Destruction of the Achaemenid Gondashlu Stone Quarry Confirmed
Sunday, 04 October 2009 20:49 | 
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Ruins of the Persepolis |
LONDON, (CAIS) -- A team of archaeology students from Marvdasht Azad University confirmed the destruction of the Achaemenid dynastic era Gondashlu stone quarry following research they have recently conducted on the site.
The study was carried out after the Fars Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Department (FCHTHD) denied a report announcing the extensive devastation of the stone quarry in early August by recent mining operations. FCHTHD in that statement falsely claimed that archeology experts have visited the site and have found no evidence of mining operations. The statement also says that mining operations near Gondashlu were stopped six months ago after miners.
The FCHTHD also refuted any historical importance for the quarry. However, they falsely claimed they have prevented further mining operations at the site.
The license for mining operations was issued by the Islamic Republic Ministry of Industrials and Minerals. Back in 2006, the ministry has issued a statement and claimed no license will ever be issued for mining operations, in any of the ancient quarries in the province.
The quarry is important for the stone it provided for building Persepolis.
“If the quarry is not historically important as the FCHTHD claimed, then why have they prevented mining operations at the site?” the students asked in their report published by the Persian service of CHN on Sunday.
New cuts on the rocks show that the stone quarry is still in use and the quarry has recently been disrupted, the report said.
A number of Parthian and Sasanian dynastic tombs built nearby are also being threatened by the mining operations, it warned.
The students also said that they are prepared to submit the necessary documents providing the evidence documenting the destruction taking place at the stone quarry.
The Gondashlu stone quarry is located 60 kilometres southwest of Persepolis near Shiraz in Fars Province.
During the 1960s, U.S. professor of Iranian archaeology William M. Sumner of the University of Pennsylvania discovered that the Achaemenid engineers used the quarry as a source of material for the construction of Persepolis.
The Achaemenids used two types of stone to build Persepolis, one was black in colour and the other grey, archaeologist Mohammad-Taqi Ataii has previously explained.
The black stones were brought exclusively from the Majdabad quarry and the grey ones were extracted from ten other quarries in the region, one of which was the Gondashlu stone quarry, he added.
Experts believe that upcoming restoration work at Persepolis can only be properly carried out by using stones from the Gondashlu quarry, but the opportunity will be lost if the new mining operations there are allowed to continue.
Extracted From/Source: Mehr News [*]
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Yek Ariyaee
said:
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In return we will destroy Reza and Zahra tombs in Mashahad and Qom Mullahs should see the future Iran! All of them hanging on the lampposts thorough the Iranian cities, and we the children of Cyrus together will bring down and demolish the tombs of their Arab lizard-eater Reza and Zahra tombs in Mashahad and Qom down to the ground as they do to our national heritage. And we will build the world biggest toilet ever over the Khomeini’s grave, and then kick their dirty savage religion back to the sandy deserts of Arabia where it belongs I hate Mullahs and their savage religion! An Ex Muslim |
Jimi Irani
said:
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Islam the religion of backwards people To islam everything is meaningless unless it has something to do with islam itself. What would a mullah know about running a country? they only have to study the islam and mainly stick to the events where the leaders were defeated so that they can cry. how pethetic |
Homayoun Moshiri
said:
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Mr. When every nation, culture, even churches around the world, are gathering, collecting, cataloging and displaying their historically significance in museums or their historic location, not only to show their history, identity, but also to help understanding human development and evolution, along with attracting tourists which is a huge source of income for most nations and churches of the world. I was in Florence last week and noticed some churches are now having museums and are charging up to 15 Euro to admittance, when few years ago they were asking as much as 2 Euro...Not only these sites are historic and belong to all of us, but also are great source of revenue for the nation and local economies. The fact that Islamic republic of Iran is allowing destruction of such a sites, and if I remember some mullahs after 1979 revolution had moved some bulldozers to Persapless to destroy it, shows the barbaric and uneducated, nature of this regime that is ruling a 5000+ years old culture.... |
