Iran's 'salt mummies' first discovered in the Chehr Abad salt mine more than a decade ago have have now been removed from display at the Rakhtshur Khaneh Museum in Iran's northwest province of Zanjan.

The exhibit offered visitors their first glimpse at three of the rare mummies, which have been stored away for research since the first mummy was unearthed in 1993.

Archeologists found five mummies at the mine site and referred to them as the 'salt men' of Chehr Abad.

The mummies were formed as a result of the naturally occurring but rare environmental conditions found in the salt mine.

Analysis revealed that two of the salt men lived in the Sassanid era (226 BC - 651 AD), while the other three may have lived as long ago as the Achaemenid period some 500 years earlier.

Scientists predict that more salt mummies could still be uncovered in Chehr Abad and that the archeological potential of this site is far from exhausted.