CAIS
The Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies
| CAIS ARCHAEOLOGICAL & CULTURAL NEWS© |
|
Another Dam, another Danger to Iran’s National Heritage
|
|
News Category: Cultural Disaster |
| 22 December 2005 |
CAIS (Edited: Shapour Suren-Pahlav) --“There is another dam construction on the way in an area known as Kuh-Shur, 15km away from the city of Izeh in the Khuzestan province. The new dam will submerge much of Iran’s ancient heritage”, Farzad Khushab, the director of Izeh’s Friends of Cultural Heritage, told news reporters.
“For instance, this dam will submerge a historical cemetery which is only 100 metres away from the new dam. The dam will submerge over 2 kilometres of lands behind the dam”, he stated.
“It is the time that Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Turism Organisation (ICHTO) and officials to show some interest in protecting these sites, by commencing a rescue operation prior to submerge. In a recently completed dam, Karun 3, near Izeh, Āyāpir Group that was responsible for archaeological rescue operation have identified over 64 ancient sites, majority pre-Islamic, in which 12 have been partially excavated and recorded. The remaining 52 sites are now under million gallons of water, and Iranians have lost some of their invaluable ancient sites forever”, said Khushab.
Khushab warned the officials “if we do not take action soon, the cultural catastrophe will be tenfold greater than Karun 3”.
One of the experts from ICHTO of the Khuzestan Province branch has criticised the construction of dams in the region and stated, “until now dam constructions in the Khuzestan province have been submerging many of our ancient sites, and "Karun 3" has been the most damaging of all, by destroying 70 ancient sites. At the moment another dam is being built in Jareh of Rāmhormoz which is as harmful as Karun 3, since it will submerge a Sasanian dam (see below pictures) along with many Parthian and Sasanian unexcavated sites. It is the cultural necessity and our duty to stop constructing such a dams, since they are the biggest danger to our national heritage”.
Islamic Jahad of Agricultural is responsible for building the Kuh-Shur dam, which is16 meters high and 700 meters in length.
Ruling
class in Islamic Iran are devoid of loyalty to the Iranian
nation and their national heritage. For them, the title of "sayyed" (a
descendent of Muhammad) isn't simply an honorific for these people; it is a
title affirming that the blood running in their veins is the same as that of
Bedouins who conquered the Sasanian Persian Empire in 7th century. In
recent years the Islamic government has ordered the
construction of over 80 dams. It seems that the sites of these
dams have been purposely chosen to destroy pre-Islamic
Iranian heritage, in which the most
infamous one being the Sivand dam, near Pasargadae.
 |
 |
 |
|
Sasanian Dam of Jareh in Râmhormoz, Khuzestân Province Click on pictures to enlarge |
||
|
|
|
"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
The Persian Gulf Facebook Page
|
