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| Baking Quake-proof Bricks to Start Soon in Bam |
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Following the launch of an international project to salvage the Bam Citadel, almost leveled last year in a ruinous earthquake which killed 26,000 people, experts are studying soil samples from 9 brick baking furnaces in the area.
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Following the launch of an international project to salvage the Bam Citadel, almost leveled last year in a ruinous earthquake which killed 26,000 people, experts are studying soil samples from 9 brick baking furnaces in the area.
Iranian experts along with their French counterparts launched a drive last month to produce jolt-proof bricks in Bam in order to restore the age-old adobe structure. They are also availing themselves of the expertise of local brick-making masters, noted Ahmadi, an expert with the project.
“The samples would be studied to determine some factors such as grade, consistency, and resistance against damp and when the best soil is selected, the project would get a go ahead,” said Azadeh Esraphili, a soil lab researcher.
The team is doing its best to find some sort of additive material for the bricks without jeopardizing their originality.
Situated in the desert on the southern edge of the Iranian high plateau, Bam developed as a crossroads of trade in silk and cotton. Its origins can be traced to the Achaemenid period (6th-4th century BC) and it reached its heyday from the 7th to 11th centuries. Bam grew in an oasis created mainly thanks to an
underground water management system (qanāts), which continues to function. The site’s main ancient remains are within a fortified citadel area (Arg), which contains 38 watchtowers, Governmental Quarters, and the historic town and its 8th or 9th century mosque, one of the oldest in Iran. This is the most representative example of a fortified medieval town built in vernacular technique using mud layers. As a result of the destruction, archaeologists have discovered new evidence of the history of the place in the Arg itself and in the surrounding territory. This includes remains of ancient settlements and irrigation systems, dating at least to the Parthian-Hellenistic period, 2nd century B.C.
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