[CPProt.net] Italians and Iranians Join to Save Bolaghi Ancient Sites

[MSN and CPProt list (Ton Cremers)]

Italians and Iranians Join to Save Bolaghi Ancient Sites  
Tehran, Feb. 21 (Iranian Cultural Heritage News Agency) - A joint team of
Italian and Iranian experts will start next week to explore the ancient
cemeteries and settlements of Bolaghi gorge, behind the Sivand Dam, as part
of the project to save the archeological site. 

Bolaghi little valley, located 84 kilometers from the world heritage site of
Pasargadae, in Fars province, has once been, according to some experts, home
to the King Road. The Road is considered the major ancient road of Iran
which connected Pasargadae to Persepolis and Susa, and includes some remains
as old as the time that human beings were cave dwellers, to the prehistoric
era, up to the Islamic times. 

The Bolaghi archeological site enjoys having cemeteries and settlements
dating to the time span between the Achaemenid to the Sassanid era, and the
joint team of Italians and Iranians is the first to attempt to save it
before the dam of Sivand is flooded in one year time. The 14-strong team is
made up of experts specializing in archaeology, anthropology, mapping, and
designing. 

Due to the significance of saving the ancient sites for studies, discussions
have been held between the Iranian Cultural Heritage and Tourism
Organization (ICHTO) and international experts from Italy, France,
Australia, Germany, Poland, Japan, and England, and the work will start
there next week with help of Italian experts, explained the Iranian head of
the team, Alireza Asgari. 

The team will primarily undertake some explorations in the area dating to
the time span between the Achaemenid kingdom and that of the Sassanids,
because as Asgari told CHN, not many remains and artefacts of that period
have so far been found in Fars province. The period is thus called by
experts "Fars dark era" and excavations there may help solve some of its
secrets. 

Sivand Dam, the construction of which has been started in 1992 without
permission of the ICHTO, is planned to be flooded by next year, and that
would lead to some 8 kilometers of the Bolaghi gorge to be drowned and lost
forever. Therefore experts of ICHCTO and the Pars-e Pasargadae Research
Foundation undertook a project to study the area, so far identifying more
than 100 archeological sites there. 

According to Head of the Pasargadae site, Babak Kial, the indentified areas
include prehistoric hills, metal kilns, prehistoric caves and dwellings,
stone graves, two collective graves from the Parthian era, ... all of which
would go under water in a year's time. 

Pasargadae is the fifth Iranian site that was inscribed on the UNESCO World
Heritage List in 2004, and based on the Natural and Historical Heritage
Convention, should receive specific attention and care, forbidding any
attempt that may endanger it. 
 
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