Tehran Times Culture Desk

@T= TEHRAN -- A team of eleven paleontologists from France, Finland, China, and Japan are conducting research at the Maragheh fossil locality of East Azarbaijan Province.
“For the second time over the past six months, the team is conducting excavations at the Maraghe fossil site. The team members are quite skilled and have total confidence in their professional ability,” Finnish paleontologist Michael Fortelius told the Persian service of IRNA on Sunday.
“Paleontological studies at this site which contains intact fossils can expand our knowledge of the climate conditions in the distant past,” he added.
An educational paleontology workshop is also underway in the city of Maragheh. The workshop, attended by 11 international researchers and 22 experts from Iran’s Environment Organization, will continue its work until May 27.
Located near the city of Maragheh, the fossil-rich site covers an area of 40,000 hectares. Currently 1,026 hectares of the site is protected as a natural property area.
The fossil vertebrate site of Maragheh is a classic late Miocene locality and one the most renowned localities of its kind in Eurasia.
Some of the fossils discovered at the site are preserved at French, Austrian, and the U.S. museums.
Iranian paleontologists unearthed some parts of a dinothere giganteum at the fossil-rich site in 2004.
The city of Maragheh is situated 147 kilometers south of Tabriz, the center of East Azarbaijan Province. The city is also famous for its ancient observatory, the most advanced observatory of its time, which was established in 1259..