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 A
Japanese team alongside a team of Iranian archeologists
will start the last phase of its excavations in Gilan
province in the coming December/January. The team has
carried out 4 seasons of excavations in the province so
far.
According to the agreements between the archeological
research center of the Cultural Heritage and Tourism
Organization of Iran and the Far East Company of Japan, a
joint team consisting of Iranian and Japanese
archaeologists was to carry out excavations in Gilan
province for a 5-year period. The aim of the team is to
study different parts of the province including Deylaman
and Rostam Abad.
“The last season of Japanese excavations focuses on
reviewing the work of previous seasons of excavations and
is performed in two phases,” said Ali Jahani, an Iranian
member of the joint Iranian-Japanese archaeological team.
According to Jahani, the first phase of the archeological
excavations consisted of reviewing the discoveries made by
late Ali Hakimi, in the historical cemetery of Kaluraz,
which are being kept in the National Museum of Iran. This
phase was completed at the end of summer, and then the
Japanese team returned to their country to prepare for the
second phase of excavations.
Jahani has also explained that the aim of Japanese team in
the second phase is to comprehensively review results of
the 4 previous seasons of excavations in Rostam Abad.
The historical hill of Kaluraz in Rostam Abad is now being
excavated by Mohammad Reza Khalatbari, head of pre-history
archeological research center of the Cultural Heritage and
Tourism Organization of Iran. He has found there remains
of the Parthian architecture for the first time in Gilan
province.
Referring to the discoveries of Japanese team during the 4
seasons of excavations, Jahani explained, “The main
accomplishment of the team has been the provision of the
archaeological map of Gilan province, which shows more
than 90 historical sites.
“An archaeological hill belonging to the Neolithic
period was another discovery of this team; the hill dated
back the history of human settlement in the province to
the 6th millennium BC.”
Since previous to the archaeological excavations of the
joint Iranian-Japanese team no architectural evidence had
been seen in Gilan province, it was supposed that most
probably the ancient architectural structures of the area
were of wood and therefore destroyed by the passage of
time.
Alongside the archaeological excavations in the province,
the Japanese have also carried out some anthropological
and zoological excavations, the results of which have been
published.
Gilan province was known during ancient times as part of
Hyrcania, with an area of 14,700 square kilometer. It lies
just west of Mazandaran province, along the Caspian Sea.
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