Five gravestones have recently been found near the village of Banelkan in western Iran's Ilam Province, one of which has been engraved in such a manner as to make it a unique artifact of the late Iranian Islamic era, an English-language paper said on Monday.
The headstone measures 110cm X 50cm and weighs approximately 300 kilograms, 'Tehran Times' quoted Public Relations director of Ilam Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Department Abdolmalek Shanbezadeh as saying.
"The gravestone bears a bas relief depicting a naked lady standing with her left hand over her chest and her right hand over her thighs, surrounded by a rectangular frame," the official explained.
This is the first instance of the discovery in Iran of such a headstone, bearing this type of bas relief and dating from the late Islamic-era, the paper reported.
An Arabic inscription reading "this gravestone belongs to Morva" has been engraved above the rectangular frame, Shanbezadeh added.
Morva is a female given name.
"Such an image may indicate that the grave belongs to a girl who was of great beauty, who had been well-known in her tribe and that the gravestone had been made in her honor," the official explained.
Shanbezadeh believes that the manner in which the bas relief depicts the hands of Morva placed covering certain parts of her body, signifies the girl's innocence and chastity.
"The image is similar to that of figures etched on some ancient Iranian bronze artifacts dating back to the first millennium BC, and it also recalls clay statuettes of the mother goddess previously discovered at Iranian archaeological sites," Shanbezadeh stated.
Experts surmise that all five gravestones date back to the Iranian late Islamic age, although none of them bear inscribed dates.
Two of the gravestones bear images of a gun and another carries a sword motif. One of the headstones bears only the name of the owner of the grave.
Experts believe that the people buried in the graves had been related to each other and had all died for a specific reason.
The sizes of the gravestones and the types of motifs engraved on them are similar to those seen at a cemetery located a few kilometers away from the latest discovery. In contrast, the cemetery's headstones from the past 220 years bear few engraved images.
People living during the few centuries prior to the past two hundred years were in the habit of engraving gravestones with images rather than inscriptions.
Thus, experts estimate that the new discoveries date back to a period between 250 and 300 years ago.
The gravestones have been transferred to the Ilam Anthropology Museum, Tehran Times said.
© IRNA 2007
