Bam Earthquake Yields Archaeological Gold

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Fatal Bam Earthquake

Yields Archaeological Gold

By Angus McDowall

The Independent - UK

6-19-4

 

BAM, Iran -- Aerial photographs of the Iranian city of Bam, which

was destroyed in an earthquake last year that killed more than

26,000 people, have revealed important new archaeological sites.

 

One discovery dates from between 2,400BC and 2,600 BC, proving the

city is centuries older than experts had thought. Another site, from

medieval times, showed that the community then practised religious

and cultural tolerance but was threatened by marauding Turkic tribes

and the Mongol invasion.

 

The history of the city rests on an astonishing network of qanats,

huge underground irrigation channels, kilometres long.

 

After the earthquake struck on 26 December, aerial photographs were

taken to assess the damage. Archaeologists working with Iran's

Cultural Heritage & Tourism Organisation (CHTO) asked to see the

pictures showing Arg-e Bam, the unique mud citadel that symbolised

the city. "I immediately realised that the citadel should be seen as

part of a larger site," said Chahryar Adle, a senior archaeologist

at the CHTO and the French Centre National de la Recherche

Scientifique.

 

"I saw that lots of the qanats came to an end right up against the

fault line and had the impression that there were large pools

alongside them.

 

"[Then] I discovered that the fault line itself - the tool and

symbol of Bam's destruction - had once been transformed by human

genius into an instrument of life."

 

Qanats tap water supplies deep below the feet of nearby mountains.

They slope down at a slightly shallower angle than the slope of the

hill, and surface kilometres away, often in areas that would

otherwise be completely dry. In Bam, the qanats surfaced much closer

to the water source because the fault line caused a sharp fall in

the ground level. So agriculture developed along the line,

eventually leading to the development of the city.

 

Dr Adle says the ancient irrigation system was a wonder of Persian

engineering, imitated from Chinese Turkistan to Egypt and the

Arabian peninsula.

 

As well as helping archaeologists discover the new sites, the

earthquake has revealed the historical landscape beneath the fallen

citadel, revealing a layered chronology.

 

Eskander Mokhtari, head of the citadel restoration effort,

said: "The quake opened up the ground in a way that tens of

archaeologists working for decades would have been unable to do."

 

Dr Adle added: "The earthquake was terrible in almost every way, but

it was a blessing for archaeology."

 

© 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd

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