TEHRAN – Iranian police have confiscated a prehistorical piece of earthenware, which had just been unearthed by unauthorized excavators in a village in western Iran.

“The seizure took place in Saqqez county of Kurdestan province after the police received reports from cultural heritage aficionados about the illegal excavation,” CHTN quoted a provincial police commander as saying on Sunday.  

“The excavator(s) had escaped before the police forces reached the crime scene; however, the pursuit of looters is on the agenda till they are handed over to the judiciary for prosecution,” the police official said.

The pottery is estimated to date back to the first millennium BC, the official added.

The name Kordestan refers to the region’s principal inhabitants. After the Turkish invasion of Iran in the 11th century CE (Seljuq period), the name Kurdistan was applied to the region comprising the northwestern Zagros Mountains. It was during the reign of Abbas I the Great of Iran’s Safavid dynasty (1501–1736) that the Kurds rose to prominence, having been enlisted by Abbas I to help stem the attacks of the marauding Uzbeks from the east in the early 17th century.

AFM/