TEHRAN – Archaeologists in Iran have discovered evidence of a prehistoric settlement dating back up to 7,000 years beneath the historic city of Dehdasht in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, the lead researcher said on Saturday.
Zabihollah Masoudinia, head of the excavation team, told reporters that the findings include traces of a village from the late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic periods uncovered during the first archaeological research conducted in the city, also known as Belad Shapur.
He said several test trenches were opened across the site after necessary permits were issued. Upper layers revealed remains from the Middle and Late Islamic periods, but deeper layers exposed prehistoric deposits.
Masoudinia said the discovery indicates the area hosted a settlement in the fifth and sixth millennia BCE, a period previously undocumented in Dehdasht. He added that the find could significantly increase the historical importance of the site.
The archaeologist said surface structures and remnants visible today mostly belong to the late Islamic centuries. A small excavation unit was opened to examine layers beneath Safavid and possibly Seljuk architecture, where pottery fragments and cultural materials from the sixth and fifth millennia BCE were recovered.
Masoudinia said the team also found heat-altered stones suggesting a technique used by ancient inhabitants to warm liquids by heating stones in fire and placing them in containers of water or milk.
According to him, the results indicate that Dehdasht’s cultural history extends back at least to the late sixth and early fifth millennia BCE.
He said aerial photographs from 1956 showed an ancient mound near the Dehdasht caravanserai, which has since been destroyed by urban development. However, the newly found evidence points to the remains of that same Neolithic village.
Masoudinia said the excavations helped researchers better understand the layout of the historic area, revealing that many of the modern streets, houses and alleys are built directly over the ancient mound. The team also identified remains of traditional water-transfer qanats north of the city.
Earlier in October, the minister of cultural heritage Seyyed Reza Salehi-Amiri underlined that the historic texture of Dehdasht would be fully restored for tourism. “The revival of this historic zone cannot rely solely on government spending,” Salehi-Amiri said. “The participation of investors can turn Dehdasht into a hub for domestic and foreign tourists.”
Dehdasht, also known as Belad Shapur, was established on the order of Shapur I (241–272 CE), the second king of the Sassanid dynasty. During Shapur’s reign, the Sassanid Empire extended from Sogdiana and Iberia (present-day Georgia) in the north to the Mazun region of Arabia in the south, reaching the Indus River in the east and the upper Tigris and Euphrates valleys in the west.
The Sassanid period marked a revival in Persian art and architecture, characterized by monumental palaces such as those at Ctesiphon, Firuzabad, and Sarvestan. Crafts including metalwork and gem engraving became increasingly refined, while the translation of works from East and West into Pahlavi, the Sassanid language, advanced scholarship. Rock-carved sculptures and bas-reliefs on limestone cliffs are among the most recognizable features of Sassanid art, with notable examples at Bishapur, Naqsh-e Rostam, and Naqsh-e Rajab in southern Iran. In 2018, UNESCO inscribed the “Sassanid Archaeological Landscape of Fars Region” on its World Heritage list.
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