7,000-year-old village discovered in Iran’s Dehdasht

TEHRAN, Iran (MNTV) — Archaeologists have uncovered a 7,000-year-old prehistoric village beneath the historic city of Dehdasht in southwestern Iran, revealing one of the region’s earliest known settlements and offering fresh insight into ancient urban development, state media reported.

The discovery was made during the first archaeological excavations conducted in Beladshapur, according to project director Zabihollah Masoudinia, Mehr News Agency said Saturday.

Masoudinia said test trenches uncovered cultural layers dating to the fifth and sixth millennia BCE. Upper layers contained remains from medieval and late Islamic periods, but once removed, they revealed “astonishing prehistoric layers” preserved for thousands of years.

He said the discovery could significantly raise Dehdasht’s archaeological profile. Architectural remnants from later Islamic periods were visible at the surface, while deeper layers yielded pottery shards and cultural artifacts from the Neolithic era.

One notable find included fragments of heated stones believed to have been used to warm liquids — such as water or milk — by placing the hot stones into containers, a technique considered advanced for its time.

Masoudinia noted that a historic mound visible in 1956 aerial photographs near the Dehdasht Caravanserai had been mostly destroyed by urban development. Despite this, evidence of the ancient settlement was successfully recovered.

Excavations also revealed parts of a qanat — an ancient underground water channel — in the northern section of the city, helping archaeologists map the larger layout of the prehistoric village. He said many of today’s streets, houses and alleys appear to have been constructed directly atop the ancient mound.