Saltman

The Saltman was discovered in Iran, in the Chehrabad salt mines located on the southern part of the Hamzehlu village, on the west side of the city of Zanjan, in the Zanjan Province. The head and left foot are currently on display in a glass case at the National Museum of Iran in Tehran.

Discovery

In the winter of 1993, miners came across a body with long hair, a beard and some artifacts. These included the remains of a body, a foreleg inside a leather boot, three iron knives, a woolen half trouser, a silver needle, a sling, parts of a leather rope, a grindstone, a walnut, some pottery shards, some designed textile fragments, and finally a few broken bones. The body had been buried in the middle of a tunnel of approximately 45 meters length.

Three other corpses, including a woman, were discovered later in the same salt mine.

Research

After archeological studies which included C14 dating of different samples of bones and textiles, the Salt Man was dated to about 1700 years ago. By testing a sample of hair, the blood group B+ was determined.

Wikinews has related news: Egyptian archaeologists announce discovery of marble statue and 132 new sites

Three dimensional pictures (scans) show the fractures around the eye and other damage that occurred before death as result of a hard blow. Visual characteristics presented long hair and beard and a golden earring on the left ear indicating that he was a person of rank or influence. The reason for his presence and death in the salt mine of Chehrabad remains a mystery.

Pictures

Head

Left foot

Sources

• Description of the exhibits, National Museum of Iran, Tehran.
• SALTMAN: Scientific Investigations carried out on Saltman Mummified Remains and its Artifacts (1st ed.). Tehran: Research Center for Conservation od Caltural Relics (RCCCR). 1998. ISBN 964-91875-1-0. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Salt men in Zanjan

• Payvand
• CHN
• Poundster