Iran: Salman-e Farsi Dam Inaugurated Without ICHTO Approval

Tehran, 15 March 2007 (CHN Foreign Desk) -- The first phase of inundation of Salman-e Farsi Dam which is built among a number of historic sites in Iran’s Fars province finally took place today without obtaining permission from Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization. It is said that there are more than 20 unexcavated historic sites dated to the Sassanid dynastic period (224-651 AD) along the reservoir of the dam which will be submerged once the reservoir is filled completely.

The Iranian cultural heritage experts had been trying for the past two years to excavate the historic sites near the Dam, but were unsuccessful since Iran’s Water Organization showed little interest, if any, to cooperate with archeologists.

The lake behind Salman-e Farsi Dam includes 15 sites from the Elamite Empire (3400 BC-550 BC) to the Islamic era (651 AD onward) plus a monument from the beginning of the Islamic period. In addition, archeologists have found evidence of a great fire temple in the reservoir area of the Salman-e Farsi Dam.

Located in Darab Plain, one of the main residential settlements of the Sassanid dynastic era, construction of Salman-e Farsi Dam began in 1994 along with a number of other dams in the region such as the Mollasadra Dam whose inundation is seen as a real threat to a number of invaluable historic evidence including a prehistoric hill, 13 graves of the Parthian dynastic era (248 BC–AD 224), and 5 other historic and Islamic sites.


Maryam Tabeshian
foreigndesk@chn.ir