Chehrabad Salt Mine

The Chehrabad salt mine lies in the hills west of the city of Zanjan, near the village of Hamzehlu. Salt has been dug here since antiquity, and in 1993 miners working the deposit uncovered something no one expected: the body of a man, his head, long hair and beard still preserved by the salt, together with a leather boot, iron knives and other belongings. He became known as the first of the Saltmen of Iran.

Over the following years, more remains were found in the mine, so that at least six individuals are now known. Investigations by Iranian archaeologists, working with German colleagues from the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum in Bochum and other institutions, have shown that the bodies belong to different periods. Some date to the Achaemenid era, around the fifth century BCE; others, including the first Saltman, to the Sasanian era, many centuries later. Several appear to have been miners killed when parts of the mine collapsed.

Because salt dries and protects organic matter, the mine has preserved things that rarely survive elsewhere: clothing of wool and leather, tools, food remains, even the contents of the miners' stomachs. Together they offer an unusually close view of how ordinary working people lived, dressed and laboured in ancient Iran, rather than the kings and nobles who dominate most of the record.

The head and boot of the first Saltman are displayed in the National Museum of Iran in Tehran, and others are shown in the archaeology museum in Zanjan. The mine itself is not a visitor site, and research there continues.