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Edited by Shapour Suren-Pahlav
At
least five dams in advanced stages of construction and as
many as 80 others in the planning stage threaten important
pre-Islamic
Iranian archaeological sites.
The Art Newspaper said Tuesday among sites threatened are
those of the ancient city of Izeh and the first Achaemenid
capital, the Pasargadae.
The publication said that the Iran Cultural Heritage
Organization (ICHTO) has made desperate attempts to mount salvage
operations at the major sites but has been obstructed by
the Islamic regime's Energy Ministry. With little time to survey
the sites, it is possible that the true extent of what
will be submerged by reservoirs behind the dams will ever
be known, it was reported.
An ICHTO salvage team was recently given a single month to
survey the Karun River valley near Izeh and found that 18
sites from the Epipaleolithic period (20,000 to 10,000
B.C.), including 13 caves and rock shelters that served as
cradles of human civilization, are threatened by
inundation. The Pasargadae site, residence of the Father
of Iranian Nation, Cyrus the Great (r. 559-529 B.C.), will be buried under
mud when the Polvar River's Sivand Dam is completed next
March.
Faramarz Khoshab, president of Izeh's Cultural Heritage Association,
was quoted as saying foreign aid for the survey project
had failed to materialize and looting is already a problem
at many of the sites.
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