Excavation sheds new light on mysterious capital of Medes in Ecbatana

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Archaeologists have unearthed new cultural relics and architectural vestiges that sheds a new light on the mysterious capital of Medes, which is widely believed to be in Ecbatana, an ancient city on the site of which stands the modern city of Hamadan in west-central Iran.

Ecbatana was subsequently the summer residence of the Achaemenian kings and one of the residences of the Parthian kings. According to ancient Greek writers, the city was founded in about 678 BC by Deioces, who was the first king of the Medes.

The 70-day archaeological season came to an end late in June aimed at exploring and re-examining the stratigraphy of the hill, to shed a new light on its lowest layers which are deemed to be related to the [early] settlement on Hegmataneh hill and the foundation of its [ruined] fortress and towers, the archaeologist explained.

“We focused on exploring a place in front of the current and temporary Hegmataneh Museum, where French experts had opened a workshop in 1913, known as the Chaal Shotor (“Camel's Hole”), we carved three trenches measuring 2.5 by 2.5 meters….  and at a depth of 320 cm, we found the remains of a stone wall.”

“We realized that this wall appeared about four meters lower than the architectural relics that [Iranian architects] Dr. M.R. Sarraf and Dr. Masoud Azarnoush had excavated in Hegmataneh in previous archaeological seasons,” he said.

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