|
CAIS
The
Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies
[
Home ]
[
About CAIS ]
[
Articles ]
[
Daily News ]
[
News Archive ]
[
Announcements
]
[ CAIS
Seminars ]
[ Image
Library ]
[
Copyright ]
[
Disclaimer ]
[
Submission ]
[
Search ]
[
Contact Us ]
[
Links ]
| |
|
.
|
|
CAIS ARCHAEOLOGICAL
& CULTURAL NEWS©
|
|
Deciphering
Jiroft Scripture Estimated to Take 40 Years
|
|
News
Category:
Prehistory
|
|
03
April 2004
|
|
An inscription found in the historical Jiroft
area will be made available to international experts for
deciphering. It is believed to have been invented some 2500 to
3000 years B.C. when alphabets were used in Mesopotamia.
Written on a 2x3 cm seal in horizontal and vertical lines, the
scripture was discovered by Holly Pittman, a University of
Pennsylvania art professor and archeologist Akram Qolami last
February.
Head of the Jiroft explorations team Dr Yousef Majidzadeh noted
the scripture would be presented to prominent world experts in
Sorbonne, University of Pennsylvania, Chicago, Harvard and other
prestigious higher education centers worldwide.
Stressing the fact that the scripture was a totally new one
unaffected by others, Majidzadeh predicted it would about 40
years to decipher it, given its novelty.
“This is the first time writing works are discovered in
eastern Iran and since it is believed to have been in use at the
same that Mesopotamia is credited with forging alphabet, it
could indicate Mesopotamia had not been the first cradle of
human civilization and other civilizations have been booming at
the time,” Majidzadeh said.
Experts maintain the existence of alphabet in a region is an
indication of a flourishing civilization which could shed light
on administrative, political, social and cultural structures.
Dr Pitman noted the discovered alphabet bore no resemblance to
any other known scriptures. “It suggests we are dealing with a
civilization which could rub shoulder with the first human
civilization in summer,” he added.
The historical Jiroft area is located near the town of Jiroft in
the southeastern Kerman province. Assumed to date back to three
millennia B.C., it is among the richest historical heritage
site, with more than 100 sites pinpointed along the 400 km
Halilrud river.
Many renowned archaeologists believe what has so far been found
in Jiroft suggest human settlement in an area as wide as
Mesopotamia and summer in today’s Iraq. Majidzadeh says Jiroft
is the historical city of Art, mentioned as a great civilization
in a clay tablet found in Iraq.
In addition to the scripture, international archaeologists managed to find world’s largest ziggurat. Believed to be built
around 2300 B.C., some four million mud bricks have been used in
its construction.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
"History
is the Light on the Path to Future"
|
|
Encyclopaedia
Iranica
The
British Institute of Persian Studies
"Persepolis
Reconstructed"
The
British Museum
The
Royal
Asiatic
Society
|
|
