Sialk
Unfortunately, what remains of this 5000-year-old ziggurat is not in a favorable condition like many other ruins in Iran[2]. There are actually two structures at Sialk situated several hundred feet from each other. The three platforms of the larger ziggurat however still remain in place. Not much remains of the smaller structure. The Louvre has also excavated a cemetary near the strutures that have been dated as far back as 7500 years.[3]
Sialk is one of four ziggurats built by the Elamite civilization. The other four are: Choqa Zanbil (1250 BC), Susa ziggurat (1800 BC), and Haft Teppeh [4] (1375 BC), all in Khuzestan. The Ziggurat at Ur was rebuilt by Saddam Hussein with bricks stamped with his name. Sialk is thus the 32nd and most recent ziggurat of Mesopotamia to be discovered.
"Teppe Sialk" (In Persian, Tappe means "hill" or "mound") was first excavated by a team of European archeologists headed by Roman Ghirshman in the 1930s. His extensive studies were followed by D.E.McCown, Y. Majidzadeh, P. Amieh, up until the 1970s, and recently reviewed by Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization in 2002 (led by Shah-mirzadi, PhD, U of Penn). But like the thousands of other Iranian historical ruins, the treasures excavated here eventually found their way to museums such as The Louvre, The British Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and private collectors.
The Sialk ziggurat has 3 platforms, and although the ziggurat itself was built in 2900 BC, it still predates Urnamu's Ziggurat at Ur, which was built in 2100 BC. However, the earliest archeological remains of the north mound date back to the middle of the 6th millennium BC, i.e. about 7500 years ago.
Sialk, and the entire area around it, is thought to have first originated as a result of the pristine underground water sources that still run today. The Cheshmeh ye Soleiman (or "Solomon's Spring") has been bringing water to this area from nearby mountains for thousands of years. The Fin garden, built to its present form in the 1600s is a popular tourist attraction today. It is here where Persian Kings of the Safavid dynasty would spend their vacations away from their capital cities. It is also here where, Abu Lu Lu, the Iranian assassin of Islam's second Caliph is buried. Kashan is also famous for its outstanding desert architecture.
A joint study between Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization, The Louvre, and Institute Francais de Recherche en Iran also verifies the oldest settlements in Sialk to date back to 5500 BC.
What little is left of the two crumbling Sialk ziggurats is now threatened by the encroaching suburbs of the expanding city of Kashan. It is not uncommon to see kids playing soccer amid the ruins, while only several meters away lie the supposedly "off limit" 5,500 year old skeletons unearthed at the foot of the ziggurat.
The significance of the scientific and cultural achievements of the Elamites and their influence on other civilizations can be better understood when we learn that according to some scholars the first wheeled pitcher (or wheeled roller) is known to have been invented by the Elamites. Proto-elamite writings found in Sialk are also indicative of the earliest use of the decimal system here.
Furthermore, the first arched roof and its covering, which are very important techniques in architecture were invented by the Elamites, and used in the mausoleum of Teppeh-i-ahar around 1360 BC (unearthed in the excavations made at Haft Tappeh) nearly 1,500 years before such arches were used by the Romans.(note: Link is not in English)
But the painful reality is that Sialk is just one of thousands of structures of antiquity in Iran plundered by colonialists, thieves, present and past incompetent authorities, and time itself. Only the more famous ones come to attention when threatened, and a select few come under the protection or supervision of UNESCO.
Other ancient structures of Iranian heritage are not so lucky. The Sialk ziggurat at least has a guard or two protecting it. Others like the massive Sasanid-era citadel of Narin ghaleh in the city of Naeen have turned into a garbage dump by the local government. And many others fare even worse than that.
Sources
- Les Recherches Archeologiques Francaises en Iran. Nov 2001, Tehran. Institute Francais de Recherche en Iran, Musee de Louvre, ICHO.
- The Ziggurat of Sialk, Sadegh malek Shahmirzadi, Masoud Azarnoush, Seifollah Aminian et al. 2002. ISBN 964-7483-28-7
See also
