Neolithic pottery discovered in northwestern Iran

TEHRAN,July 23(MNA) -- A team of archaeologists working in the Duzde Baghir Mound in northwestern Iran has recently unearthed a number of pottery works, which date back to the late Neolithic era. Covering a hectare in area, the Duzde Baghir archaeological site is located near the town of Haris in the northwestern Iranian province of East Azarbaijan. The chamotte pottery works are basket-shaped, East Azarbaijan Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Department Director Torab Mohammadi said in a press release on Saturday. The pottery works were discovered during a series of stratigraphic excavations, he added. Strata from the Islamic era, the Sassanid era, the Achaemenid era, the Iron Age and the Bronze Age have been indentified in the mound. A number shards dating back to the Sassanid and Achaemenid periods and the Iron Age, clay statuettes, bone awls, stone tools, Bronze Age ovens, Iron bayonets, bronze pendants, and a number of other artifacts have been unearthed during the excavations.