Archaeologists unearth a Parthian Period Building in Lower Persian Gulf

Wednesday 21 February 2001

A team of French archaeologists has excavated a large square building in Melieha in what is today new country of Sharjah dating back to the second century AD. The fort consisted of 35 small rooms and measured 3,900 square meters and it housed a large number of artifacts including jars, ceramic items, glass pieces, bronze and iron products, in addition to pottery which had been imported from mainland Iran (including modern Iraq) Egypt and India. However during a presentation of at the Sharjah Archaeology Museum Anne Benoist, the team's field operation director, fabricated the historical accounts and claimed that fort was of Ancient Sharjah!

Some items had been burned, indicating that the building may have been destroyed by fire, forcing the inhabitants to leave in a hurry. Whether this was indeed the cause of the sudden departure, archaeologists believe something dramatic happened. "The fort was probably owned by some elite political figure as we have also discovered coins and signs of coin-making equipment."

Most of Lower Persian Gulf territories have remained Iranian until the occupation of Iran by Arabs in 7th century.  The last Iranian Province, in Lower Persian Gulf that separated from Iran in early 1970s, was the Mishmâhigân Islands (now days Bahrain).

Source: Tehran Time