Mamatin Tar Springs

Mamatin Tar Springs Springs look like no water spring because it is tar that pours out of them. Tar has been pouring from them for many years. The local people consider them very important and there are many stories and legends told about them. According to one of them, after Esfandiyar, a legendary Iranian hero killed the dragon and saved his sister, its blood poured out of this land and flow on the ground.

There are about ten kiln-like springs that have materials such as rocks and Sarooj mortar and are located around a small gully. The tars pour out of the springs along with oil, and water. The water flows and joins Ramhormoz River. Once it reaches the agricultural fields, there is very little tar and oil in it. Surprisingly, fish are living in the yellow and oily water of the river.

Ramhormoz is a historical city. It was habitable during the Achaemenid dynasty. A filtering house was built there to harvest pure tar. This tar was used in engravings and waterproofing the clay pots. The experts have also found utensils made of tar in Choghamish that belong to four thousand years B.C. and prove that tar was used in parts of the Elamite buildings, too.

Ramhormoz is one hundred and twenty-seven kilometers of Ahvaz. After reaching Mamatin Village, you should travel for nine kilometers to reach Mamatin Springs, where oil and tar flow on the ground. After visiting them, you can return to the village and visit the workshops, conference room, resting areas, church, sports field and guarding tower. They were built by the English architects, who traveled there with the hope of finding oil, especially after finding the other wondrous feature of this region, Tashkuh. Tashkuh, literally meaning fiery mountain, is seventeen kilometers of the tar springs. There are everlasting fires on this mountain that are burning next to each other like flower bouquets. This phenomenon is created by the natural gas that is mixed with sulfur once it reaches the surface. The view of the burning flames in the night is visionary.
Mamatin Tar Spring site has been registered as a national heritage of Iran.