CAIS
ARCHAEOLOGICAL
& CULTURAL NEWS
04
October 2005
In
an effort to salvage artifacts from the Achaemenid
and Sassanid eras, archeologists are conducting
intensive excavations at the historical site of
Bolaghi Pass before the area is submerged with the
commissioning of Sivand Dam.
According to the Persian daily Iran, archeologists
from the US, France, Japan, Poland, Germany and
Italy have been operating at the site since March.
Archeologists have come across significant
evidence which will be of greatly help
archeological studies of the area.
Head of Parse and Pasargad Research Foundation
Mohammad Hossein Talebian said that seven teams
have been conducting excavations at the site.
He said that the site contains 48 important points
of which 43 have been identified and excavations
are underway to determine the location of the
remaining five. Unfortunately smugglers of
artifacts have also been engaged in digging and
have presumably removed some precious artifacts,
he added.
The official expressed concern about the rise in
humidity following the commissioning of the dam
which may be harmful to the antiquities in Bolaghi
Pass and the mounds which are believed to contain
historical items.
Talebian said that Iran’s Cultural Heritage and
Tourism Organization (ICHTO) held talks with
officials of Energy Ministry to take measures to
avert the threats posed by the dam to Bolaghi Pass
and Ministry of Energy promised to keep the level
of the dam low and install humidity measurement
devices to monitor the humidity and regulate the
level of water with the dam’s outlets.
He said that ICHTO has earmarked 1,500 million
rials for excavations at Bolaghi Pass.
Talebian said that development projects should be
implemented away from historical sites. For
example, the dams should not be built in the
vicinity of cultural heritage sites.
|
