TEHRAN - Iranian authorities have recently arrested seven unauthorized excavators and antique smugglers in Selseleh county, the western province of Lorestan, CHTN reported on Sunday. 

The accused people were traced and finally detained while digging for antiquities in a mountainous area north of the county, said Mohammadreza Moradian, a senior police official in charge of protecting cultural heritage.

They were surrendered to the judicial system for further investigation, the official added.

Lorestan is a region of raw beauty that an avid nature lover could spend weeks exploring. The region was inhabited by Iranian Indo-European peoples, including the Medes, c. 1000 BC. Cimmerians and Scythians intermittently ruled the region from about 700 to 625 BC.

The Luristan Bronzes noted for their eclectic array of Assyrian, Babylonian, and Iranian artistic motifs, date from this turbulent period. Lorestan was incorporated into the growing Achaemenid Empire in about 540 BC and successively was part of the Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanid dynasties.

ABU/AFM