Leather artifacts from the “Salt Men of the Chehrabad Mine in Zanjan,” known as one of the oldest of these objects discovered during archeological excavations in Iran, were preserved, restored, and recovered.
According to ISNA, citing the public relations of the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Research Institute, Narges Afzalipour, head of the conservation and restoration project of the collection of leather and woodworks obtained from the excavations of Chehrabad mine in Zanjan, stated that according to the international dimensions and importance of this project. The preservation and restoration of this collection were done carefully and based on the results of up-to-date research studies, stated: These artifacts of this collection are the oldest objects found during archeological excavations in Iran.
She pointed out the prominent objects of this collection are leather bags and furs related to the Sassanid period and Achaemenid shoes.
She stated that in 2020, the cooperation of the Department of Protection and Restoration of Leather Works with the project of human remains of Zanjan Salt Men included two phases. The first phase was carried out in the National Museum on the protection of Salt Man’s skin boots No. 1. In the second stage, which was carried out at the Zolfaghari Museum in Zanjan, the skin remains of Salt Man No. 5, the skin, shoes, and sheath of the skin sword belonging to Salt Man No. 4, and some skin left by Salt Man No. 3 were cleaned, protected and repaired.
History of cooperation of the leather protection and restoration department of this research institute with the international project of Zanjan Salt Men, initially to perform emergency protection on a leather glove in Zolfaghari Museum in Zanjan in 2017 and cooperation with the Archaeological Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the protection and restoration department of the Central Roman Museum. German Mainz was in Germany in 2009.