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Tehran Times A team of Iranian archaeologists has recently carried out excavations at the Ramhormoz Plain in Iran' s southern province of Khuzestan. The team led by Loqman Ahmadzadeh has been assigned to conduct a series of rescue excavations at the ancient region, which is being threatened by agricultural operations, construction projects and smugglers, the Persian service of CHN reported on Saturday. The excavations carried out on the eastern side of the A' la River resulted in discovery of several sites dating back from 5400 years ago to the early Islamic periods. The team also has excavated the mounds located in the eastern Ramhormoz Plain, which are a part of the Mahmaei winter grasslands of the nomads living in the region, Ahmadzadeh said. The studies on the mounds were conducted to determine the nature of the ancient sites discovered in the region and their connections with each other, he added. We also planned to study the geographical distribution of the pottery during the early Elamite period (c.3000-2600 BC), he stated. Several sites were discovered during this phase of our studies and we identified close similarities between them and the modern nomadic residential areas in the region, Ahmadzadeh explained. The team has found evidence of habitation by ancient nomads as well as a cemetery, which indicates that the nomadic lifestyle in the region has developed over the millennia, he noted. Road and dam construction projects as well as farming are threatening the ancient sites. In addition, the sites have frequently been damaged over the past four years by smugglers searching for ancient artifacts. The most recent in-depth studies at the Ramhormoz Plain date back to 1968 when American archaeologists Henry T. Wright and Elizabeth F. Carter conducted excavations in the western side of the plain, which was first excavated by another American archaeologist Donald E. McCown in 1948.
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