Archaeologists uncover years of settlement in Iran’s Mahan Plain

A multidisciplinary team has completed its first season of archaeological excavations in Iran’s Mahan Plain. The work was carried out under the license of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization. This is reported by Mehr News Agency, a partner of TV BRICS.

Led by Amin Mahani, director of the Goharrez Canal World Heritage Site, researchers mapped and excavated over a dozen locations, identifying stone‐tool workshops, Chalcolithic copper‐smelting furnaces, and Bronze Age casting pits. “Our findings document an unbroken settlement sequence,” Mahani explained. “They range from scattered hunter‐gatherer camps to complex, irrigated communities reliant on qanats and canals.”

Satellite imagery and field surveys revealed that the plain lies between the towering elevations of Bolhur and Jupar –each over 4,000 metres high–35 km southeast of Kerman city. Water channels once linked Mahan to the broader cultural spheres of Shahdad, Bam, Jiroft, and Kerman province, making it a crossroads for trade and migration.

In addition to prehistoric sites, the team documented remnants of nomadic encampments alongside permanent villages. Analysis of soil samples confirms extensive use of groundwater resources; ongoing studies aim to chart the engineering of these early waterworks.

From the Islamic period, excavators recorded architectural fragments linked to the famed Shah Nimatollah Vali Shrine Garden Complex and the 19th-century Shazdeh Mahan garden, highlighting the region’s continued strategic and spiritual importance.

Mahani noted that subsequent seasons will expand research areas and apply geophysical prospection to pinpoint buried structures. “Mahan stands as a living archive,” he said. “Each layer tells a chapter in the story of human innovation, adaptation, and cultural exchange in southeastern Iran.”

The most important results of this archaeological study are the identification of Paleolithic sites, Copper and Bronze Age sites with a focus on metal smelting and casting techniques, the study of water structures, and the identification of nomadic settlements and excavated historical sites.

Researchers across other BRICS countries have also uncovered fascinating archaeological discoveries. Earlier, at the Wangzhuang site in Henan Province (China), archaeologists uncovered a royal tomb dating back approximately 5,000 years as reported by X inhua News Agency, a partner of the TV BRICS. The findings included over 350 artefacts–pottery, jade ornaments, and bone tools – offering new insights into early Chinese civilisation and its evolving social structures. Together, these findings trace a cultural and technological continuum spanning millennia and continents.

Just recently, In Moscow, archaeologists recently completed a major excavation at the Chizhevsky estate in the city center, unearthing over 6,000 artefacts spanning from the 12th to the 18th centuries. This is reported by the city’s Department of Cultural Heritage. The discoveries–including rare ceramics, glassware, and household items–offer valuable insights into medieval life in the Russian capital and highlight the significance of archaeological heritage in tracing shared human history.

Photo: Mehr News Agency