A team of archaeologists from Iran's Research Institute for Cultural Heritage and Tourism has been carrying out extensive research in the Kavousiyeh hills in Tehran's suburbs. The area had not previously been investigated to any great degree, but has now been yielding up a plethora of Bronze Age and Iron Age artefacts.
     Tehran had remained a relatively small settlement until the late 18th century, when it was chosen to be the capital city. More recent expansion had started to threaten rare archaeological sites, including this one.
     The leader of the team, Maryam Molaei is quoted as saying "Kavousiyeh hills site has been added to the list of prehistoric sites with settlement during a research investigating land downdraft in Tehran; since then no serious archaeological investigation addressed the hills, effectively putting into abeyance valuable information imbedded in the hills strata. Our present research addresses this lack".
     She went on to say "In investigation of Kavousiyeh hills modern cutting-edge technology of drone-aided imaging robot has been used; aerial photogrammetry helped also preparation of a highly precise topographic map of the hills; we currently hope to see further investigation which would address the exact area of the settled hills during prehistory and draft a set of regulations to prevent the delimitation of the hills".

Edited from IRNA (11 January 2016)