Tehran, 17 April 2007 (CHN Foreign Desk) -- Concurrent with the visit of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s President, to Fars province, the initial phase for inundation of Sivand Dam in Bolaghi Gorge has started.   According to a cultural heritage expert in Pasargadae, closing the discharge tunnel of Sivand Dam for flooding the dam has been started. This way in a near future, the reservoir of Sivand Dam will be filled with water and would submerge more than 130 pre-historic and historic sites identified so far in Bolaghi Gorge.

 

The areas no. 131, 73, 76, and 64 will be the first historical sites in Bolaghi Gorge which would be drowned with inundation of Sivand Dam. Prior to this, archeologists had announced that the salvation project of Bolaghi Gorge has come to an end.

 

Head of Archeology Research Center of Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) has also announce that the excavations in Bolaghi Gorge has reached to a final point and the time has arrived for using the abilities and energy of archeologists for saving the other historical sites which lay behind other dams in the country.

 

Contradictory statements made by authorities of Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization and Iran’s Ministry of Energy about inundation of Sivand Dam, put the situation of this sensational dam in a state of ambiguity. None of them clarified the reality about whether Sivand Dam will be flooded or when this event will take place.

 

Dam construction has become one of the main concerns of Iranian cultural heritage enthusiasts in the recent years. Despite the economical importance of dam construction, considering that Iran is a very ancient country with enormous of prehistoric and historic sites, most of which have not been excavated yet, developing projects including dam constructions have posed real harm to the country’s rich cultural heritage.

 

Sivand Dam was one of the most important sensational examples which its construction resided many concerns among cultural heritage enthusiast both inside and outside the country and its news coverage went far beyond Iranian borders.

 

Following the news of construction of Sivand Dam, large groups of archeologists and experts from Iran and other countries including, France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Japan, etc rushed to the area to engage in an emergency salvation project to save the remaining evidence at Bolaghi Gorge before the area immersed under water. It can be said that salvation project of Sivand Dam was the biggest international project Iran has ever witnessed in the history of its archeological activities. These archeological excavations led into identifying some 130 historical sites in the area and many invaluable information about residency and life in this prehistoric site, by inundation of the dam all of which will be drowned forever.     

 

However, now the main concern is that whether the humidity of the dam would cause any threat Pasargadae world heritage site and the tomb of Cyrus the Great, the Achaemenid king and founder of Achaemenid dynasty or not. A few days ago, Taha Hashemi, director of Archeology Research Center of ICHTO told reporters that if it is proven that the humidity caused by the dam would have a negative effect on Pasargadae, the flooding of the dam will be stopped and its reservoir will be dried.

 

 

Soudabeh Sadigh

foreigndesk@chn.ir

 

 

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