Italian, Japanese archaeologists to study ancient sites in southern Iran

TEHRAN -- Archaeological teams from Italy and Japan are scheduled to travel to Iran separately in order to conduct a series of studies on several ancient sites in Fars Province.

An Italian team will arrive in the country on April 24, Iranian Center for Archaeological Research (ICAR) Director Mahmud Mireskandari told the Persian service of IRNA on Tuesday.

The team will excavate the Sassanid city of Estakhr for 45 days to find probable signs of early mosques that were built after the advent of Islam, he added.

The city, which was also inhabited during the Achaemenid period and early Islamic era, is located on the outskirts of the 6000-year-old Mount Rahmat (also known as the Rahmatabad Tepe) near Persepolis in the Marvdasht region.

A team composed of Iranian and Italian members led by Professor Pierfrancesco Callieri of the University of Bologna conducted a series of excavations in Estakhr in 2008.

Mireskandari said that another Italian team, which will arrive in Iran late May, plans to study the Sassanid city of Bishpur to learn about the waterworks at the site located 23 kilometers north of the town of Kazerun.

The Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO) has recently applied for registration of the ruins of Bishapur on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

The Japanese group will do research on the ancient sites around the town of Arasnajan.

Located 120 kilometers northeast of the city of Shiraz, Arasnajan is surrounded by sites dating back to the Achaemenid, Sassanid, and Timurid eras.

Mireskandari said that an Iranian archaeologist will lead each team and a number of Iranian experts will also accompany the groups in their excavations.

“These groups will bring the necessary advanced equipment with them and the Iranians will have the opportunity to become acquainted with that equipment during the studies,” he sated.

These archaeological collaborations are based on memorandums of understanding previously signed by the CHTHO and the Italian and Japanese teams.

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