Ruins of Ordinary Homes from Achaemenid Era Discovered in Bolaghi Gorge

17 March 2005

The team of Iranian and Italian archaeologists which has been assigned the task of saving Achaemenid dynastic sites and artifacts at Tang-e Bolaghi has identified some architecture of houses of ordinary people in a newly discovered Achaemenid village in the region, the director of the team announced on Tuesday.

“During our excavations of the village, we found a yard with three rooms around it, which is indicative of the style of architecture of ordinary people’s houses in the Achaemenid era,” Alireza Asgari added.

Situated in Iran’s southern province of Fars, Tang-e Bolaghi will be flooded by the waters of the Sivand Dam, which is scheduled to be completed by March 2006. Tang-e Bolaghi also contains sites from the Neolithic and Paleolithic periods, the middle and late Elamite era (2700-645 B.C.), and the Sassanid era (224-651 C.E.).

“In this style of architecture, which can be called Persian Style, a house has a central yard surrounded by several rooms,” Asgari said, adding that the rooms are 4 and 5 square meters in area and were constructed with cobblestones as well as cut stones.

Discovered in early March this year, the village is located beside the imperial route of the Achaemenid era. Thus, it could provide a large amount of information on the lifestyles in that era.

Tang-e Bolaghi is situated only four kilometers away from Pasargadae, the first capital of the Achaemenid dynasty (about 550-331 B.C.) and the residence of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian Empire. Pasargadae was registered on UNESCO’s World Heritage List last July. Even the mausoleum of Cyrus the Great is believed to be at risk.

A number of experts of the Parseh and Pasargadae Foundation from Iran and teams of Italian, Polish, Japanese, French, German, and Australian archaeologists began operations in early January to save 129 ancient sites at Tang-e Bolaghi. Each team is working on a specific site.

The experts have said that only a small part of the area can be studied before it is devoured by the dam. They believe that at least four years is needed to save the artifacts and gather information at the ancient site.