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CAIS ARCHAEOLOGICAL & CULTURAL NEWS OF IRANIAN WORLD© |
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Railroad Destroys the 6000-Year-Old Yagut Tepe
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13 July 2006 |
LONDON,
(CAIS) -- Every morning a train passes over the
ancient site of Yagut Tepe, in Mazandaran province, which dates back to 4000
BCE. This is while the North Railway authorities have prevented the
archeologists from working on this site to save the ancient evidence, currently
threatened by the passing of the train.
“The North Railway which was constructed during the time of Reza Shah
(1925-1941), the founder of Pahlavi dynasty. Now the authorities are not only
intending to expand the railway, they also have stopped the salvation activities
of a teams of experts and archeology students from Savad Kuh University who had
started their excavations in this area 10 days ago,” said Ali Mahforouzi, head
of archeology office of the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department of
Mazandaran province. The archeology team was prohibited from doing further
activities in the area two days ago.
According to Mahforouzi, expanding the railway to Amir Abad Port, which is the
other program initiated and is about to be put forward by the authorities, will
result in complete destruction of Yagut Tepe historical hill and evidence of its
5000-year-old civilization.
“While the archeology team has repeatedly served the railway authorities with
legal papers, to carry out excavations in this historical site, their activities
have been interrupted with the activities of railroad constructions,” added
Mahforouzi.
Mahforouzi said that archeological evidence indicates the existence of an
industrial zone in Yagut Tepe historical site during the ancient times. “After
this short period of archeological excavations in Yarut Tepe historical site, we
concluded that Yagut Tepe could have been one of the satellite areas of Gohar
Tepe historical site. Large number of furnaces, discovered so far in the lower
layers of the region, show the existence of an industrial area in this
historical site in the far past and revealed that Yagut Tepe must have been an
industrial zone which was influenced by the civilization that existed in Gohar
Tepe,” explained Mahforouzi.
70 years ago, construction of the North Railway had destroyed a large area of
Yagut Tepe historical site. Extending the railway to a larger area would
completely destroy the remaining parts of this ancient site and archeologists
are trying to prevent the repetition of such tragedy.
When
the train tracks were being installed in 1920s for the first time, the
authorities were not aware of the existence of such historic site, but now after
the studies carried out by experts have proved the site as an ancient place
where thousands of years of civilizations can be traced, there is no excuse to
continue on with this project and destroy the entire area.
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Source: CHN
Please note
the above-news is NOT a "copy & paste" version from
the mentioned-source. The news/article above has been modified with
the following interventions by CAIS: Spelling corrections;
-Rectification and correction of the historical facts and data; -
Providing additional historical information within the text; -Removing any
unnecessary, irrelevant & repetitive information. All these measures have been
taken in order to ensure that the published news provided by CAIS is
coherent, accurate and suitable for academics and cultural enthusiasts who
visit the CAIS website.
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"History is the Light on the Path to Future" |
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Encyclopaedia Iranica
The British Institute of Persian Studies "Persepolis Reconstructed"
The British Museum
The Royal Asiatic Society
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