Zoroastrian News - اخبار زرتشتیان

Continuation of archeological excavations in Bolaghi Gorge, Iranian Fars province, led into discovery of a stone dam dating back to Achaemenid dynastic era (550-330 BC). This new discovery brought into light that the sensational dam of Sivand, constructed in Bolaghi Gorge, is built on the remains of this Achaemenid dam. Due to the method practiced for scraping the stones, this dam is called “Sang bor sabzali” literary meaning: ‘Sabzali scraped stone’ by the locals.

“Archeological excavations in Bolaghi Gorge revealed that Sivand Dam has been constructed on the remains of an Achaemenid dam. Existence of an ancient stone dam in the area, which is completely demolished, has also been approved by technical authorities of the dam,” said Mohsen Zeidi, Iranian head of Iran-Japan archeology team in Bolaghi Gorge to CHN.

According to Zeidi, archeologists have also succeeded in discovery of the remains of an Achaemenid soil dam near Rahmatabad hill in Bolaghi Gorge which was most probably constructed prior to this stone dam in an attempt to provide water for the locals and their agricultural lands.

Evidence shows that all requirements were considered for constructing such a dam during the ancient times and the location of the dam was chosen very carefully and systematically. Some irrigation canals were also constructed in order to direct part of the water of the rivers toward the reservoir of the dam.

Zeidi believes that archeological evidence in Bolaghi Gorge indicates that the height of the dam must not have been tall and therefore low level water was stored in the reservoir behind the dam.

Discovery of a number of 2500-year-old dams in Bolaghi Gorge shed light on the high attention was paid to agricultural activities and the value of water management during Achaemenid dynastic era, evidence of which can be also seen in most inscriptions remained from this period of Persian history.

Iranian and Japanese archeology team are determined to pinpoint the exact place of this Achaemenid Dam from the aerial pictures and satellite maps prepared before construction of Sivand Dam in the area.

Bolaghi Gorge is a historic site located 4 kilometers from the world heritage site of Pasargadae. Construction of Sivand Dam in this region, the inundation of which will submerge a large number of historical evidence situated in the area caused a lot of concern among cultural heritage enthusiasts both inside and outside Iran. Since 2 years ago a lot of effort has been made by Iranian and foreign archeologists to save the remaining historic evidence in the region before flooding of the dam which has resulted in identifying more than 130 historical sites in the area.