The Sivand Dam is scheduled to come on stream in March 2006, flooding some very significant ancient sites located in Tang-e Bolaghi, situated only four kilometers away from Pasargadae, the first capital of the Achaemenid dynasty (about 550-331 BC) and the residence of Cyrus the Great.

Archaeologists believe that even the mausoleum of Cyrus the Great will be at risk. Pasargadae was registered on UNESCO’s World Heritage List last year.

“The high moisture, which will be created by the lake of the Sivand Dam, is the only threatening element for Pasargadae and will seriously damage the monument and nearby sites. Nothing can prevent them from being damaged,” the director of the Parseh and Pasargadae Research Foundation said.

“We plan to carry out some study projects to determine the extent of bad effects of the filling of the dam’s reservoir. One of the projects is installation of hygrometers in order to modify the level of the dam’s water based on the extent of moisture in the air,” Mohammad-Hassan Talebian he added.

Unlike the other experts, he believes the level of the reservoir’s water will effectively increase the moisture in the air.

“There is no hope to prevent the bad effects of the humid air and we are waiting for some probable proposal from the managers of the dam construction project to decrease the negative consequences,” Talebian lamented.  

“Many trees, which have naturally grown in the region, will be flooded by the Sivand Dam. Thus, the dam project authorities should compensate for the loss instead of implementing an arboriculture project,” he added.

“The trees’ evaporation process would increase humidity in the air and could raise the rainfall level over the long term, seriously damaging the monuments and ancient sites. Planting trees will never be effective for reduction of humidity,” forestation expert Kazem Nosrati said. 

“Managers of the dam project may intend to reduce moisture in the soil, but forestation is not the answer,” environmentalist Esmaeil Kahrom said, adding that trees absorb moisture from the soil and return it to the air. This process doubles the humidity, harming ancient ruins and monuments.

Teams of Italian, French, Polish, German, Australian, and Japanese archaeologists have been assigned to save 129 ancient sites at Tang-e Bolaghi, which also contains sites from the Neolithic and Paleolithic periods, the early, middle, and late Elamite era (2700-645 BC)and the Sassanid period (224-651 CE).