TEHRAN - A Sassanid-era rock carving estimated to be more than 1,500 years old has been discovered on the cliffs of Marvdasht in southern Iran’s Fars province, an Iranian historian said on Thursday.

Abolhassan Atabaki said the find is one of the smallest and most detailed known Sassanid carvings. It depicts a nobleman in what he described as a “needlepoint style” engraving.

“The newly found carving could change the stylistic categorisation of Sassanid rock art,” Atabaki said. “These needlepoint motifs are not limited to the early Sassanid rulers but also belong to the late Sassanid period, while still preserving the principles of composition and contrast.”

Atabaki said Marvdasht has been home to more than 50 historic finds from Elamite, Achaemenid and Sassanid civilizations, most of them inscriptions and rock carvings.

Najmeh Ebrahimi, a history researcher, said the carving shows a male figure in profile, measuring about 4 by 5 centimetres. She said the piece had suffered partial damage from a later Islamic-era carving but still showed details of an ornate necklace, flowing ribbons and elaborate dress.

 An exact sketch of a Sassanid-era rock carving of a ‘nobleman’ discovered in Fars province, southern Iran. 

“These elements suggest the figure belonged to a late Sassanid nobleman or cavalry officer in Estakhr and the wider Fars region,” Ebrahimi said.

Atabaki had earlier this year announced the discovery of another rare Sassanid inscription in Marvdasht condemning the breaking of promises. Last month, he reported finding what he called the world’s smallest known ancient inscription, a 1,600-year-old text from the same region.

The Sassanid Empire, which ruled Persia from 224 to 651 CE, is known for its art and architecture, with major sites including Bishapur, Naqsh-e Rostam and Naqsh-e Rajab in Fars province.

Under Sassanids, Persian art and architecture experienced a general renaissance. Architecture often took grandiose proportions, such as palaces at Ctesiphon, Firuzabad, and Sarvestan, which are amongst the highlights of the ensemble.

Crafts such as metalwork and gem engraving grew highly sophisticated, yet scholarship was encouraged by the state. In those years, works from both the East and West were translated into Pahlavi, the language of the Sassanians.

In 2018, UNESCO added an ensemble of Sassanian historical cities in southern Iran — titled “Sassanid Archaeological Landscape of Fars Region”-- to its World Heritage list.

AM