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.CAIS NEWS© ARCHAEOLOGICAL & CULTURAL NEWS OF THE IRANIAN WORLD |
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UPDATE: Train Vibrations Threaten Tomb of King Xerxes
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13 September 2007 |
Edited by Shapour Suren-Pahlav
LONDON,
(CAIS) -- Vibrations
caused by passing trains are likely to broaden existing cracks in the tomb of
Xerxes I and result in its collapse if a nearby railway route becomes
operational, archaeologist Mohammad-Taqi Ataii said during a seminar at the
University Of Tehran (UT) on September 11.
Entitled
“Naqsh-e Rustam in Danger”, the one-day colloquium was held to survey the
threats from the railway route to the tomb of Xerxes I at the Naqsh-e Rustam
site in southern Iran’s Fars Province.
“The
[Achaemenid] builders of the tomb were aware of the natural cracks in the
mountainside and built a canal to divert rainwater to a large pool thus
preventing it from flowing into the gaps,” Ataii explained.
“The
cracks in the rock are already widening as the pool has become full.
“This
is happening as the result of a natural process and so far people have not made
any effort to preserve the massive cliff. The situation will worsen if the
railway route becomes operational.”
Attaii’s
remarks met with protest from an unidentified individual defending the railway
project. The man, who must an Islamic regime’s agent who declined to introduce
himself, said that according to seismographic studies, vibrations from trains
using the railway route would not cause damage to the monuments in the Naqsh-e
Rustam region.
It
has been rumoured that a number of the regime’s officials attending the
ceremony denied that the man had any relationship with the railway project. The
Islamic Republic’s Ministry of Roads and Transportation has not published the
results of the seismographic studies.
Experts
have previously said that if the railroad, the embankment of which has been
constructed at a distance of about 350 meters from Naqsh-e Rustam, were to
become operational, train vibrations would eventually damage the monument and
cause the destruction of Kaba of Zoroaster less than ten years.
In
December 2006, the Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO)
and cultural heritage enthusiasts finally convinced the Ministry of Road and
Transportation to alter the railway route. However the extent of the
modification has not satisfied the CHTHO or the cultural heritage enthusiasts.
The
modification would place the route at a distance of 500 meters from the Naqsh-e
Rustam site.
Naqsh-e
Rustam is an extremely important historical site since holds four Achaemenid
burials including Darius the Great and Xerxes I, which have been carved into the
solid rock. The site also contains remnants dating back to the Elamite period as
well as the Parthian (248 BCE-224 CE) and Sasanian (224-651 CE) dynastic eras.
In
recent years the Islamic republic has stepped up its' cultural-cleansing of
Iran’s pre-Islamic heritage under the guise of development projects. The
regime has undermined and destroyed a number of major cultural landmarks
associated with the ancient Iranian history in particularly the Achaemenid and
Sasanian dynasties.
Since the coming of totalitarian-theocratic regime to power in Iran in 1979, the regime's leaders have dedicated significant resources to restructuring Iranian culture and values.
Iranians are now vigorously-encouraged to choose Arabic/Islamic names for their children, and a large number of Iranian names have been outlawed. Many pre-Islamic historical and archaeological sites have been devastated under the cover of development projects: destroyed as part of highway and railway track construction; contaminated irreparably by chemical factories; undermined by nearby hotels; obliterated as part of mining; or submerged beneath dam reservoirs. There have even been threats to bulldoze Persepolis. In general, pre-Islamic Iranian heritage has been downplayed and undermined in favour of the promotion of Islamic culture, the Islamic way of life, and above all the Arabic language.
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