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Iran, Germany, and Britan to Decide on Fate of Salt Men The fourth Chehrabad salt manA fear for the future of Zanjan’s salt men and in an attempt to find the best approaches for preserving them, the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department of Zanjan province will organize a conference with attendance of Iranian, German, and British experts. Tehran, 23 July 2007 (CHN Foreign Desk) – In an international conference organized by the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Department of Zanjan province, the status of Iranian salt men and the existing problems on the way for preserving them will be discussed...

An remarkably well-preserved child's shoe from the Iron Age has been found in Austria.The discovery was made by archaeologists from the German Mining Museum in Bochum during excavations at Dürrnberg near Hallein, in an area that was mined for rock salt during the Iron Age...The entire shape of the shoe, as well as string used to fix it onto the child's foot, can still be seen.It is made of leather and is the equivalent of a child's 12.5 size shoe today...Shoes dating from the Iron Age have been found before but the child's shoe is of particular significance, the press...

Archaeologists conducting excavations in a prehistoric settlement in Ebreichsdorf, Austria, have discovered a golden sun bowl dating from 3,000 years ago.Excavations in Ebreichsdorf have been carried out since September 2019, where archaeologists found an ancient settlement dating from between 1300-1000 BC, which researchers associate with the urn field culture (related to the cremation type of funeral rites).The bowl was found close to the wall of a prehistoric house and is decorated with a sun motif depicting the rays of the sun. It is made of very thin sheet metal, consisting of approximately 90 percent gold, 5 percent silver, and 5...

This photo provided by Jack Griffith, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, shows Waste Isolation Pilot Plant staff member Sam Dominguez using a core drill to extract salt crystal samples from a salt wall at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. in December 2006. Griffith and his team found cellulose dating back 253 million years _ along with some possible ancient DNA _ in salt crystals from the underground nuclear waste dump. The crystals were taken from newly mined areas 2,000 feet below WIPP's desert surface last fall...

Salt men to undergo surgery TEHRAN, Oct. 27 (MNA) -- The Archaeology Research Center of Iran (ARCI) plans to conduct a series of surgical operations on the ancient salt men of Zanjan’s Chehrabad Salt Mine, the Persian service of CHN reported on Saturday. The project is being undertaken to complete archaeological studies and carry out other scientific research on the unique mummies, ARCI director Mohammad-Hassan Fazeli Nashli said. The operations will be performed on the salt men’s soft tissue and entrails, which have remained intact due to the high quality of the mummification, he added. The project will be carried...

Sixth Salt Man Discovered in Chehr-Abad Mine 04 June 2007 Chehr Abad Saltman No. 2. LONDON, (CAIS) -- The sixth salt man was discovered in Chehr-Ābād Mine in Zanjan City. It is likely that a large number of salt men were buried in Chehr-Ābād Salt Mine, said Farhang Farokhi head of Zanjan Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ZCHTO). Five previous discovered salt men are being kept in Washhouse Museum , he added. Based on previous reports, Chehr-Ābād Mine had been used from the Achaemenid dynastic era (550-330 BCE) up to the early of the Sassanid dynasty (224-651 CE). The...

British Experts Started Studies on Zanjan’s Salt Men in Iran Salt Man No. 1 found in Zanjan’s Chehr Abad salt mine in 1993 – Picture Courtesy of CAISTwo archeologists from universities of Oxford and York started their studies on the salt mummies found in western Iran. The salt men’s diet, health and age before death will particularly be studied by these experts. Tehran, 26 November 2006 (CHN Foreign Desk) -- After months of negotiations between Iran’s Archeology Research Center and the British universities of Oxford and York, a team consisting of two archeologists from these universities came to Iran to...

Oxford archaeologists want to join studies on Iran's salt men TEHRAN, Sept. 27 (Mehr News Agency) -- The director of an archaeological team working at the Chehrabad Salt Mine in the Hamzehlu region near Zanjan said that a group of Oxford University archaeologists is interested in participating in the study on the salt men found at the mine. "A group of Oxford University archaeologists has prepared a plan, asking to participate in the study, and the Center for Archaeological Research is investigating the plan," Abolfazl Aali told the Persian service of CHN on Wednesday "The archaeologists will be invited to...

German Archeologists to Excavate Salt Men's Burial Ground in Iran Jun 20, 2006 Following the visit of two Iranian archeologists to Germany and Austria, the condition for a joint cooperation between Iranian and German archeologists was prepared and a team of archeologists of Bochum Mining Museum of Germany is to come to Iran to carry out excavations in Chehr Abad historical salt mine, the burial ground of the discovered famous salt men in Zanjan province. After signing a memorandum of understanding between Iran's Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) and Germany's Bochum Mining Museum and defining the budget for this...

New studies show Fourth Salt Man is 2000 years old TEHRAN, Dec. 23 (MNA) -- The most recent studies on the Fourth Salt Man indicate that the body is 2000 years old, the director of the Chehrabad Studies Center announced on Friday. Recent radiography and CAT scans of the body indicate that the Fourth Salt Man was 15 or 16 years old at the time of death, Abolfazl Ali added. Discovered in the Hamzehlu Salt Mine in early March 2005, the Fourth Salt Man is the most intact of the “salt men” discovered in the mine, which is located near...

In medieval times, when salt was precious, the mine brought great wealth to Poland. Over the centuries, the men who mined it filled it with religious and historical sculptures and underground chapels alongside their workshops. Older miners taught younger ones how to carve in salt. In modern times, mine officials invited artists to create other sculptures in the mine's passageways.Chapel of St. Kinga in the Wieliczka Salt Mine in Poland Screenshot from Google Street View

Ethiopian salt miners brave 140 degree Fahrenheit temperatures while working on the hottest place in earth earning on average £5-a-day. The salt mines, situated in the Afar triangle, stretch across 60,000 square miles and at their lowest point are more than 300 feet below sea level. Professional travel photographer and videographer Joel Santos travelled to the area to capture the dry beauty of this brutal expanse of land.

All mines need regular reinforcement against collapse, and Hallstatt, the world's oldest salt mine perched in the Austrian Alps, is no exception. But Hallstatt isn't like other mines. Exploited for 7,000 years, the mine has yielded not only a steady supply of salt but also archaeological discoveries attesting to the existence of a rich civilisation dating back to the early part of the first millennium BC. So far less than two percent of the prehistoric tunnel network is thought to have been explored, with the new round of reinforcement work, which began this month, protecting the dig's achievements, according to...

MOUNT SODOM, ISRAEL — Israeli researchers said Thursday they have surveyed what they now believe to be the world’s longest salt cave, a network of twisting passageways at the southern tip of the Dead Sea. A recently completed survey of the Malham Cave determined the labyrinthine cavern stretches more than 6 miles in length. That puts it well ahead of Iran’s Namakdan Cave, previously thought to be the longest salt cave. **SNIP** The Malham Cave’s main outlet yawns not far from a salt pillar named “Lot’s wife,” after the biblical character who was petrified for looking back at the destruction...

The boss of the feared Russian Wagner mercenary group has gloated to Ukraine by posing in a salt mine in a key battleground. Yevgeny Prigozhin stood defiantly alongside Vladimir Putin's private paramilitary fighters in the Soledar pit as he claimed his mercenaries have single-handedly taken control of the eastern Ukraine town, which has been razed by brutal fighting. However, the claim prompted the Russian army to issue a statement saying fighting for the town is still on-going, thus denying Prigozhin's brazen claim. The unusual contradiction from Moscow raises questions over whether the Russian president has lost control of the Wagner...

Several thousand years ago, an Iron Age salt miner took a dump in what is now the Hallstatt-Dachstein/Salzkammergut area of Austria. In all likelihood, the pooper never gave their little deposit a second thought, and would be rather surprised to learn that it has now become a scientific artifact, enabling researchers to discover that Europeans ate blue cheese and drank beer 2,700 years ago. Reporting the ancient excrement in the journal Current Biology, the study authors reveal that the paleofeces has remained preserved in the region’s prehistoric salt mines over the past few millennia. Using a range of analytical techniques,...

Down, down, down. In three minutes, the skip drops nearly 1,700 feet below Cleveland. Then the giant metal door swings open, and you’re deposited in an other-world, with walls, ceiling and floor made of salt. Dirty brown salt at the Cargill mine’s entrance, where the rock has absorbed diesel fumes and dust for more than 60 years. Pristine white, with glimmering flecks, at the mine’s far reaches, 3 miles north, under Lake Erie. “I look out at the water, and it’s like, man, we’re under that!” said Cargill employee Cachet Hilton, 45. Every day, the 5-mile wide mine gets a...

Two employees are still unaccounted for at the Cargill Salt Mine at Avery Island after a roof collapse in the mine early Monday morning. The facility has been shut down while rescue operations and an investigation into the incident are underway. According to a statement from the company, local rescue workers and members of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration are on site. There were 18 employees on shift at the time of the collapse. The other 16 employees have been evacuated without any reported injuries.