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.CAIS ARCHAEOLOGICAL & CULTURAL NEWS OF IRAN© |
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5,000-Year-Old Espidež Cemetery Plundered
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16 May 2005 |
LONDON, (CAIS) -- Smugglers have looted valuable artifacts from seven graves at the 5000-year-old Espidež cemetery, 25 kilometers from Zabol in Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, the director of a team of archaeologists working at the ancient site announced on Sunday.
“The
smugglers excavated seven graves in the cemetery of the ancient site and looted
their contents last week. Each grave has 20 to 80 artifacts, and I can say that
no comparable examples can be found anywhere in the world,” Mohammad Heydari
added.
The
region is somewhat inaccessible, thus no security measures have been taken for
the Espidež site. Every two days, five graves on average are looted by
smugglers.
“The
smugglers are often armed and no one is able to stop them. Cultural heritage
officials have not implemented any protection measures for the ancient site. If
things continue like this, no trace of the site will remain by the time our
archaeologists restart their work,” Heydari lamented.
Experts
predict that no grave will remain intact in three months.
In
March, the team discovered a grave at the Espidež site containing a skeleton of
a metalworker buried with all his tools, including an awl, a brass ladle, and a
whetstone.
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"History is the Light on the Path to Future" |
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Encyclopaedia Iranica
The British Institute of Persian Studies "Persepolis Reconstructed"
The British Museum
The Royal Asiatic Society
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