TEHRAN – Researchers from Iranian and international institutions will gather at the National Museum of Iran on July 10 for a conference examining the role of ancient iron production in the development of Masuleh’s cultural landscape, organizers said.
The conference, titled “Masuleh: Human, Iron, and Landscape Development,” will present recent findings on the cultural heritage of Masuleh, a historic settlement in Iran’s northern Gilan province. The event will focus on archaeological evidence of early human occupation in the region and studies on how iron production shaped the area’s landscape and urban development.
Organizers said researchers will review recent archaeological reports and examine the structure of Masuleh’s cultural landscape. New findings from archaeological investigations, cultural heritage studies and landscape architecture research related to the region will also be presented.
Scholars from the National Museum of Iran, the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, Shahid Beheshti University, the Chinese Academy of Archaeological Sciences, Islamic Azad University and the University of Tehran are scheduled to present their research.
Experts involved in the studies say the Masuleh region contains numerous ancient metalworking sites that reflect both its iron-rich natural resources and the technical knowledge of communities that lived there over centuries.
Vali Jahani, head of Gilan province’s cultural heritage department, said Iranian archaeologists and archaeometallurgists from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences are conducting new research on previously identified metallurgical sites within Masuleh’s core and buffer zones. “These discoveries pertain to industrial activities related to the smelting of sponge iron and metalworking during the historical and Islamic periods,” Jahani said.
According to Jahani, archaeological evidence indicates that the Masuleh region served as an important center for the production of sponge iron and iron tools. He said the commercial and industrial city of Masuleh emerged in connection with these activities, particularly during the Ilkhanid period.
Fereidoun Biglari, deputy director of the National Museum of Iran for cultural affairs and head of archaeological surveys in Masuleh’s core and buffer zones, said research has identified two interconnected economic systems in the region: transhumant pastoralism and iron ore extraction and smelting. Biglari said these systems likely combined to create an economy adapted to the area’s pasturelands and mineral resources. Archaeological evidence from the highlands suggests that seasonal pastoralism in the region dates back at least 7,000 years.
He added that findings point to extensive pastoral activity during the Bronze and Iron Ages and show that this economic pattern continued into later periods. During the historical and Islamic eras, particularly under the Ilkhanids, iron ore exploitation and metal smelting expanded significantly, contributing to the growth and development of Masuleh as an industrial and commercial center.
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