Local farmers working in the Kovar region near Shiraz in Fars Province (Iran) recently discovered fragments of ancient stones buried under the ground.
The artifacts date back to the Achaemenid era (about 550-331 BCE) and are probably parts of a monument.
     According to Ali Hashemi, the director of the Association of Pars Enthusiasts, experts of the group rushed to the region as soon as they heard about the discovery.
Many important finds from the Achaemenid and Sassanid eras have been made in the region. Azizollah Rezai, an expert of the Fars Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department, also said that no archaeological excavation has yet been carried out at the site, but the patterns on the stones show that they belong to the Achaemenid era. "In order to protect the stones, they are now being covered with earth and we asked the police to guard them until the beginning of the excavation stage in the region,” he noted.

Source: CHN News (26 February 2005)