Tehran, 18 November 2006 (CHN Foreign Desk) -- A team of archeologists from Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) is about to start excavations in Tchogha Zanbil historic site and its surrounding areas to determine which regions are suitable for oil exploration purposes of the country’s Ministry of Petroleum without harming the archeological evidence of this ancient site.‌

 

The historical site of Tchogha Zanbil, located in the Iranian southwestern province of Khuzestan, was founded in 1250 BC as the seat of the Elamite Empire (3400 BC-550 BC). The Tchogha Zanbil ziggurat is the only surviving ziggurat in Iran and is one of the most important remaining evidence of the Elamite civilization. The entire area was registered in UNESCO’s World Heritage list in the year 1979.

 

Activities by Iran’s Ministry of Petroleum in the vicinity of Tchogha Zanbil’s ancient ziggurat had previously raised concerns about the fate of the region’s archeological evidence. After examining the area and the oil wells dug by oil companies, UNESCO officials voiced their objections and asked the Iranian officials to stop any further activities in the area. On the other hand, the Iranian cultural heritage authorities also objected to the use of explosives by the oil companies for oil exploration purposes in the vicinity of Tchogha Zanbil and asked the Ministry to set back. All of these brought a nine-month halt to the activities of the Petroleum Ministry in the vicinity of Tchogha Zanbil and now archeologists are about to examine the area to determine the Ministry’s future course of action.

 

According to Mohsen Hosseini, director of the provincial cultural heritage department’s research center, the new studies will begin shortly under the directorship of Mahnaz Sharifi, an ICHTO archeologist.

 

He also said that the main objectives behind the studies at Tchogha Zanbil will be to identify its existing historic sites and determine the extent of their cultural landscapes: “The studies will also tell us which areas contain less important or no historic evidence so that the Petroleum Ministry may continue its oil explorations there.”

 

Cultural heritage experts believe that there still exist large numbers of unidentified historic sites and archeological relics in the area which will suffer an irreplaceable harm by oil extraction activities.

 

The historical site of Tchogha Zanbil is one of the most important archeological sites of southern Iran. The architecture employed in the ziggurat resembles that of the Egyptian pyramids and Mayan temples.

 

Tchogha Zanbil and its ziggurat were built by the order of Untash-Gal, the Elamite King who ruled from 1275 to 1240 BC. They were originally called Dur Untash. The name has been repeatedly mentioned in Elamite and Assyrian inscriptions. The word Dur in the Akkadian and Elamite languages meant a town or an enclosed region; thus the town has historically been denoted to King Untash-Gal. Thousands of unused bricks left at the site show that construction of this town was left unfinished due to an attack by the Assyrian king Assur Banipal who invaded the Elamite Capital in 646 BC.

 

View more images of Tchogha Zanbil and its ziggurat here

 

 

Maryam Tabeshian

foreigndesk@chn.ir

 

 

Chogha Zanbil in the Course of History

Chogha Zanbil, Towering Ziggurat of Southern Iran