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Thursday,
04 January 2001
TEHRAN A delegation of experts from the Cultural
Heritage Organization Wednesday left here for
Islamabad to conduct studies on identification of
a mummy, reportedly of an Iranian princess, found
a few months ago in Pakistan.
The
mummy was recovered by Pakistani police from a
gang of smugglers in Baluchistan Province. The
smugglers had said they had found it in a ruined
house in the Kharan Valley and intended to
transfer it either to Europe or to the United
States. Later, the mummy was taken to Karachi and
placed in the National Museum. Immediately after
news of the discovery of the mummy, the Cultural
Heritage Organization in cooperation with the
Iranian Foreign Ministry initiated efforts to
bring back the mummy to the country. Restitution
of national cultural-historical objects smuggled
out of the country and confiscated by other
countries will be conducted through diplomatic
channels as stipulated by the 1970 UNESCO
convention. If it is proven by the Iranian expert
delegation that the mummy is of Iranian origin,
measures will to have it returned to the country.
Following
its discovery in October this year, the mummy was
already pronounced by a majority of archaeological
experts as being of Iranian origin. Lorenzo
Constantini, an Italian archaeologist who
researched for many years in Iran, said in
mid-November that the mummy is that of an Iranian
princess.
Constantini,
a professor at the University of Naples, told IRNA
in Rome that it belongs to an Iranian princess who
bore the name Rodomena and who died in the year
559 BCE. He said the princess belonged to the
Achaemenian royal dynasty. On her coffin is
inscribed the following words: "I am the
sister of Cyrus the great, king of Iran." The
Italian professor said the words left no doubt
that the mummy belongs to Iran with its ancient
history, adding that the coffin is made of a
certain type of glass and is decorated with pieces
of jewelry and ornaments that were in vogue during
the era that she lived. The Italian archaeologist
worked in the southeastern regions of Iran from
1972 to 1978.
Meanwhile,
Pakistani archaeologist Sheikh Khurshid Hassan
told the daily ****The News**** in late December,
"The engravings on the wooden box, containing
the mummy, depicting the figures of Ahura Mazda
and fire altars give an indication that the
deceased was a follower of Zoroaster."
In
ancient Iran, two ruling dynasties the
Achaemenians and the Sassanids were Zoroastrians.
Link
to: Saga
of the Persian Princes; A
Special Report by Kristin M. Romey & Mark Rose
Source:
(IRNA)
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