Salt mummies from Zanjan

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Salt mummy 4

The Zanjan Salt Mummies are a group of natural mummies from the Chehrabad Salt Mine in northwestern Iran . The salt mummies come from antiquity / late antiquity . Such mummies are sometimes as Saltmen ( Salt Men , Persian: Mardan-e Namaki ) referred to, but what is misleading as there are among these mummies also a woman and a teenager.

The salt men of Zanjan are the only preserved salt mummies in the world.

Discovery and research

The Chehrabad Salt Mine is located right by the village of Hamzehlu in the province of Zanjan . Here lies a tectonically still active salt dome that can be mined close to the day. The rock salt trains are embedded in an unstable mixture of clay and plaster. In 1993, the first mummy was discovered by chance along with some tools and textiles while excavating. As of 2004, the remains of seven other miners were found. Commercial rock salt mining was discontinued in 2008 in favor of archaeological research.

The prehistoric mine was examined in two excavations from 2009 to 2011 and 2015 to 2018. One of the mummies was left in situ . The spectrum of finds includes numerous textiles that have been very well preserved in the salt, as well as tools and personal belongings - not only from those who died in the accident, but also from other miners. An international team of experts worked on the findings together with the Iranian antiquities administration, financially supported by the German Research Foundation . Project manager was Thomas Stöllner ( Ruhr University Bochum and German Mining Museum Bochum ). Were involved:

The Zanjan salt mummies are the first salt mummies that can be scientifically examined. The bodies had shrunk slightly in the salt, but the internal organs were preserved. Three salt mummies from the Austrian mines in Hallstatt and Hallein are known in Europe from the past , but none of them has survived. A conservation concept for the Zanjan mummies therefore had to be worked out first.

With the support of the Gerda Henkel Foundation , the sensitive organic materials are presented to the public in a permanent exhibition in the Zolfaghari Museum in Zandschan. From March 24, 2020, parts of the finds should be in the exhibition »Death in Salt. An archaeological investigation in Persia «will be presented in the Archaeological Museum in Frankfurt, it had to be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic and the aggravated political situation in the Middle East since the beginning of 2020.

The two best-preserved mummies from Zanjan

Head of the Salt Mummy 1

Salt mummy 1

This mummy was discovered first and during the ongoing salt mining; only parts of it have survived. The dead man was about 35 years old, bearded and long-haired. His head and a leather boot including foot and calf were transferred to the Tehran National Museum. Another item of clothing was light-colored wool trousers. The miner wore a gold earring and had a silver needle and three iron knives. Salt mummy 1 is dated to the Sassanid period (600 AD).

Salt mummy 4

The best preserved, almost intact mummy is an approximately 16-year-old miner. Salt mummy 4 is much older than salt mummy 1 and dates from the Achaemenid period (400 BC). The hands are brought in a protective movement in front of the head, the left knee is drawn towards the upper body. During the reconstruction, it was possible to identify the blocks of salt from the ceiling that hit the teenager with force on the head and crushed his upper body. 3-D scans of the salt mummy 4 were able to show the fractures in the skull and in the chest as well as the injuries to the internal organs. Histological findings show that the young person ate predominantly fish and seafood. He came from Central Asia or the Caspian Sea area , and that would suggest that mining was done by specialized migrant workers in the Achaemenid period. The clothing is comparable to the traditional costume on reliefs in Persepolis : leg warmers , quilted knee-length tunic with sleeves. The young miner wore earrings, had a dagger and two oil lamps.

Research Returns

The ancient salt mining in Chehrabad took place in three phases: in the Achaemenid , Sassanid and Islamic times. A series of tunnels caved in resulted in salt mining around 400 BC. Was abandoned. Three mummies were assigned to these mining accidents with the C14 dating . A layer of straw and dung on the rock that collapsed in the Achaemenid period shows that mining resumed in the 5th century AD. The technique used was chamber construction ; they worked with metal hoes and hoes. The carpentry (expansion with wood) was apparently not known.

The miners, whose bodies were preserved in the salt, came not only from the surrounding area (Tehran-Qazvin plateau), but also from the steppe areas in northwestern Iran and the coast of the Caspian Sea. Animal bones show that sheep and goat meat played an important role in underground nutrition. Archaeobotanical studies showed that differentiated agriculture was practiced in the vicinity of the mine and that deforestation was not yet very advanced. The numerous textile finds made it possible to record the living and working conditions at that time, as well as the changing clothing styles and weaving techniques as well as the various fibers and dyeing techniques. The miners were well equipped, they wore functional clothing. The basic functional equipment included a kind of knife and a small container for hand protection paste, which was also found on the finger of a saltman.

The researchers discovered tapeworm eggs in a mummy; This is the earliest evidence of intestinal parasites in ancient Iran and also proof that people ate raw or undercooked meat back then.

Mining was organized differently in the Achaemenid and Sassanid periods. During the Sassanid period, the miners came from the surrounding area, which was then used intensively for agriculture at the confluence of three rivers. More granular salt was mined, which was used as a condiment by the inhabitants of nearby villages. The miners, in turn, could buy fruit and vegetables from the region. Archaeologists found stalks of grapes in the salt; Cotton fabrics and stables were also found in the mine.

While in the Sassanid period the miners apparently came from the region and their supplies also took place locally, the Achaemenid miners came from more distant areas. They worked on behalf of wealthy rulers from central Iran and unearthed large lumps of salt for cross-regional trade. The salt was pure and tasty and was considered to be particularly valuable. The numerous ceramic finds from this period indicate that they brought food with them from greater distances.

Web links

Commons : Salt Mummies of Zanjan  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Videos

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Salt Men. In: Must See Persia. February 26, 2017, accessed June 27, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b c The Salt Men of Zanjan: International Chehrabad Saltmummy & Saltmine Exploration Project. German Mining Museum Bochum , 2016, accessed on June 27, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Abolfazl Aali, Aydin Abar, Nicole Boenke, Mark Pollard, Frank Rühli, Thomas Stöllner: Ancient salt mining and salt men: the interdisciplinary Chehrabad Douzlakh project in north-western Iran. In: Antiquity Journal 333/86. September 2012, accessed August 18, 2018 .
  4. ↑ International research on conservation measures on salt mummy finds in the workshops of the RGZM
  5. ↑ The Salt Men . In: The Bund . ISSN  0774-6156 ( derbund.ch [accessed on March 29, 2020]).
  6. ↑ Preserved in salt for more than 2,000 years (archaeologie-online.de of October 20, 2018)
  7. ^ A b Marita Fuchs: Iranian salt mummies: Persischer Ötzi. In: UZH News . November 6, 2011, accessed June 27, 2018 .

Coordinates: 36 ° 52 ′ 39 ″  N , 47 ° 52 ′ 18 ″  E