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CAIS ARCHAEOLOGICAL & CULTURAL NEWS

03 October 2005

A team consisting of Iranian and German archaeologists working in Bolaghi Gorge is now planning to continue its excavations on the cemetery belonging to Sassanid era.

The team started its work primarily on the site’s ancient forges, but changing the plan, but experts are now to carry out some studies on the Sassanid cemetery discovered there by the joint team of Polish-Iranian experts.

Iranian and Polish archaeologists discovered a village and a cemetery beside the King Road in their salvation activities on the historical sites behind Sivand Dam. The discovered 9-hectare village is the largest site discovered in the gorge, which regarding to the discovered clays in the area is supposed to have belonged to the end of the Sassanid era and the beginning of Islam.

“The team was supposed to work on the forges of Bolaghi Gorge, but despite what was believed before, the forges were identified as belonging to the Islamic period, and the large amount of slags of the forges led them to virgin soil. Therefore with the approval of the Parse-Pasargadae authorities, the team decided to do excavations on the Sassanid cemetery which was previously discovered by the Iranian-Polish team,” explained Mohamadtaghi Ataei, head of the Iranian team cooperating with German experts.

According to Ataei, the excavations in the forges will be finished by the end of the week and then the team will work on the Sassanid cemetery.

Archaeological excavations on the forges which were primarily believed to have belonged to the Achaemenid era proved that they dated back to the Islamic period. The forges were used for extracting cast iron from iron, which were then used for making large dishes and pots.

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