Tehran, 28 December 2006 (CHN Foreign Desk) -- Recent explosive operations by Road & Transportation Department of Khorasan Razavi province for construction of a belt road three kilometers from the city of Toos have caused cracks to appear in the surrounding walls of this historic city. Construction of the belt road close to the historic city of Toos has recently started without coordination with Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (ICHTO). This is while based on an act passed by the Iranian Cabinet Ministers, all governmental organizations are obliged to coordinate their projects with ICHTO and obtain permission.
Expressing strong ion to the activities of the Road & Transportation Department of Khorasan Razavi province, Vafa Sabeti, head of the Research Center of Toos Historic City said: “Currently a team of cultural heritage experts has been dispatched to the historic city of Toos to make a report from the damages caused by the explosive operations.” Considering that the city has large numbers of old buildings, Sabeti predicts that more likely the city’s main rampart, the ruling seat of the ancient citadel, and Haroonieh have also seen damages by the explosive operations. However, since the city’s rampart extends for 7 kilometers, Sabeti believes that assessing the extent of damages to this historic city is a time-taking process.
On the other hand, executive authorities of road construction claim that their operations do not pose any threat to the ancient monuments of Toos. “We had to use weak explosives to destroy the trenches that exist on the path of road construction; but explosions are set at a distance of 3 kilometers from the city; therefore, this historic city is safe,” said Ali-Akbar Alipour, the project manager.
The historic city of Toos is located in Khorasan Razavi province, northeast Iran. It was among the first cities that were destroyed by the Mongol invaders and like other cities of Khorasan province was almost completely ruined. Ruins of old Toos can still be seen in this city today; however, Toos is most famous for the tomb of Ferdowsi, the renowned Persian poet of the 10th century AD.

Tehran, 22 May 2006 (CHN) -- Nearly one month has passed since the accidental discovery and later identification of Gilvan ancient site in northern Iran. However, emergency excavations to save this prehistoric site have not started yet, the fact remains that this area is being gradually destroyed due to the very limited attention it receives from the authorities and this worries many people.
Last month, construction workers accidentally discovered a number of ancient artifacts in the village of Gilvan located in the Iranian northwestern province of Ardabil. It turned out that this place was the location of an ancient cemetery. Among the discovered artifacts were three gold coated metal daggers, 25 pieces of clays, ornamental beads, and several armaments plus the remains of a number of skeletons. Soon after, Iran’s Archaeology Research Center sent a team of its experts to examine the area and prepare a report. It was expected that some measures be taken right away to save this newly discovered site, but no major step has been taken yet.
Yahya Naghizadeh, head of the Cultural Heritage Police Department of Ardabil province, has repeatedly announced his concern over the present improper condition of these ancient artifacts. He blamed two main factors, rainfall and intense sunlight, that are causing most of the damages to this site and its artifacts. Naghizadeh said, “After archaeology experts visited this area and wrote their report we were hoping that an emergency excavation campaign be launched to save these invaluable ancient artifacts. Unfortunately, despite the fact that these experts had emphasized the importance of immediate excavations in this area in their report, the cultural heritage authorities have not yet announced their approval.”
Naghizadeh also mentioned that Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department of Ardabil province has established a temporary security station to safeguard this area and added, “Our experts are ready to take the responsibility of protecting this ancient site permanently but as long as nothing is announced by the cultural heritage authorities, this is all we can do.”
Pointing out to the locals’ increasing concerns over the fate of this ancient site, head of Ardabil’s Cultural Heritage Police Department said, “Aside from the natural factors which threaten this area, one of the major problems we have is that the owner of the land in which this ancient cemetery was found claims his share of the discovered artifacts. Considering all these factors, we urgently need the Archaeology Research Center to get involved and do anything that is needed immediately.”
Archaeologists have now confirmed that this ancient site and all the discovered artifacts in its vicinity belong to the first millennium BC or before.

Tehran, 23 May 2006 (CHN) -- University of Pennsylvania is translating papers presented at the International Conference of Jiroft and will publish them in a single book. Adding to this announcement, Yousef Majidzadeh, head of the archaeology team in Jiroft, said: "These papers will be published in Persian and English in two volumes."

He added that translation of these articles will lead into a better understanding of the discoveries on the Eastern civilization in the world and will allow further study of this unknown culture. Furthermore, it will draw the attention of many scholars to the Halil Roud area.

Majidzadeh said that many of the scholars and archaeologists have learned about the recently discovered inions in Jiroft and showed interest. He also said that he was invited by several universities in different countries such as Italy and Spain to participate in conferences relating to the subject, but due to financial issues he was unable to attend, adding that "it is a pity having to leave talks on these subjects at international conferences and seminars to foreigners like, say, an Italian."

The extensive excavations at Halil-Roud and the Konar Sandal sites close to the city of Jiroft have so far revealed some of the earliest places of urbanization with historical evidence dating back to as early as the third millennium BC.

Until now, the excavations at the northern and southern areas of Konar Sandal have led to the unearthing of a fortress, the oldest stone staircase in the world, inions and graves. It is the hope that these discoveries will attract the attention of many scholars around the world to the missing civilization of Eastern Iran.

Tehran, 24 May 2006 (CHN) -- Discovery of a scabbard made of ivory was one of the most important achievements during the third season of excavations in Sangtarashan in Lorestan province. This is the first time a scabbard with such a material belonging to the end of the Iron Age has been discovered in this area.
“The third season of excavations led to discovery of two iron swords and an iron axe. What makes these swords unique among all the other discoveries in this historical site so far is that there is a thin layer of decorative bone, most probably ivory, between these two swords. It is believed that this layer is the remains of the scabbard of one of these swords. It is the first time an ivory scabbard has been discovered in Lorestan province. These swords were kept in an appropriate climatic condition and therefore the bone decorations of the handles have remained almost intact which provides us the chance to restore them,” said Mehrdad Malekzadeh, head of excavation team in Sangtarashan historical site.
Malekzadeh explained “50 other bronze relics including a wide variety of war instruments such as different kinds of swords in different sizes, battle axes, and some dishes such as teapots, pitchers, bowls and glasses have also been discovered during the excavations.”
According to Malekzadeh, one of the other unique discoveries during this season of excavations is a very beautiful bronze glass with a very delicate etching work on its body and the design of a lotus flower on its bottom. “Although this glass has been partly damaged over time due to humidity and other natural factors, the etching work on it show that it is a unique and we have sent it to the restoration laboratory of the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization of Lorestan province to be studied more,” added Malekzadeh.
Some 400 square meters have been excavated during three seasons of archaeological excavations in Sangtarashan and some 350 ancient bronze relics have been unearthed so far in this historical site which date back to the end of the Iron Age. However, no architectural evidence or cemeteries have been discovered in this historical site so far. “Although no architectural evidence has been discovered so far in this area, we still believe that a prayer house might have existed in this region, although its exact place has remained a question to us,” explained Malekzadeh.
Sangtarashan historical site is located 52 kilometers from Khoram Abad on the height of “80 Pahloo” and “Taf” mountains and is considered an important archaeological site in Iran.

Tehran, 18 December 2006 (CHN Foreign Desk) -- Studies by a team of archeologists from Bam Archeological Research Institute led into discovery of a vast city, 42 hectares in area, belonging to the Achaemenid dynastic period (550 BC–330 BC) at the historic site of Bam, Kerman province. Archeologists assume the city is more likely what referred to in historic texts and Bisotun inion as Nashirmeh which was mistakenly taken as the other name for the historic complex of Pasargadae located in present-day Fars province. Large numbers of potshards dated to the Achaemenid dynastic era were also found by archeologists during their recent studies in Bam’s major fault, situated close to the world famous Bam Citadel.
Archeologists believe that the discovery of the exact location of Nashirmeh, otherwise referred to as Paishiyauvada, is essential in gaining a greater understanding of the mysterious years of strife and turmoil during the last years of Cambyses’ reign which carried through the years that followed his death.
Cambyses II (reigned 529-522 BCE) was the son and successor of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid dynasty, who took over the Persian Empire after the death of his father. There may have been some degree of unrest throughout the Empire at the time of Cyrus’ death, for Cambyses apparently felt it necessary secretly to kill his brother, Smerdis (Bardiya), in order to protect his rear while leading the campaign against Egypt in 525 BC. He conquered Memphis and the Pharaoh was carried off in captivity to Susa. Egypt remained as a Persian satrapy for the following 200 years.
While in his Egypt campaign in 522 BC, news reached Cambyses of a revolt back home led by Gaumata the Magian, an impostor claiming to be Smerdis (also known as the false Bardiya), the youngest son of Cyrus the Great and Cambyses’ brother. Several provinces of the Persian Empire accepted the new ruler, who bribed his subjects with a remission of taxes for three years. Hastening home to regain control, Cambyses died, possibly by his own hand, more probably from infection following an accidental sword wound. Later, Darius the Great defeated Gaumata and came to power in 521 BC. The new finding could overturn previous conceptions regarding the events that ultimately resulted into transferring of power from the heirs of Cyrus the Great to the dynasty of Darius the Great who was from a noble Persian family. It can also shed light on the baffling story of Bardiya’s assassination as some believe he was killed by his brother Cambyses while others say that the person killed by Darius the Great was the real Bardiya who was murdered due to Darius’ ambition to gain domination of the Persian Empire. The latter theory is now fading for several reasons raised by the new finding of Nashrimeh outside the boundaries of Pasargadae.
One idea that discards the second theory says that if Gaumata was the real Bardiya, why did he refuse to fight Darius the Great in Pasargadae, the center of Achaemenid power? Moreover, Darius the Great’s inion in Bisotun says that the ‘real’ Bardiya was murdered before Cambyses led his campaign to Egypt. Some believe that Bardiya was killed by the order of his own brother, Cambyses, to prevent any possible claim to the throne while Cambyses was off to Egypt.
Yet relatively fewer archeologists and historians hold Darius the Great responsible for Bardiya’s death and say that Guamata was Cambyses’ brother, Bardiya. These experts argue that if Bardiya was killed by Cambyses in 525 BC, there was no way to keep it secret for three years until Guamata claimed the thrown as Bardiya in 522 BC. On the other hand, historians say that Darius the Great could have easily distorted the reality in his recording in Bisotun inion as he does not say much about Guamata except that he was a Magian who rebelled against the Achaemenid king of the time whereas in other historic accounts left from his reign, Darius the Great clearly states the ancestors, nationality, and residence of his enemies. However, the first idea that says Guamata was an imposter holds more truth based on historic evidence.
“If the Magian Gaumata is Bardiya, son of Cyrus the Great, why didn’t he stay in Pasargadae? Why did he initiate his uprising somewhere far from the Achaemenid dynastic capital of Pasargadae? Therefore, it is much closer to the reality to say that Gaumata was not in fact Cyrus’ son and for this reason he could not make his way through Pasargadae,” says Mohammad-Taqi Atayi from the team of archeologists in Bam.
“If the theories raised by the recent discovery are proved, the political history of early Achaemenid period as we know it today could significantly be challenged … Once the only reliable reasoning which suggests Nashrimeh and Pasargadae to be one and the same city is disproved, one may conclude the theory that says Darius rebelled against the Imperial Family is fundamentally flawed and can be questioned,” added Atayi.
According to this archeologist, the names of three cities located in Kerman appear on the inions found in Persepolis’ ramparts, one of which is Nashirmeh.‌ He also said that that evidence of Achaemenid dynastic period can still be found in Kerman such as potteries discovered in Sassanid era fortresses of Dokhtar and Ardeshir.
One of the strong documents used by archeologists to refute the theory suggesting Nashrimeh and Pasargadae to be the same is the Bisotun inion. A few years after Darius the Great rose to the throne, he arranged for the inion of a long ode of his accession in the face of the usurper Gaumata to be inscribed on a cliff in the Zagros Mountains of Iran that extend to Kermanshah Plain in a historic site known as Bisotun.
The inion is carved in both Old-Persian and Elamite languages. The Old-Persian inion mentions a place called Paishiyauvada while its twin inion in Elamite has Nashirmeh in place of this word. This shows that Paishiyauvada and Nashirmeh refer to the same place and that Nashirmeh was the Elamite name for Paishiyauvada. On the other hand, since it was not common for a city to have more than one name in one language and since Paishiyauvada and Pasargadae are both Persian names, it is clear that Paishiyauvada and Pasargadae are not the same. Therefore, Nashirmeh is not the Elamite equivalent for Pasargadae and refers to the same city known as Paishiyauvada. Moreover, according to the Bisotun inion, Paishiyauvada is the name of a city on the foothills of a mountain called Arakadri, which today archeologists believe is the Jebal-Barez Mountain, south of Bam in Kerman province. This shows that Nashirmeh was indeed in Kerman.
The rule of the entire Kerman region along with a number of other satrapies was bestowed by Cyrus the Great to his youngest son, Bardiya. This is why Gaumata chose this region, Paishiyauvada in particular, as the base of his revolt. Moreover, its population of 8000 people was a great advantage. Even if three-quarter of the population were women, children, and the elderly, this still leaves a population of 2000 young men who could make up a powerful army to help Gaumata reach its goal. However, if Gaumata was the real Bardiya, he could have easily made use of all the powers in his hand and unite all the regions under his control to rebel against his brother and seize over Pasargadae, which evidently never happened, once again proving Gaumata as fraud.
Nonetheless, further studies on the recently discovered Achaemenid city of Nashirmeh (Paishiyauvada) will shed more light on the mysterious years that followed Cambyses’ death.

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