Dam is threat to Iran's heritage

[emad]

Unesco appeals for help as ancient sites face being flooded

John Vidal
Thursday December 23, 2004
The Guardian

More than 100 of Iran's potentially most important but least examined archaeological sites, including fringes of Pasargadae, the city built by King Cyrus the Great, will be flooded in the next two years according to the UN, which appealed yesterday to international scientists to try to record what they can.

The flooding of the eight-mile Tang-e-Bolaghi gorge because of the construction of a dam will destroy ancient Persia's imperial road which ran from Persepolis to Pasargadae.

The Sivand dam has been planned for 10 years as part of a project to provide irrigation water for farmers in the parched south of the country.

But the speed of its construction and the scale of what will be lost have surprised scientists and the UN.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1378845,00.html