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CAIS ARCHAEOLOGICAL & CULTURAL NEWS OF IRANIAN WORLD© |
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Countdown Begins for Flooding of 6000-Year-Old site in Northwestern Iran
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13 May 2006 |
LONDON, (CAIS - Shapour Suren-Pahlav) -- The countdown has begun for the flooding of the 6000-year-old Kul-Tappeh site in East Azarbaijan province, as the Islamic Regime' operators of the Sahand Dam started filling the reservoir.
An
archaeological team tasked with carrying out rescue excavations at the site has
found remnants from the Chalcolithic Era (copper-stone age, 4500-3300 BCE) to
the Bronze Age.
“The
discovery of some pottery works bearing geometrical engravings and a number of
stone blades prove that the site was used by people living in the Chalcolithic
period,” team director Mohammad Feizkhah said.
“But
most of the residences date back to the Bronze Age. The construction of
buildings with mud-brick walls and stone foundations is the main architectural
characteristic in this era,” he added.
According
to Feizkhah, the team has also found some other relics, such as pottery works
and architectural structures believed to belong to the Iron Age, but due to the
time constrictions which prevented further excavations and study, they could not
conclusively determine that the discoveries were from the Iron Age.
The
rescue excavations for the site began 40 days ago and the team was only able to
dig a 2x3-meter trench for study. In addition, a team of anthropologists has
been tasked with gathering information from the surrounding villages, which will
also be flooded by the dam.
“We
found artifacts from the third Iranian dynasty, the Parthians (248 BCE -224 CE)
as well as from the Ilkhanid period (1256-1349 CE),” Feizkhah said, adding
that the excavations were perhaps equivalent to about one percent of the studies
currently being carried out behind the Sivand Dam.
Teams
of Italian, Polish, Japanese, German, and Australian archaeologists along with
Iranian experts are working in the Bolaghi Valley, where the Islamic Regime's
Sivand Dam will devour 147 archaeological sites. The process of filling the
reservoir is scheduled to begin in late spring.
The
construction of dams by Islamic Regime has caused serious damage to several of
Iran’s ancient sites. The Karun 3 Dam in Khuzestan Province, which came on
stream in November 2004, inundated many ancient sites from the Elamite era and
other historical periods of Iran.
This
is not the end of the story. The Gilan Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department
has announced that 16 historic sites will be submerged by a dam that is under
construction on the Pol-Rud River near the city of Rudsar in the northern
province of Gilan.
The
construction of the Gilan-e Gharb Dam, which is threatening a number of ancient
sites dating back to the first millennium BCE in Iran’s western province of
Kermanshah, has become another clash between so-called Islamic Regime's
devolpement programme and Iranian cultural heritage.
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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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