When you buy connections to our articles, the future and its union partners can win a commission.
The exclusive funeral of the Bronze Age was found at the site of TEPE CHALOW, in the remote province of North Horayan in northeast Iran. | Credit: © Ali Vahdati
Archaeologists in Iran discovered the lavish tomb of a teenager who lived more than 3000 years ago when the region was part of the civilization of the Great Horasan.
The woman died at about 18 years old, probably for natural reasons. Its rich burial goods, including gold jewelry, show that it comes from a wealthy family with “hereditary status”, according to a study published on April 21 in the magazine IranS
The tomb, the archaeological site of Tepe Chalow in the remote province of North Horasan in northeast Iran, is one of the most rich ever found by the great civilization of Horasan (GKC), a lead author of a study author Ali WahdadiArchaeologist at Iran’s Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Live Science told an email.
One of the most notable burial goods was made a rectangular box made of black stone, rich in chlorite minerals, which was decorated with carvings from snakes and scorpions.
The box is used to store cosmetics or “Kohl” – a black powder mineral, often used as an eye line in ancient times. Images of the Snake and Scorpio “may have served ritual or protective functions,” the study authors wrote.
An extremely similar box was found earlier in the tomb of the Bronze Age north of Tepe Chalo in the ancient Bactria region, which now covers parts of Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan; And it seems that the Chalow box is made of stone imported from Bactria, Vahdati said.
Related: Iran’s cone-head skull was broken 6,200 years ago, but no one knows why
close -up of dug goods in a grave
Archaeologists believe that the tomb dates back to the end of the third millennium BC, when the ancient settlement was part of the civilization of the Great Horasan.
close -up of excavated grave with a human skeleton in dirt
The ancient tomb of a young woman, discovered in Tepe Chalow, is one of the richest graves from the greater Horace Civilization ever discovered.
Great
Vahdati first found the site of the TEPE CHALOW (“Chalow Hills” in 2006 during an archeological survey of a nearby river pool, but failed to return it until 2011.
A total of 48 graves have already been found there, located in wide clusters and covered with low mounds that give the name of the site.
Most of the graves date from the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), which was part of the civilization of the Great Horayan Policy of the Bronze Age with fortified settlements and monumental architecture that were traded with both with both with both Mesopotamia and Indus Valley Until it began to decrease in the 13th century BC, Vahdati said.
But several of the graves date back to the late Chalcolithic (“copper stone”) in the fourth millennium BC, when the TEPE CHALOW was first established.
The teenager’s grave – known as the “Grave 12” – was opened in 2013, but the new survey is the first time it has been described in detail, Vahdati said.
The exact age of the grave is not yet known, but it is believed that the woman buried there lived at the end of the third millennium BC, the authors of the study said.
She was buried in a pressed position and was lying on her right, with her face facing southeast in what seemed to be an ancient tradition in the place of Tepe Chalow, the study wrote.
close -up of engraved blue box
One of the most notable burial goods is this box with black stone, apparently once used to store cosmetics and decorated with carvings from snakes and scorpions.
Close -up of a blue box with a snake engraved on his side
Archaeologists say that an almost identical box was found in another tomb of the Bronze Age north of the Tepe Chalow and that this box was probably imported from there.
“Inherited status”
In addition to the sophisticated cosmetics box, the young woman’s grave contained two gold earrings; Gold ring ring; Several pins made of ivory and bronze, including one hand shaped; bronze mirror; several pottery vessels; And the print of bronze printing depicting human legs.
Wahdati said that similar seals were found at archaeological sites of the Bronze Age in southern Iran and that this is one of the several seals found in the grave, they mean the active role of the woman and the social status in her community.
He added that ivory pins and lazuli beads show that its community has long -distance commercial connections with other ancient regions, including what Afghanistan is now and Indus Valley.
Related stories
– The heartfelt people have lived on the Persian Plateau for 20,000 years after the departure of Africa, the study suggests
-Harcheologists open a 4000-year-old Bronze Age village hidden in the oasis of Saudi Arabia
– ‘The Bronze Age of the Bronze Age funeral chamber found on the English Mavri
The woman buried in grave 12 was an important person, but she was too young when she died to achieve such a status, said Wahdati. Instead, she is likely to inherit her social status and wealth from her family, either at birth or through marriage.
“The presence of such wealth in the grave of a young man remains unique in the archaeological record of the great people,” Vahdati said. “At this stage, we can only talk about the elite status, transmitted through the pedigree, which is in accordance with the hierarchical nature of the GKC society.”