LONDON,
(CAIS) -- A team of archaeologists working at the
5,200-year-old Burnt City in Sistan-Baluchestan Province
believes that mothers of the ancient city suffered from
malnutrition at one period of time due to the skeletons of
stillborn fetuses recently discovered in the site’s
cemetery, the director of the team said on Thursday.
“The
archaeologists unearthed the skeletons of the fetuses
during the ninth phase of excavations. They believe that
all of the fetuses were stillborn,” Farzad Foruzanfar
added.
The
archaeologists have several theories, with malnutrition of
the mothers being the most important.
Malnutrition
is one of the most important factors which causes problems
in the growth of fetuses and consequently causes
stillbirths, Foruzanfar explained.
The
archaeologists have found no more evidence to prove their
theory about the malnutrition of Burnt City mothers, and
therefore further study of the matter is necessary.
A
number of Italian paleontologists were to accompany the
team in the ninth phase of excavations in order to study
the diseases common in the city, but the plan was not
materialized due to some bureaucratic problems in Iran.
Over
400 graves had previously been discovered during the eight
phases of excavations at the city-state.
A
joint team from the Archaeological Research Center of Iran
and Britain’s University of Newcastle are to begin a
study in early 2006 to determine the reasons for the
variations in the growth rates of children in ancient
times at the Burnt City.
The
Burnt City covers an area of 150 hectares and was one of
the world’s largest cities at the dawn of the urban era.
It was built circa 3200 BC and destroyed some time around
2100 BC. The city had four stages of civilization and was
burnt down three times. Since it was not rebuilt after the
last time it was burnt down, it has been named the Burnt
City.
Although
many studies have been carried out on the Burnt City, so
far experts have not been able to determine the ethnicity
and language of the city’s inhabitants.
