Those who had stoned

Yari, is a touristic and historical town located in Meshkin Shahr. In this place you can find many stone towers that locals believe some days were human.
Here is the town of stone towers. Some locals believe that stones were human and by thunder turned into stones.
According to researchers, in past these stone towers were symbolic gods .people used to worship them, as people presented foods for gifts to them to answer their prayers, so some of them are named votive gods. Now, thousands years has passed and stone towers in ancient local (Yari town) of Meshkin Shar in Ardebil have destroyed by whether. In addition to stone towers, this ancient local has one temple, ancient sepulcher, caves and ….
The town located along the southwest of Qare Sou in 35 Kilometer distance from Meshkin Shahr and 60 kilometer from Ardebil. For achieving the place, you should pass Pirazmian villages. In ancient site, the first thing that attract you is a residential castle with rocky architecture located on rocks with a defense wall which its gate located in south of Yari site. But the castle is not the only point of interest in the area. As you enter the ancient site of Yari, you can see a temple called Oushaqlari School (children school) and in past, people used it for holding ceremonies and funeral. The other attractive features in Yari are rocky tombs around the area. The site is famous for its stone towers that someday were gods of people. From discoveries in this area by Charles Burney" who by accompany of a group came to Iran in 1978 to identify and evaluate the site, they found that history of Yari is from the third millennium BC, the Bronze and Iron Age period.

Wonders of Yai

As Yari is one of the most interesting areas of Ardebil, The Administration of Cultural Heritage in 2002 after some investigations registered the site in inventory of national monuments. Archaeologists investigated the ancient zone in 2002, 2003 and 2004 in three seasons. Babak Naseri Moghanloo, is one of the archaeologists participated in third course of investigations. He said: “locals believe that stone towers were human and after thunder turned into stones, maybe, because the position and shape of stone towers resemble image of a man.” According to him, the stone towers arranged according to astronomical rules. For example, people could predict the season of agriculture based on the position they located. Stone towers are in two temples in Yari’s castle. The ridge paintings on stones are men with and without sword. There are about 400 stone towers in the site.

From Estelle to iron bodkin and bronze mirror

The ridge paintings on stones are men with and without sword. some paintings on stone towers are with sword, whip and belt and others without sword with hands in 90° or hands in their hair. Some paintings are with two swords without mouth and with deep and snob eyes. The heights of stone towers are 50 to 360 cm which shows the art of locals who invented creations by new equipment in Iron Age. Most of the stone towers are mineral stones and you can see the minerals on it clearly.
Most of the stone towers have mineral ingredients you can see clearly on stone. According to experts, this kind of stone has less resistance against whether, so by time, gradually have destroyed and are in danger of falling. Also, some of these stone towers has cracked and broken and lost their initial and ancient forms. On the other hand, some of these stone towers had covered by a white layer of salt on some parts of paintings.
By visiting the site, you will find that ignoring and neglect the site and stone towers which are known to sculpt steel, will cause eliminating the identity of the ancient Yeri in near future.
Some of discovered things in site include: Cup, comb water, metal objects like gold pendants, iron and bronze daggers, bronze mirrors, instruments of war such as arrows, daggers, bronze bayonets and etc.
From discovered objects and instruments, it is obvious that the history of rural in site is 6 thousands years before Christ.