Archaeological work at the Zagros historical cemetery, located in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province, western Iran, will begin in the coming days after receiving permission from the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, a local heritage official reported.
Ali Behnia, Deputy Head of the Provincial Department of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts, noted that this cemetery is one of Sanandaj's significant archaeological sites and holds great potential for scientific research into the region's history.
The site is included in Iran's National Heritage List and has previously yielded finds, including Iron Age burials and artifacts from later historical periods, indicating the area's cultural development, Behnia added.
The upcoming excavations aim to expand archaeological surveys, deepen the understanding of burial structures and finds at the cemetery, and establish a stronger foundation for its preservation and public display.
Behnia specified that one of the key objectives of the project is the creation of a museum complex on site, which will allow the remains to be preserved in their original state while making the archaeological site accessible to residents, tourists, and heritage enthusiasts.
He also emphasized that the involvement of the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism will help advance research and formulate plans for the protection, interpretation, and sustainable cultural and tourist use of this location.
The Zagros Cemetery, discovered in the autumn of 2008, is tentatively dated to the Late Iron Age II and Early Iron Age III, approximately between 1200 and 800 BCE, according to archaeological data and burial practices.
Previous studies have revealed dozens of graves demonstrating four types of burial architecture: simple pits, stone-covered pits, megalithic tombs, and megalithic tombs with four layers of stonework.
Most burials contained the remains of two or three people. The graves were aligned along the northeast-southwest axis, and the deceased were interred in various positions: on their right or left side, in a fetal or semi-flexed position, or less frequently, lying on their back.
Supine burial, where the deceased was laid face up with arms extended or folded across the chest, is relatively rare among known Iron Age burials in Iran. Similar examples have been recorded at the Kaluraz cemetery and at the Tepe Hisar site near Dagman, according to the archaeological report on the Zagros Cemetery.
Artifacts found at the site include metal and bronze vessels, bowls, small cooking pots, needles, arrowheads, daggers, rings, bracelets, earrings, hairpins, tweezers, and other personal ornaments. Among the finds were also beads made of glass paste, agate, and bone, as well as seals and decorative items.
These discoveries provide researchers with the opportunity to study burial customs, material culture, and aspects of social life in western Iran during the first millennium BCE.
Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan province, is located in the western Zagros Mountains of Iran at an altitude of about 1500 meters above sea level.