buried in the upper part of the cromlech.
Experts have not been able to determine the ethnicity of the region’s inhabitants so far.
MMS/ML/HG
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MNA
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