Posted on 05/16/2005 3:17:34 PM PDT by blam
Unusual bronze coffin unearthed in Lorestan
Tehran Times Culture Desk
TEHRAN -- A bronze coffin containing a skeleton with a golden blindfold and a golden gag on its face were unearthed in farmland near the provincial capital city of Khorramabad in Lorestan Province, the director of an archaeological team working in the region said on Friday.
“It was an exciting discovery. The golden items and bronze coffin show that the casket was for a person from a prominent family,” Jalal Adeli added.
With four handles, the coffin is like a bathtub, and has been broken into four pieces. Its length and width is 180x87 centimeters and it is 55 centimeters in height. The bronze plate is 2 to 5 millimeters thick. The golden blindfold and gag were discovered on the face of the skeleton.
The items have been sent to the historical Falakolaflak Castle in Khorramabad for further study, and the team hopes to find other ancient artifacts at the site.
This was the first discovery in Iran of a body buried with a golden blindfold and gag. The archaeologists believe that the find could provide new information on the lifestyles of people living in the region over the past millennia.
“Due to the shards discovered around the casket, we surmise that the items date back to the Parthian era,” Adeli said.
The bronze coffin has been sulfated and its surface is covered with sediment.
Archaeologists may find an inscription or bas-reliefs on the coffin if the sulfates and sediment can be removed, Adeli added.
The coffin was unearthed in winter when the owner of the farmland reported sighting some smugglers searching with a metal detector in the area.
“A team of archaeologists were sent to the farm to make excavations and they unearthed the coffin and its contents during their operation,” said Sirus Ebrahimi, the director of the Lorestan Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department.
“Provincial officials were informed of the discovery and they agreed to not reveal the news in order to give them time to arrange security measures in the area,” he added.
The coffin is to be put on display at the Falakolaflak Castle during Iran’s Cultural Heritage Week, which begins on May 18.
The only other bronze coffin with golden artifacts ever found in Iran was discovered in 1983 in Arjan, 10 kilometers north of Behbahan in eastern Khuzestan Province. The U-shaped coffin contained a large, inscribed golden ring, 98 bracteate coins, a dagger, some textile fragments, and a silver rod, which came from the treasury of the Elamite king Kidin-Hutran.
Amazing, all the reports of precious artifacts coming out of Iran in the last couple of weeks. Why, we wouldn't DARE bomb such a storehouse of antiquity, now would we? This strikes me as just another iteration of the "priceless relic" defense, last used against the US via the fraudulent reports of museum thefts in Baghdad.
A gag, i think is like something you put in someones mouth to shut them up. It's that stuff you see in S&M joke stuff.
I thought it would look like the VW dug up from one of the old Woody Allen movies.
Actually it's more likely that the increased focus on Iran has helped some of these stories get the coverage they deserved. Archaelogy fell by the wayside somewhat in the Iran-Iraq war decade and the late nineties have seen a return of this field.
Amazng country and it will be a genuine tragedy if there needs to be a war. Most Iranians are bright, hard-working and have a decent sense of humour. Plus, the relics and so forth are amazing. You may not like their current administration, but that doesn't diminish the rich history and heritage of the country.
Michael Jackson?
Leave the gag and the blindfold on and CLOSE THE COFFIN. QUICK! ITS IMPORTANT!
Oops. Too late.
Isn't that the material they wrap around your mouth?
"The coffin is to be put on display at the Falakolaflak Castle..."
Try saying that word three times quickly...
No, a goat.
Iranian S&M games gone horribly wrong I'd suppose.
ping
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figured you'd want to see this topic. :')
Iranica -- Elam
http://azargoshnasp.net/~iran/history/ELAM/elam_iranica.htm
"The Igihalkid dynasty (ca. 1400-1210 B.C.E.). Until quite recently the Igihalkid dynasty seemed one of the best known in Elamite history. It was believed (e.g., Stolper, 1984, pp. 35-38) that, following a raid by the Mesopotamian Kassite ruler Kurigalzu II (1332-08 B.C.E.) against a certain Hurpatila, king of Elam, Igi-halki seized power, in about 1320, power that he than passed on to his six successors, the most celebrated of whom was Untaæ-Napiriæa, who built the famous ziggurat at Ùog@a Zanb^l (ca. 1250). This period ended with Kidin-Hutran, who put an end to the grandeur of the Kassites by winning two victories over Enlil-nadin-æumi (1224) and Adad-æuma-iddina (1222-17)."
I certainly do. We talked about the Parthians in the history class I teach, just two weeks ago. Any idea what the blindfold and gag were for? Perhaps the guy had been executed by the state.
At any rate, I see some theories, and maybe even a story coming out of this. In Egypt, for example, the finding of a mummy who may have been buried alive (Unknown Man E) was the inspiration for all the horror movies about mummies.
Ditto to that !!
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