TEHRAN – Iran’s oldest known handicrafts have been traced to its Lorestan province, according to a local official.

Abbas Hamzeh’i, deputy head of handicrafts in Lorestan, said archaeological findings show that some of the earliest handicrafts identified in the country originated in the region.

“Lorestan is very distinguished in the field of handicrafts, and the oldest crafts known to archaeologists and experts belong to this land,” Hamzeh’i said.

The official said one of the earliest examples is a deer fang pendant discovered in Yafteh Cave near Khorramabad, which dates back about 40,000 years and was used as a personal ornamentation. He added that Lorestan is also renowned for its ancient bronze and metal works, many of which date to the early first millennium BC and are preserved in museums.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the official noted that nomadic handwoven textiles are another craft deeply rooted in Lorestan’s history, though their precise origin cannot be determined, as they were part of daily life among tribal communities.

According to Ata Hassanpour, tourism chief of the province, the so-called Lorestan (Loristan) Bronzes, a collection of small cast objects from the Early Iron Age, remain a cultural hallmark of the region. “The artifacts discovered in Lorestan testify to millennia of human habitation in this region, as well as the mastery of art and refined taste of their creators,” he said.

The bronzes, often depicting horsemen, warriors and farmers, conveyed ancestral traditions and religious concepts, according to Hassanpour.

The origins of the artifacts attracted global attention in the late 1920s, when finely crafted bronze figures began to appear on the antiquities market, National Geographic reported last year. Many of them were traced back to Lorestan, part of the Zagros Mountains.

Earlier this year, the Prehistoric Sites of the Khorramabad Valley were collectively inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list. It includes five caves and one rock shelter within a narrow ecological corridor rich in water, flora, and fauna. The property enjoys a human occupation dating back 63,000 years, with evidence from the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic periods. These sites reveal Mousterian and Baradostian cultures, offering insights into early human evolution and migration from Africa to Eurasia. Artifacts such as decorative objects and advanced stone tools highlight the cognitive and technological development of early humans in the Zagros Mountains. The area remains underexplored, holding significant potential for future archaeological discoveries.

AM