Tehran Times: Relics including seals, which have newly been unearthed in southeastern Kerman province, suggest that an administrative system practiced some 6000 years ago in the country.

“Evidence such as seals and other relics came to light from [recent] archaeological excavations in Tom Gavan [a village in Jiroft county of Kerman province] has proved an administrative management system was existed in the south of Kerman [province] at least 6,000 years ago,” IRNA quoted provincial tourism chief Fereydoun Fa’ali as saying on Wednesday.

“Based on evidence from Tom Gavan (excavations), this site was once an important pottery-making center near the Halil River,” the official stated.

Fa’ali said this archeological season took two months to be finalized, adding “Listed on the National Cultural Heritage list, the ancient hill of Tom Gavan embraces three important cultural periods; the Chalcolithic; the Bronze Age, as well as Achaemenid and Parthian periods.”

The archaeological season, the first on Tom Gavan, was held in close collaboration between the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage & Tourism, he said.

Jiroft is one of the richest historical areas in the world, with ruins and artifacts dating back to the third millennium BC. Many Iranian and foreign experts see the findings in Jiroft as signs of a civilization as great as Sumer and ancient Mesopotamia.