Sunday, September 04, 2005
پيام ِ روشنگرانه و انتقادي ي ِ يك استاد و كارشناس ِ باستان شناسي
Dear Dr. Doostkhah aziz,
Apparently some of our fellow Iranians are misinformed about the Sivand dam and its geographical proximity to Pasargadae. This is getting out-of-control and quiet embarrassing:
http://www.puyeshgaraan.com/Pasargad/Pasargad_Main.htm <http://www.puyeshgaraan.com/Pasargad/Pasargad_Main.htm>
Please advise them to take a look at regular report on the Cultural Heritage website:http://www.chn.ir/ <http://www.chn.ir/> Should they argue that the news on this website are false and part of the grand conspiracy, please forward them the following link to a brief paper by Remy Boucharlat, the head of the French Institute in Iran (perhaps they would prefer the word of a farangi to those of their fellow countryman):
http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=11716 <http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=11716>
Not only the Sivand dam is posing no threat to Pasargadae, but it has proven to be the first opportunity for Iranian and foreign archaeologists to collaborate on a salvage project since the 1979 Revolution.This news information is from an archaeologist who digs every year in Iran and KNOWS what is going on.
Unfortunatley, those who do not know about these matters and only have political agendas have rallied the people to an ill-informed cause. This reminds me of the finding of the so called MUMIFIED PERSIAN QUEEN "Rhodogoune" which seemed fake from the beginning, except to those how wanted to make it a political issue or create sensationalism. This amateurish modern fake which Carbon-14 showed to be only 3 years old and the body of a poor woman recently strangelled was not queen. Even the name of the lady, Rhodogoune, who was the daughter of King Xerxes was miswritten on the coffin as ru-du-gu-u-n which should be in actuallity ru-u-du-u-g-u-n-a, among other childish mistakes on the coffin's text. Of course anyone who has taken one course in ancient Persian history knows that Persians did not mumify people! So what happend to all those people who made a big fuss, took people's money in the name of taking the queen back? Nothing! Please don't do this again with Pasargade. Why no one in the past 40 years have put up money to have the place surveyed? It is only recently that is going to be done in detail because of this damn project. And of course Pasargade will NOT be flooded. No one will dare in their right mind to do such a thing and the damn is far away from it. I was in Shiraz two years ago when the news broke out in the local newspapers and people were angry. This is sensationalism. Instead of having committees for preservation of our culture, why don't we have committee to pay archaeologists to do work and excavate in Iran?Please forward to all whom are concerendbestTouraj DaryaeeProfessor of Ancient History California State University, FullertonPO Box 6846Fullerton, CA 92834-6846
