Experts back in Iran to study Ancient Persia

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/29/science/29tabl.html?ex=1083816000&en=80786137a806a775&ei=5040&partner=MOREOVER

By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD

Published: April 29, 2004


After an absence of a quarter-century, Western archaeologists are trickling back into Iran, encouraged by local officials seeking wider scientific contacts with foreigners.

In the last three years, a few American and European archaeologists have quietly resumed excavations primarily at ruins of the ancient Persian empire, which flourished 2,500 years ago. Their numbers are expected to swell in coming months as a result of a new openness toward foreign scholars, proclaimed by Iranian cultural leaders last August at a conference in Tehran

"We were told that Western researchers are welcome to Iran," Dr. Gil Stein, director of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, said in a telephone interview. "Part of Iran at least is very interested in improving relations with the West, and believes that scholarship and research play an integral role in that."

As a gesture of good faith, the institute announced yesterday that it was returning a set of 300 ancient Persian clay tablets to the Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization, the national antiquities department. They were described as the first archaeological items to be shipped back since the 1979 revolution that overthrew the shah. The tablets, inscribed with cuneiform writing from about 500 B. C., were among tens of thousands of such items discovered by Chicago archaeologists that were loaned to the institute in 1937 for translation and study. Thousands of tablet fragments were returned to Iran in 1951.

I got my undergrad degree in Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture from the Oriental Institute at U of C. I'm glad to see that these tablets are going back and that Iran will permit Western archaeologists back in the country again. Iran has a fascinating history going back thousands of years.

What's fascinating about Iran's history is that Iran is the only non-Arab country in the Middle East besides Turkey, and so majority of the history is intertwined with Persian History, culture and heritage.

Including, Zoroastrianism which was the religion of the Persian Empire and the Kings.

Interestingly, a lot of it seems to involve documenting the presence of one or more early civilizations in Iran that were prior to, or at least not dependent on, the Sumerians. That may or may not be true, but either way it demonstrates an increasing level of national pride.


"According to the excavations and researches, the Burned City has come to be known as one of the most important proofs of the independence of the eastern part of Iran from Mesopotamia."

http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/News/Newsdate=14-March-02.htm


"Excavators have begun their archeological surveys at `Halilroud' district in Jiroft, Kerman province in search of remnants of ancient cultures and trends in cultural and civilizational exchanges between Iran's central desert and Mesopotamia.

<snip>

"An archeologist, Yousef Majidzadeh, is convinced that once an ancient monarchy enjoying a glorious art and civilization, known as `Earth', ruled over this part of Iran.

"He believes that it included various cities as well as numerous cultural and civilizational centers.

"According to him, the cultures prevailing the area acted as a cultural corridor and played a decisive role in forming the most ancient Mesopotamian civilization."

http://www.payvand.com/news/02/nov/1019.html

I still can't believe what a fucking disaster we made of the Baghdad museum. Bunch of fuckin' Visigoths.