Tehran, 8 October 2007 (CHN Foreign Desk) – The Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts, and Tourism Department of Zanjan province is determined to organize the first international archeology seminar on paleo-pathological of Zanjan’s salt men with attendance of foreign experts in coming November.

 

Announcing the news, Abolfazl Aali, head of excavation team of salt men in Chehr Abad salt mine in Zanjan told CHN: “Based on negotiations, a number of archeologists and experts from Britain, Germany and Austria will attend this three-day seminar which is due to be held in November.”

 

Despite all efforts which have been made so far for preserving the discovered saltmen in Zanjan museum, unfortunately they are not in a suitable situation and according to experts their appearance show a bit erosion comparing to the time they were unearthed.

 

Therefore, due to lack of appropriate approaches for keeping the saltmen, the archeological excavations in Chehr Abad mine has been suspended since two years ago to be picked up later.

 

The international seminar on saltmen will be held in an attempt to find the best approach for preservation of these magnificent mummies and how to maintain them for next generations. During this 3-day event domestic and foreign archeologists will give lectures in this regard.

 

Currently preserving discovered mummies from all kinds has become a matter of controversy for archeologists in all over the world and they have not yet succeeded to find a definite approach for preserving them safely in museums.  

 

Chehr Abad salt mine in Zanjan is one of the most prominent historical sites in Iran. Discovery of some valuable cultural evidence as well as six mummies, known as salt men in Chehr Abad mine attracted the attention of world archeologists to this historic mine. 

 

These salt men are among rare mummies discovered around the world that are mummified as a result of natural conditions. Since the salt men have been buried in salt for centuries, most of their tissues are well preserved. Special conditions of the salt mine which prevented activities of microorganisms caused the excellent preservation of organic and inorganic materials in the mine.

 

The discovered saltmen in Zanjan belong to Achaemenid dynastic era (550-330 BC) and Sassanian dynastic era (224-651 AD).

 

Currently the first salt man is being kept in Iran’s National Museum in Tehran and the rest ones are in Zanjan’s anthropology museum.

 

 

Soudabeh Sadigh

foriengdesk@chn.ir