Posted on 07/20/2006 3:04:59 PM PDT by blam
Ancient Metal Relics Discovered in Jiroft
Jul 19, 2006
The police department of Jiroft succeeded in confiscating 41 metal relics belonging to the pre-historic and historic periods. The most ancient one is a Riton belonging to the third millennium BC. Riton is a kind of goblet with the head of an animal, usually in the shape of a lion, horse, ibex, or winged lion.
"The police department of Jiroft found 41 bronze, copper, and silver relics. The most ancient one is a Riton with the head of a humped cow belonging to some 5000 years ago," said Nader Soleimani, archeologist from the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department of Kerman province.
According to Soleimani, a bronze dagger belonging to the first millennium BC with the design of an animal like crocodile is one of the other interesting relics in this collection. "The designs which can be seen on this dagger depict something like the crocodiles which still exist in south of Chabahar Port in Iran's Sistan va Baluchestan province. The person who came up with this design must have seen this animal closely to be able to put down such accurate pattern," added Soleimani.
A bronze axe and a copper plaque engraved with a humped cow, an ibex and palm tree are the other discovered relics. "Such designs had already been seen in other parts of Jiroft on artifacts made with soapstone," said Soleimani.
Soleimani also announced the existence of a small bronze vessel belonging to the third millennium BC with some geometrical designs, and also 24 antique coins belonging to different periods of Parthian, Sassanid, the beginning of Islamic, Seljuk, Ilkhanid, Safavid, and Qajar periods in this newly discovered collection.
Jiroft historical site is located in Kerman province on the basin of Halil Rud River. Jiroft is known to be one of the most historical sites of the world which enjoyed a rich civilization in the third millennium BC. Over 100 historical sites have so far been identified along the bank of Halili-Rud River, extended for 400 kilometers.
Lack of enough control over this historical site and unawareness of the public about its importance turned Jiroft into a paradise for illegal diggers, plundering a large number of ancient relics in this site. What happened in Jiroft is today known as one of the most tragic events in archeology. It was only after all these illegal excavations that the archeologists rushed to this area to study one of the most prominent historical sites in Iran which revealed much about one of the most ancient civilizations of the world. Some archeologists believe that more findings on the earliest civilization that lived in Jiroft will be a turning point in their current understanding of the history of civilization.
"This threshold of history found in Jiroft is what is lost in the evolution course of the Mesopotamian civilization and is not that notable in that of Egypt. There are so many objects dating to this time found in the Halil-Rud Area, which can fill the gap in the formation and development course of the Jiroft civilization. Therefore, one can say that Jiroft is the capital of today's world archeology because it allows the archeologists to modify the previous theories on how people lived during that time. The part of history that was hidden in the strata of Iran's plateau is essential to rebuilding the base of world's history," these words were expressed by Jean Perrot, one of world's greatest archeologists who headed the French teams working in Iran from 1968 to 1978 and also attended the International Conference of Halil-Rud Civilization which was held in Jiroft from 1-3 February 2005.
Up until now, some 4000 historical relics which had been unearthed during illegal excavations in Jiroft have been identified and confiscated by the police department.
???
Too bad I can't get anything but red X's.
A humped cow means it is Bos Indicus, native to India. Odd.
Do archaeologists own cameras?
When I see the parched, arid landscape in photos of the Baghdad region, or other areas between the two rivers, it is difficult to realize that for thousands of years that area abounded in grain fields and orchards as lush as any area in the mid-western US.
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