Financial Tribune - Archeologists in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan have discovered an ancient cemetery in Dombkouh archeological site.

According to a report available on the website of the Research Institute for Cultural Heritage and Tourism, the cemetery, whose graves are scattered across the 430-hectare site, is home to over 5,000 stone graves. Some contain remains belonging to two and three people.

Found in uncommon shapes (cube, square, circle), the gravestones are categorized in nine groups based on their forms.

What has researchers excited is that "a number of graves date back to the third millennium BC, while the ruins are linked to the Parthian Empire (247 BC�224 AD)", said Morteza Hessari, an archeologist with the research team.