The Archaeology Thread

[panj-delaavaraan]

http://www.chn.ir/en/news/?section=2&id=6298

Discovery of a Giant Achaemenid Building in Bolaghi Gorge

The remains of a big building which was buried for more than 2000 years was unearthed during archeological excavations in Bolaghi Gorge.

Tehran, 10 April 2006 (CHN) -- Archeological excavations in area no. 73 of Bolaghi Gorge historical site with the aim of finding cultural evidence from the fourth millennium BC led to the discovery of the remains of a big construction belonging to the Achaemenid era.

“Prior to this discovery, the remains of an Achaemenid architectural style was found by Iranian-Italian joint team in area no. 73 of Bolaghi Gorge, but the discovery of the remains of clay ovens belonging to the fourth millennium BC headed us to this historical site to find more evidence. Geophysical studies in this area resulted in unearthing a huge building. Three big trenches have been dug for identifying this building. Archeological excavations indicate that this building with stone walls dates back to the Achaemenid era,” said Mojgan Seyedein, Iranian head of Iranian-German joint excavation team.

Rubble stones were used in the construction of the walls of this building. “The remains of two broken stone dishes were also discovered which are somehow similar to the present bowls. However, since we have not reached to pure soil yet, we can not determine the exact characteristics such as the size of the walls of this construction,” added Seyedein.

The remains of an Achaemenid village with 30 rural houses had already been discovered in area no. 73 of Bolaghi Gorge with a cemetery next to it. Getting closer to the time of the Sivand Dam flooding, archeological excavations in Bolaghi Gorge have been speeded up, which resulted in some considerable findings so far.

The 18-kilometer Bolaghi Gorge is located 9 kilometers from the world heritage site of Pasargadae in Fars province. Some experts believe that the site has been the location of the major ancient road of Iran, King’s Road, built by the order of Darius, the Achaemenid king. Bolaghi Gorge will sure drown after the inundation of Sivand Dam. The salvation project in Bolaghi Gorge started with the participation of 8 international and several domestic archeological teams more than a year ago to save the archeological relics buried in this ancient site as much as possible.

[shugs]

Three Pre-Islamic Cemeteries Discovered in Hormozgan


Archeological excavations in Hormozgan province resulted in the discovery of three pre-Islamic vast cemeteries with a different burial method.

Tehran, 24 April 2006 (CHN) -- Discovery of three huge pre-Islamic cemeteries in Bastak historical site in Hormozgan province faced archeologists with new questions about different burial methods in ancient Persia. While most of the burials used to be done in the mountains and cliffs during the pre-Islamic especially the Sassanid era, earth burials are used in these new discovered cemeteries which also date back to the Sassanid era. Considering that this new burial method is in odds with other methods used during the ancient times, archeologists are trying to learn more about the tradition of the people during that time.

“Discovery of these three pre-Islamic cemeteries is one of our most important achievements during this season of excavation. Prior to this, such similar method of earth burial was discovered in Fars province in area no. 88 of Bolaghi Gorge and also in Rahmat Mountain in Persepolis. Based on the evidence such as the surface clays and the method of construction of these graves, the cemeteries must have belonged to the pre-Islamic and most probably early Sassanid era. Each of these cemeteries covers an area of 15 hectares,” said Ali Asadi, head of archeological team in Bastak city.

Asadi believes the existence of pre-Islamic cemeteries with this method of burial in Bastak is very interesting and somehow strange. “Considering that mountain and cliff burials were the most prevalent burial methods during the Sassanid era, the question is that if these cemeteries also belong to the same period of time, why was a different method used here?” added Asadi.

The city of Bastak is located in a mountainous region in the southern province of Hormozgan in Iran. The fact that the city is located in a mountainous area makes matters more complicated.

Considering the close distance of Bastak to Fars and Kerman provinces, archeologists are looking for the traces of Halil Rud and Fars civilizations in this area which might have migrated to this area and changed the culture and tradition of the locals. On the other hand, since from the ancient times, Hormozgan province had trade relations with the Persian Gulf regional countries, they are also looking for the possible influence of the culture of these countries on the region.

[shugs]

7 Cave Dwelling Settlements Discovered in Mazandaran


Discovery of 7 caves in Mazandaran with
evidence of human settlements indicates
that this region was one of the most important
residential areas prior to urbanization.

Tehran, 25 April 2006 (CHN) -- Archeological excavations in Mazandaran province, between Neka and Behshahr cities led to the discovery of seven historical caves which were the settlements of human beings between 13000-10000 BC.

“Prior to this discovery, some evidence of cave dwelling was found in Mazandaran province. But discovery of these seven caves belonging to the Stone Age in Mazandaran province gives us more information about the settlements of human beings in this area some 13000 years ago and shows that Mazandaran was one of the most important residential areas during ancient times,” said Ali Mahforouzi, archeologists and head of Historical Caves Research Center.

According to Mahforouzi, some stone tools and bones were discovered in these caves which indicate that the settlement of human beings continued there for a long time. “Some of the discovered evidence show that cave dwelling in this area lasted to the Iron Age, some 3500 years ago,” added Mahfooruzi.

Considering that the discovered caves are located 1400 meters from the sea level, Mahforouzi explained: “This level of height was appropriate for human beings who lived during Pleistocene and Holocene epochs,” said Mahforouzi.

Pleistocene epoch came to an end some 15000 years ago and since then Holocene period started which is still continuing.

Considering the close distance between Gohar Tepe historical site and these historical caves strengthens the theory that after giving up cave dwelling life, human beings decided to gather and form societies and little by little some cities such as Gohar Tepe were established.

Mazandaran is one of the most ancient provinces in Iran. Archeological excavations in this province indicate that it has been inhabited by human beings from 400,000 years ago until the present time. Excavations have also revealed that urbanization flourished in the area around 3000BC. The historical site of Gohar Tepe is a proof to this claim.

SOURCE: http://www.chn.ir/en/news/?section=2&id=6338

[shugs]

Archeologists in Search of a Port Lost 700 Years Ago


Archeologists have started excavations
to discover the Old Hormoz port that
disappeared some 700 years ago.[

Tehran, 8 April 2006 (CHN) -- Archeological excavations are still continuing in Minab plain in order to discover the Old Hormoz Port which mysteriously disappeared in the 1300s and is believed to have been located around the present-day Hormozgan Province.

“The main aim of these excavations is to discover the original location of the Old Hormoz Port. It was a city which turned into an important international trade port after the collapse of Siraf Port. A lot of people even some contemporary historians believe that the present city of Minab is the old Hormoz. However, according to what is recorded in historical evidence such as the itinerary of Morco Polo, the famous Italian explorer, this can not be true and the old Hormoz port was different from the present Minab. Besides, Hormoz was a trade port with some places for ships to berth while the case is not true with Minab city,” said Siamak Sarlak, archeologist and head of excavation team in Minab and Roodan.

In 1300 AD, a group of Mongols attacked the old Hormoz. Following that attack which devastated this portal city the governor of Hormoz accompanied by the residents migrated to the present city of Minab. Since that time the old Hormoz disappeared and no one knows precisely where it was located. “It is nearly 700 years since the old Hormoz port has vanished and no archeologist has managed to find its exact place yet,” explained Sarlak.

According to Sarlak, 84 historical relics have been unearthed during the excavations in Minab port so far, some of which date back to the ancient Stone Age (some 150,000 years ago). However, there is not much information to assist archeologists to identify the origin settlements there.

“The previous excavations led to the discovery of two linear and radial styles of settlements in the area. Linear settlements are those which are situated in lines. This style of settlement goes back to the Islamic period. But radial settlements have a pattern of lines that go outward from a central point, making a circular shape. This style of settlement goes back to the pre-Islamic period. These excavations resulted in the discovery of about five or six ancient areas,” added Sarlak.

According to Sarlak, discovering the real place of the old Hormoz would be a great achievement for Iran’s history and archeology.

[shayan]

ow thats cool i hope they will find a nother persepolis

[panj-delaavaraan]

http://www.chn.ir/en/news/?section=2&id=6374

Palace of Darius the Great Discovered in Bolaghi Gorge



Discovery of remains of a gigantic palace in Bolaghi Gorge and its similarity to the constructions of the time of Darius I, Achaemenid King, in Persepolis show that it was built during the same period of time.

Tehran, 15 May 2006 (CHN) -- Iran-French joint archeology team at Bolaghi Gorge succeeded in discovering and identifying the remains of a gigantic palace, believed to be from the Achaemenid era (648 BC–330 BC), during their second season of excavations in the area.

“Before the start of this season of excavations, our geophysical tests in area number 33 of Bolaghi Gorge had revealed to us the possible existence of a huge building near the Sivand Dam. Clay artifacts found in this area showed that this building used to be the residential palace of the Achaemenid kings. With the start of the new excavation season, we resumed our excavations in area number 33 with this attitude,” said Mohammad Taghi Ataee, head of the Iran-French joint archeology team at Bolaghi Gorge.

“After we started our excavations in the historic hill where this monument is located, we realized that it consisted of one historic layer only. Since no other layers were constructed on top of this layer, archeologists were hoping to unearth the entire palace intact. However, after they made their trenches they got to a number of wells which had been dug by illegal smugglers and also traces of bulldozers which had caused serious damage to this ancient Achaemenid palace,” said Ataee.

Plundering of archeological sites by the smugglers has become a common issue in archeology. However, according to Ataee, archeologists believe that illegal diggers cannot be held responsible for destroying of this palace by bulldozers, and it was a deliberate act by an unknown person or group of people who intended to devastate this place for a reason that is not clear for archeologists.

“The archeology team kept removing the debris caused by the bulldozers until they got to the base of a pillar similar to those used in the construction of the palace of Persepolis in Fars province, although smaller in size. The base of this pillar which looks like an inverted bell is built by the same stones used in the construction of Persepolis. The stone is so carefully varnished that one may clearly see the reflection of oneself in it,” added Ataee.

The height of this discovered base is 35 centimeters and it has a diameter of 50 centimeters. There are signs on this base which were meant to level it off, a method commonly practiced during the Achaemenid era.

“Based on the evidence, this palace must have belonged to either Darius the Great, the Achaemenid King who ruled between 521 and 486 BC and built the famous Palace of Persepolis, or the kings who preceded him. However, it is more likely that the palace belonged to Darius,” said Ataee.

In addition to this pillar base, the royal seat of this palace, built using soil and condensed sand, several pieces of clay bricks, and three clay walls constructed in a row were discovered by the archeologists. The top of the walls has been destroyed by bulldozers; however, archeologists are hoping to find the construction plan of this palace by studying these walls more carefully.

Regarding the size of these clay bricks, Ataee said, “These clay bricks are in different size, some are 35 by 33 cm, some 17 by 33, and some others are 33 by 33 centimeters. They were probably used to cover the floor.”

Bolaghi Gorge is an endangered historical site in Fars province, near the ancient site of Pasargade, threatened by the Sivand Dam built in its vicinity. Although the dam is not flooded yet, it is clear that with its inauguration Iran will say farewell to one of its most valuable cultural heritage sites.

Although Ataee announced that inauguration of the Sivand Dam will not directly affect this Achaemenid Palace since it is located in an area which is relatively far from the Sivand Dam, the humidity caused by the dam will certainly destroy this palace in a long run.

The Iran-French archeology team will continue its excavations in Bolaghi Gorge until June 5 to save this ancient site as much as possible before the inauguration of the dam, the date of which has not been announced yet.

[persian]

Interesting.

[Gilgamesh]

Alrighty!

Let's try to post some photos too and not only text.

[Gilgamesh]

Iran’s Astonishing Achievements in Archeology Last Year



Tehran, 26 March 2006 (CHN) -- The year 1384 (Iranian calendar) which finished on March 20 this year, was full of ups and downs for Iran in archeological fields. Not only the number of archeological excavations increased during last year compared to the previous years, Bolaghi Gorge Salvation Project was also a big job on the shoulders of Iran’ Archeology Research Center.

Iran archeological sites witnessed important seasons of excavations with the presence of Iranian and foreign archeologists. The excavations in the Burnt City in Sistan va Baluchistan province, in the historical city of Gour in Fars province, in Tool Talesh cemetery in Gilan Province, Gohar Tepe historical site in Mazandaran province and many more all led to some important archeological discoveries. However, among aal of these excavations and archeological activities, the Bolaghi Gorge Salvation Project was the most prominent projects which attracted the attention of public opinion both inside and outside the country. The rush of several international archeological groups from Japan, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, and other countries alongside with Iranian archeologists to rescue the Bolaghi Gorge historical site in Fars province turned the project into an international one.

Full article

[avicenna]

are their any dinosaur fossils in Iran?

[Nadini]

Iran is rich with history, love the country!

[shugs]

Indeed, Iran was host to the earliest signs on civilisation... even our mythology dates back 7000 years lol

Old news but worth being in this thread: Earliest signs of wine found in Iran

The world's earliest known ancient wine jar (more than 7000 years old, ca. 5400-5000 B.C.) and a similarly dated sherd from another reconstructed wine jar are now on display in the exhibit Tokens to Tablets: Glimpses Into 6000 Years of the History of the Ancient Near East in the Mesopotamian gallery of the Museum.

Both the jar and the sherd were made famous by widespread international media attention following a June Nature magazine article about the discovery of wine residue on the sherd. The news also placed the Museum in the Guinness World Records.

A Remarkable Discovery...

In a serendipitous case of media attention spurring on a discovery, Museum archaeochemist Dr. Patrick McGovern, a researcher in the Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology, discovered that the complete jar, which had been on display in one of the Museum's ancient Near East galleries, also had a wine residue. The jar, which was originally found near the sherd, was taken off display to be photographed with Dr. McGovern by the London-based Science Photo Library. Asked by the photographer to look down at the pot for the photograph, Dr. McGovern exclaimed, "There appears to be a reddish residue inside the jar!" Later testing confirmed that the residue was indeed an ancient wine deposit with a terebinth tree resin additive; this was the same result that had been obtained in testing the sherd.

Both the pottery jar and the sherd were recovered in 1968 from the "kitchen" of a mud- brick Neolithic building at Hajji Firuz Tepe, Iran - a site excavated by a University of Pennsylvania Museum expedition under the direction of Dr. Mary M. Voigt (as part of the Museum's Hasanlu Project, 1956-1977). Four similar jars were found with these, set into the floor along a wall of the "kitchen." They each had a volume of about 9 liters (2.5 gallons)....

Entire Article: http://www.museum.upenn.edu/new/rese...ast/wine.shtml

[farhad789]

Did u know that:

Kerman, a paradise for fossil lovers

Kerman is as old as history; Kerman province is considered a paradise for palaeontologists given the abundance of plant and animal (both vertebrates and invertebrates) fossils from different geological eras (see: Box 1-5 for a recent study at Geology Department, Bahonar University of Kerman). . . .

Read more in a recently published book about Iran fossils and History:

http://www.freewebs.com/drmozafari/mybooks3.htm

[farhad789]

Originally Posted by avicenna

are their any dinosaur fossils in Iran?

Hi my friend,
Yes plenty,
Iran is one of the richest places on Earth with respect of fissils in general, and dinosaur fossils in particular. In fact the huge fossil reserves of Iran are the source of country's huge Gas and Petrol resources. Some evidences from literature:

Dinosaur Footprints Traced in Kerman

TEHRAN, Jan. 8 (2005) -- Paleontologists and Natural History Museum are conducting a special project to identify and take mold of dinosaur footprints which have been found in Kerman province.
The main objective of this project is to promote paleontological studies. Kerman province is considered a paradise for paleontologists given the abundance of vertebrate fossils from different geological eras. . . .

Iranian archeologists have come across fossils of giant creatures dating back to more than one million years ago throughout Iran.
[Iran Daily Newspaper, 12: Sun, Jan 09, 2005;
http://www.iran-daily.com/] (Figure 3-1).

[From the Book: FOSSILIZED FLESHES: Recent Evidences of Old Creatures of Kerman] website: http://www.freewebs.com/drmozafari/mybooks3.htm

[farhad789]

Originally Posted by Nadini

Iran if rich with history, love the country!

Hi Nadini,
I liked your motto, but instead of "if" I think it should read "is"
Iran indeed IS very rich with History and new discoveries are ongoing almost on daily basis.

I give you just two scientific articles published in the famous Journal SCIENCE saying that based on new discoveries in Jiroft (a city in south Iran) History books must be rewritten (origin of civilisation was not only Egypt and Indus-Gang rivers in India, we need to add Jiroft even before the other two places):

Lawler, A. (2003) BRONZE AGE FIND: Jiroft Discovery Stuns Archaeologists. Science, 7 November 2003: Vol. 302. no. 5647, pp. 973-974.

Lawler, A. (2004) ARCHAEOLOGY: Iranian Dig Opens Window on New Civilization. Science, 21 May 2004: Vol. 304. no. 5674, pp. 1096-1097.

- - - - - -
By the way I was in your country almost 36 years ago, started my education there (School of Gasr el-Nil, Share al-Hoot, Beirut). I miss Lebanese food, shaverma, manoshe, and your delicious olives.

[shugs]

I think she meant to type 'is' mate

[Gilgamesh]

lol

[Gilgamesh]

Anyways...

Sassanid city discovered in Fars

LONDON, March 12 (IranMania) - A large Sassanid city has been discovered near the town of Kazerun in the southern Iranian province of Pars, the Persian service of CHN reported.

“The city is located 70 kilometers from Kazerun near the glorious bas-relief of Bahram II (Sassanid king 276–293 CE) and Sar-Mashhad village, so we tentatively named it Sar-Mashhad,” the director of the archaeological team working at the site said.

Although no one knew its extent, people were aware of the existence of the buried city due to several small mounds at the site, but during the new phase of studies, the team found a large site that covers 600 hectares, Saeid Ebrahimi explained.

Based on the shards gathered at the site and its proximity to the Bahram II bas-relief, the archaeologists believe that the site dates back to the Sassanid era and was still inhabited in the early Islamic era. The team is currently searching for references to the city in historical texts, Ebrahimi added.

Villagers who use some sections of the area for farming believe that the site was used by Bahram II for lion hunting, but Ebrahimi rejected the idea, arguing, “The site contains many mounds and a large tepe, which were all human residences.”

With Persepolis and the city of Gur, Pars Province is home to major palaces of the great dynasties of the Achaemenids (about 550-331 BC) and the Sassanids (224-651 CE).

The relief of Bahram II struggling with a Lion

[J_H_]

Do you know this joke?


"An Italian turist sad in Persepolis, that archeologists in Rome uncovered ancient wires so it is obvious, that ancient Romans had telephones.

Answer of Iranian guide is: "Our archeologist did not find any wires in Persepolis, so it is proved, that Iranians used cell phones on that times."

[shayan]

Yeah i knew that one :p