Among the significant findings at the newly discovered eastern cemetery of Qareh Tepe in Sagzabad are two horse burials, along with their associated funerary assemblages, designated as Contexts 12135 and 12048. The burials in Context 12135 consist of a human child, an immature goat, and a horse, accompanied by six pottery vessels, personal ornaments, and horse harness equipment. Context 12048 includes the remains of ten human individuals , remains of a horse and a sheep. The primary research questions were as follows: To what period do the burial assemblages of Contexts 12135 and 12048 belong, and with which regional burial traditions in Iran do they align? Furthermore, to which equid subspecies do the faunal remains from these contexts belong? Based on published excavation data, we hypothesized that this burial pattern dates to the late second millennium BCE and may be comparable to horse burials found in specific sites in Gilan, such as Keluraz, and in northwestern Iran, such as the Khorramabad cemetery in Meshkinshahr. Regarding the second question, based on epiphyseal fusion, morphology, and metric analysis of the faunal remains, both horses were determined to be adults. The remains from Context 12135 were identified as Caspian horse, while those from Context 12048 represent a different subspecies.

In this study, the findings from these contexts were first described and analyzed in relation to similar examples from adjacent sites. Subsequently, the faunal remains were compared with reference collections at the University of Tehran, confirming that the horse from Context 12135 belongs to the Caspian subspecies. Based on absolute dating samples from this cemetery and a comparative analysis of these two contexts with other Iron Age sites in the region, both contexts are dated to approximately the 11th century BCE. The burial patterns in these graves show significant similarities to those of horse burials observed at sites in Gilan, such as Keluraz, and in northwestern Iran, such as the Khorramabad cemetery in Meshkinshahr.