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| The 6000-Year-Old Site of Shad Qoli Destroyed in Silence | ||||||||||
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Despite warnings by ICHTO, the 6000-year-old historical site of Shad Qoli in Qom was destroyed by the order of the province’s governor office. | |||||||||
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Tehran, 29 July 2006 (CHN Foreign Desk) -- Evidence of 6000 years of civilization were simply wiped off due to a decision made by the governor’s office of Qom province. Ignoring the previous warnings by Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (ICHTO), the Governor Office of Qom province refused to stop constructions at Shad Qoli to give archeologists some time to finish with their studies in this historical site, which resulted in destruction of Shad Qoli almost entirely. Hossein Saberi, director of Qom’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department, explains that by discovery of some historical and cultural remains during the fourth phase of construction of Amar Boulevard, this Department asked Qom’s governor to stop the project through a letter which was delivered to this Office on February 28, 2006 and asked for a 10-day opportunity to study the area. Saberi also explained that in the letter, the Cultural Heritage Department had mentioned that after finishing the excavations in this historical site, the project can be continued; however, the project was resumed while the excavations never finished and resulted in destruction of Shad Qoli, and ancient site which goes back to the pre-historic time. On the other hand, the Civil Deputy of Qom's Governor has claimed that when the project started nobody knew this part of the city has a historic value. “The appearance of this place did not show that it dates back to 6000 years ago. Although there were some religious places in the area which looked old, they were never announced as historical sites,” says Civil Deputy of Qom. The project was stopped for 45 days until the 20th of April and then Qom’s Municipality asked the Cultural Heritage Department to make the situation clear. In a letter which was submitted by the Department right away, the historical value of Shad Qoli Khan Tepe and Qoli Darvish historical site and their importance in revealing some information about the ancient culture and civilization of Iran and Qom province and the necessity for carrying out archeological excavations in these historical sites were explained in detail. However, against all the correspondences made between the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department, the Governor Office, and the Municipality of Qom province, at last by the written order of the Governor, the project was restarted and resulted in destruction of this 6000-year-old site. In reaction to the blames put on Qom's Governor Office, the authorities of this organization blame ICHTO for lack of cooperation and claim that after being informed about the historic importance of Shad Qoli, the Office did its best to cooperate with the Cultural Heritage Department and to coordinate its activities with this Department; however, it was the Cultural Heritage Organization who failed to fulfill its obligations by not showing up in the area at the scheduled time. Although based on the regulations mentioned in Iran's Third and Fourth Development Programs, no development activities are allowed to take place in the vicinity of historical sites without obtaining a certificate from the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization, apparently this law has no executive support. Finding out which organization or individual is to be blamed for the destruction of Shad Qoli historical site would not bring back evidence of the thousands of years that is lost. Destruction of this ancient site has put an end to archeologists' hope for getting their hands on some valuable information and revealing some unknown facts about formation of social life in Qom some 6000 years ago. Before the discovery of this historic site, it was supposed that the existence of human beings in Qom dates back to the 9th century AD; however, initial findings in Shad Qoli revealed that the existence of life in this area must go back to 6000 years ago instead. “Some invaluable earthenware relics were discovered during the first few days of archeological excavations in this historical site. Further excavations in this area could lead to revealing some important information about the formation of the first human settlements in this part of the country some 6000 years ago,” said Siamak Sarlak, archeologist and head of excavation team in Shad Qoli pre-historical site. foreigndesk@chn.ir |
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