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By:
Vali Khalili
CHN
Staff Writer
International
archaeologists who left Iran some 25 years ago are
making a return to the land that cradles an
ancient civilization, historical sites, and
remnants of predecessors treasured by experts all
around the world.
Many archaeologists went back home when the
Islamic Revolution took place in 1978, leaving
their work on the table. But since last year more
than 50 experts from all around the world,
including experts of universities in United
States, Germany, Italy, Belgium, France,
Australia, and Japan, have traveled to Iran to
take part in explorations of the historical sites
scattered all around the country, which Holly
Pittman, archaeologist at the University of
Pennsylvania, calls “Archaeologists’
Heaven”. Last year 9 teams of foreign
specialists helped Iranians excavate the sites.
Professor Frank Hole, anthropologist at Yale
University, traveled to Iran first in 1958 to
uncover the first evidence of farming in the
country dating to some 8000 years ago. “I hope
to be able to finish my work which I had to stop
in 1979. I have worked in different parts of the
world, including Syria and Turkey, and I am aware
of the changes in these countries. But it is a
while that I have not been in Iran and it is very
interesting to be informed of the changes in
Iranian archaeology,” says Prof. Hole.
He believes that the new discoveries in areas such
as Jiroft, Kerman, provide evidence of a
civilization comparable to that of Mesopotamia and
the Ilamites, suggesting of a dynamite future for
the archaeological activities of Iran.
The international affairs deputy of the
Archaeology Research Center of Iran, Karim
Alizadeh, explains about some of the joint
activities carried out with foreign experts:
“The Iranian Cultural Heritage and Tourism
Organization have so far signed agreements with
the Izao Institute and the Institute of Oriental
Studies of Rome for studies of the Grand Mosque of
Isfahan, Gand of Belgium for excavations in
Khuzestan, Sydney University for work in Nur Abad
of Fars, Dartmouth College for Anshan site of Fars, the Archaeology Institute of Germany for
cooperation in studying the ancient mines and
metal works of Iran, Mainz University of Germany
for excavation in Haft Tepe of Khuzestan, Durham
University of England for work in the northern and
southern coasts of the Persian Gulf in Bushehr and
Hormozgan, the French Institue de Recherche for
excavation in Neishabour of Khorasan, the
Institute of Oriental Studies of Chicago
University for work in Khuzestan, and Bradford
University of France for excavation in the
paleontology caves of Kermanshah. The five last
agreements have been signed during last year.”
According to Alizadeh, to expand the joint
activities, the Iranian Cultural Heritage and
Tourism Organization is trying to sign four other
agreements with Universities of Harvard and
Pennsylvania of United States, Warsaw of Poland,
and La Speninza of Rome.
When the foreign experts left Iran 25 years ago,
explains head of the Archaeology Office of Iran,
Jalil Golshan, they did not left reports of their
incomplete studies and excavations, therefore,
Iran decided to invite them to come back so that
they could finish their work and the regained
information could be published. Introducing Iran
and its thousands-year-old sites and developing
the excavations around the country have been
another objective of the Iranian side, says
Golshan.
The first group of foreign experts to return to
Iran was of the Izao Institute of Italy who had
discovered around one million pot sherds in
Isfahan’s Grand Mosque before the Islamic
Revolution. They entered the country in 2000 at
the time Seyyed Mohammad Beheshti headed the then
Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization, and their
presence paved the way for the entrance of other
teams, which reached its peek during last Persian
year.
Iranian foreign-based experts: the bridge to
international institutes
In its attempts to restart foreign excavations and
studies in Iran, the Cultural Heritage
Organization asked primarily the Iranian experts
teaching or researching in the major
archaeological institutes and universities around
the world to give the experts inside the country a
hand.
Abbas Alizadeh, from the Oriental Institute of
Chicago University, is one of these experts who
signed an official agreement with the Iranian
Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (ICHTO)
last September to excavate the northern parts of
Khuzestan province.
Other Iranian foreign-based experts who have come
to Iran to help revive the country’s archaeology
include Kamyar Abdi from Dartmouth College, Yusef
Majidzadeh who lives in France and now heads the
excavation team of Jiroft, Mansour Sadjadi who
lives in Rome and heads the work in the Burnt City
of Sistan-Baluchistan.
As Alizadeh says: “The officials of ICHTO found
out that Iranian archaeology can not be developed
behind closed doors. Unlike the times before the
Islamic Revolution, we should now make great use
of the foreign experts in Iran. These experts will
not only improve their own academic knowledge, but
also introduce Iran to their students and readers
of their reports and related articles.”
Yusef Majidzadeh, whose team for excavation in
Jiroft includes more than 10 foreign experts,
says: “archaeologists love to excavate in major
sites dating to several thousands years, and since
much of Iran is still unknown and can yield to the
discovery of splendid objects, the country is of
great importance for foreign experts.”
Foreign Archaeologists eager to work in Iran
Iranian officials enthusiast to bring in
international specialists are just one side of the
story, and at the other end stand the foreign
institutes and research centers who are looking
forward to carrying out new excavations in Iran.
The Oriental Institute of Chicago University is
one of such institutes which had previously
discovered the most important documents of the
Achaemenid government, and has during the last two
years carried out some talks with the officials of
ICHTO to restart archaeological studies in Iran.
As a gesture to show its good intentions to
Iranian officials, the Institute returned to Iran
at the beginning of the previous year 300 clay
tablets of the Achaemenid era which were with them
for more than 70 years.
Director of Oriental Institute of the University
of Chicago, Gil Stein, talked to Associated Press
on his trip to Iran to return the tablets: “I
see the move as part of a mutual relationship. I
hope to talk with the Iranian officials about an
agreement for new archaeological excavations and
training of the Iranian students for preserving
historical remains.”
For foreign experts to take part in excavating and
studying the ancient sites of Iran, the agreements
should be signed with permission of the Iranian
Foreign Ministry. The ICHTO studies the research
plans of the foreign institute willing to work on
Iranian sites, and if it decides to sign the
agreement, sends it for approval to the Foreign
Ministry, explains the legal and international
deputy of the Organization, Abdol Rasul Vatanpour.
The cooperation of Iranian and foreign experts
have changed a lot compared to the time before the
Islamic Revolution of 1979. According to Frank
Hole, before the Revolution, all the work was done
by foreign experts, but today the studies are
joint ones, with domestic and foreign
archaeologists working hand in hand.
The Burnt City, Jiroft, and Bolaghi Gorge
New discoveries in the eastern parts of Iran,
including The Burnt City in Sistan-Baluchistan and
Jiroft in Kerman, have opened new doors to a great
archaeological future for Iranian and
international experts.
An ancient ruler, colorful tissues, the first
animation picture of the world, architectural
remains of the Burnt City dating to 5000 years
ago, hundreds of seal impressions, a great
governmental structure and a religious one
(similar to a ziggurat), thousands of stone dishes
which have revealed the source of stoneware of
Mesopotamia, all and all have awed archaeologists
of the richness of the area. Today many of the
foreign experts who have come to Iran from diverse
nationalities, including American, French,
Italian, Indian, and Turk specialists are working
on these historical sites.
Professor Constantini, head of the Italian team
present in the Burnt City, considers the site one
of the most important prehistoric sites of the
world due to its numerous remains discovered from
a 5000-year-old civilization. “Archaeologists
see Egypt as the symbol of the richest ancient
sites of the world, and the Burnt City is the only
historical site comparable to it,” says
Constantini.
Professor Holly Pittman, one of America’s most
renowned archaeology experts, has been with the
excavation team of Jiroft since its second season
of work, and has given several speeches on the
discoveries made in Jiroft area. She told the
Smithsonian magazine: “Jiroft is a wonderful
site. The fact that a 3000-year-old civilization
lies here adds greatly to our knowledge.”
The site of Bolaghi Gorge behind the newly
constructed Sivand Dam, in Fars province, is
another historical site of Iran which has recently
received special attention. It is the site of
remains dating to the Achaemenid period and the
king Road, which is considered the most ancient
road of Iran, and is to be lost forever when the
Dam is flooded in one year.
Experts including more than 7 groups of foreign
scientists from Italy, France, Germany, Poland,
Australia, England, and Japan, plus experts from
international institutes such as UNESCO have
gathered in the area and have so far identified
more than 100 ancient sites and remains. A village
one hectare vast dating to the time of Achaemenids
has been one of their important discoveries.
Head of the cluster office of UNESCO in Tehran,
Junko Taniguchi, in an interview with Guardian
noted the yet unknown importance of the 100
historical sites of Bolaghi Gorge, located near
the tomb of Darius the Great, and asked
international experts to help save the site before
they are gone underwater.
Experts believe that with the presence of foreign
experts in Iran in the upcoming years and the
development of joint activities from north to
south, east to west of the country, the Iranian
archaeology will see a new blooming season.
Archaeologists are yet to find treasures that will
surely amaze them.
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