Textiles from Douzlakh Salt Mine at Chehr Abad, Iran: A Technical and Contextual Study of Late pre-Islamic Iranian Textiles

The Douzlakh salt mine at Chehr Abad, Zanjan Province, Iran has provided a rare organic preservation of human remains, and associated cloth and clothing. This textile evidence offers a window into a poorly known but pivotal era of textile history. Moreover, the context is of accidental burial of miners at work, rather than deliberate burial of elites. At least six bodies have been recovered, one of which was very well preserved, being fully clothed and carrying items of personal equipment. This paper is a summary of preliminary findings on the textile assemblage.