The head of Iran's Archeological Research Center says the sixth "salt man" discovered in western province of Zanjan should be left buried.

“Soil is the best environment to preserve ancient remains," Hassan Fazeli Nashli was quoted by the CHN news agency as saying.

He argued that there is no guarantee that the body would be preserved after it is unearthed.

“It's a wrong belief to think that we have to unearth everything which has been discovered. There have been five other salt men already found in Chehr-Abad salt mine and they are enough to provide researchers with valuable information," he added.

According to Fazeli Nashli, it would be better to deposit some discovered historical items under soil, which has been proven to be the best safe keeper for historical relics.

The remains were partially uncovered by a rivulet created by rainfall in early June. The archeologists blocked the rivulet and covered the body as well as the trench then.

It seems that the sixth salt man, like the first and second ones, dates back to either the Parthian (247 BC-224 AD) or the Sassanid (224-651 AD) eras.

The other salt men date back to Achaemenid Dynasty (550-330 BC).

Recently, a team of British experts has started taking DNA samples from the salt men.

NO/RE