10,000 sq.m. of Partho-Sasanian Site in Susa Destroyed to Build a Hotel
11 August 2008
LONDON, (CAIS) — The ancient city of Susa is renowned for its
thousands of years of history and its resident-archaeologists are
angry and tearful as the Islamic republic has rubbed them out of their
heritage.
Last week a hotel construction company belonging to the prominent
members of the Islamic Republic bulldozed out 10,000 sq.m. of the
pre-Islamic ancient Iranian site of Susa in order to prepare a
foundation for construction of a hotel.
Experts have dated the destroyed strata to the late Parthian (248BCE
-224 CE) and Sasanian (224-651 CE) dynasties.
The dug out area is 100×100 metres wide and 6 meters deep. During the
excavation a human skeleton most probably being either Parthian or
Sasanian, large Partho-Sasanian earthenware vessels, a large number of
Partho-Sasanian potsherds and other relics were taken away and
destroyed.
The illegal permit for construction of Laleh Hotel was issued by
Khuzestan’s Province Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism
Organisation (KCHHTO).
Speaking with journalists in Tehran, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei the head
of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organisation
(ICHHTO) on Sunday, asserted the wrongdoers will be prosecuted.
Although it was Rahim-Mashaei himself who attended the
commencing-ceremony along with the director of KCHHTO, and ordered the
construction to begin.
To add insult to injury, when Rahim-Mashaei was questioned by
journalists about his participant in the destruction of the site, the
director of ICHHTO, claimed that he was not aware of the historical
importance of the site.
Susa was registered on Iran’s national heritage site in 1930s and
every elementary school child in Iran knows the historical importance
of Susa and its special place in Iranian history and civilisation.
According to the archaeologists with the Susa Research Centre, the dug
out earth from the site was taken away to a secret location unknown to
them, perhaps to destroy any traces of pre-Islamic Iranian heritage.