Discovery of 12 Forges in Lengeh Port

Tehran, 3 May 2006 (CHN) -- Archaeological excavations in Lengeh Port in Hormozgan province led to the discovery of 12 forges similar to those which had already been discovered in Iran’s Central Plateau especially in Kerman and Yazd provinces. The discovered forges in the Central Plateau belong to the third to first millennium BC and the beginning of urbanization. However, so far archaeologists have not been successful in determining the exact age of these new discovered ones. Considering that urbanization started from the third millennium BC in Kerman province, archaeologists are hoping to trace the starting point of urbanization in Lengeh as well, said Davud Abian, head of archaeology excavation team in Lengeh Port.
Based on the archaeological studies, during the third millennium BC when urbanization gradually came into existence in the Central Plateau of Iran, the civilization of Halil Rud was spread to Kahnouj and Jazmourian regions. On the other hand, the culture of Hirmand civilization was stretched between Zabul in Sistan va Baluchistan province and Kabul in Afghanistan and continued to Sind River in Pakistan. Also from the west side, the Burnt City was somehow connected through Jiroft’s civilization to the civilizations formed in Khuzestan, Mesopotamia, and regions of West Asia .
Now with this new discovery in Lengh Port, archaeologists believe that evidence of Halil Rud civilization in Jiroft can be traced in Lengeh Port and this way the lost chain of the relations between the civilizations of the southeast with those of the west of Iran would be found. Considering the importance of shipping during the Achaemenid era, archaeologists are looking to find traces of the Achaemenid and Sassanid cultures in Lengeh Port.
Bandar-e-Lengeh (Lengeh port) coastal zone is part of the Persian Gulf and is located about 220 kilometers west of Bandar Abbas in Hormozgan province, southern Iran.