By
Soudabeh Sadigh
Activities of bulldozers near one of the branches
of Sivand River in Fars province resulted in destruction of Achaemenid Didehgan
Dam located north of Pasargadae.
Remains of Didehgan Dam, Fars
province
Tehran, 24 February 2007 (CHN)
-- Didehgan Dam which was constructed some 2500 years ago during the Achaemenid
dynastic era (550-330 BC) to the north of the world heritage site of Pasargadae
in Iran’s Fars province in order to prevent seasonal flooding in the region has
been demolished as a result of removing soil in the region by
bulldozers.
Announcing this news, Mohammad Jafar
Malekzadeh, secretary of the high commission for dam construction of Fars
Regional Water Organization, told CHN: “A very high technique was implemented in
construction of Didehgan Dam which has made it unique in the world. The core of
this Achaemenid dam was constructed by soil and it was covered with stone -
something which has not been seen elsewhere. However, the activities of
bulldozers of a private company in the vicinity of this historic dam have caused
some serious damages to parts of Didehgan.”
Didehgan was recently discovered during
archeological excavations in the region. Although the existence of a historic
dam belonging to the Achaemenid dynastic era in Didehgan area had previously
been mentioned in some archeological documents including the researches
conducted by an American archeologist in the northern parts of Pasargadae world
heritage site, since it was not introduced properly, the search for such a dam
was not taken seriously.
Regarding the usage of this dyke-like Dam,
Malekzadeh explained: “Considering that there are not much agricultural lands in
the region, it seems that most possibly the main aim behind construction of this
dam was to bring the flooding in the region under control and to have a water
reservoir.”
By destruction of this dam, some valuable
archeological evidence giving clues to the technique practiced for dam
construction during the ancient times have been demolished; however, Malekzadeh
still believes that even the remaining parts would put some important
information in the hands of archeologists in this regard.
“Some huge
stones, 1x1 meters in size, were used for construction of the Dam. However,
archeologists are still uncertain about the origin of these stones,” added
Malekzadeh.
According to Malekzadeh, some holes
can be seen on parts of the stones which most probably were used for coiling up
the logs to prevent penetration of water. Due to recent activities of
bulldozers, some parts of the dam have been completely demolished and the stones
used in its construction have been broken down into pieces. This is while
experts believe such activities in this area were absolutely unnecessary.
In an attempt to prevent flooding in the
region, a number of dams were constructed in Fars province, capital of
Achaemenid dynastic era (550-330 BC), during the reign of Achaemenid emperors.
Examples of such dams can be seen in Marvdasht where the Great Dam of Darius was
constructed.
View images of destruction of the Didegan
Dam, here
... Payvand News - 2/26/07 ... --
