12/07/07
Squandering Our Heritage
By Shahram Rafizadeh (Source: Gozaar)

Iran's cultural heritage is in danger. This is a warning that, over
the years, particularly in the last one or two years, has been issued
by admirers of Iran's ancient culture and civilization. However,
these warnings seem to be falling on the deaf ears of all three
branches of the government: the executive, the legislature, and the
judiciary.

The plunder and destruction of cultural heritage sites in Iran has at
least a thirty-year history. In January 1979, a popular revolution
resulted in the collapse of the Iranian monarchy. For more than a
decade, the newly-founded Islamic Republic branded Iran's ancient and
historical sites as symbols of oppression and self-glorification. A
large portion of the population, marking the country's changed
societal values, accepted this belief. It was during these years that
hundreds of ancient and historical sites were destroyed or plundered.
The excuse for this apathy and destruction was to contradict the
Pahlavi kings who were so infatuated with the past and the connection
they drew between the pre-Islamic Iranian monarchy and their own.

But such attitudes come and go, and by the end of the war people
gradually came to understand the depth of the tragedy that had
befallen their national identity and cultural heritage. Some
newspapers and a few high-ranking officials once again spoke of
cultural heritage. However, even today, the disintegration and
plunder of ancient sites continues despite widespread public
opposition.

The disintegration of historical sites (of which a large part can be
blamed on the mismanagement of repairs and lack of preservation),
smuggling of artifacts, and a lack of legal structure protecting
these artifacts are the most important factors contributing to the
loss of Iran's ancient and cultural heritage. Charged with the
preservation and stewardship of these sites is the Cultural Heritage
and Tourism Organization, a government institution, whose director is
a high-ranking official appointed by the president.

In a country with such an ancient civilization, this organization
should be one of the most important, but government officials in past
years have demonstrated the government's view of this institution as
merely decorative and serving propaganda purposes. Rather than having
expertise in the realm of culture or cultural heritage, the
administrators of this organization have "favorable" political
histories within the regime.

At least two administrators of the Cultural Heritage and Tourism
Organization, namely current director Esfandiar Rahim Mashai and
Hossein Marashi, though from very different political backgrounds,
were both for a time very close to the leaders of the Islamic
Republic. Meanwhile, because of his close friendship with Mahmood
Ahmadinejad, Rahim Mashai has recently expressed such confidence in
his position that responding to the news of his probable discharge,
he told reporters that no one would dare to have him replaced.

Destruction

In recent years, a large portion of historical sites throughout Iran
have been destroyed or are in danger of being destroyed. This
destruction comes in three forms. The first is general damage that is
inflicted by tourists and inhabitants of neighboring areas. The
writing of names and messages, either with paint or carved into the
rock, are forms of vandalism that, though not malicious, are
primarily a result of apathy and a lack of education and awareness by
the responsible institutions. The second form is related to the
ongoing lack of preservation measures and repair of sites in need.
This category includes a long list of ancient and historical sites
facing deterioration.

The third destructive party consists of government institutions and
ministries themselves. The most blatant example is the Sivand Dam. In
spite of widespread opposition from non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) and protests in Tehran and Shiraz against the dam's
construction, it was completed in March 2007 upon the orders of
Mahmood Ahmadinejad with official approval by the director of the
Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization and with written
endorsement from the Ministry of Energy. Even proof of the dam's
damaging effects on nearby sites was not enough to change the
government's mind. The area of the Balaqi Straits that was flooded
with filling of Sivand Dam included an archaeological complex from
time periods ranging from the prehistoric through the Achaemenid
Empire, more than 2500 years ago. When the dam was filled to
capacity, more than 100 ancient sites were lost forever.

The difference in the dam's water level with the nearby site of
Pasargadae which includes the tomb of Cyrus the Great has been
declared to be 35 meters by officials, but experts have claimed that
the true difference is only four meters. The distance from the tomb
to the dam's reservoir is approximately five kilometers. Cultural
heritage advocates in Iran fear that Cyrus's tomb will be damaged by
the reservoir's humidity.

On November 26, 2004, without any prior notice or news published, the
Karun Dam began to be filled, drowning an archaeological compound of
the Middle Elamite period. While construction of the dam was billed
at 728 billion tomans and its construction began in 1994, the
government allotted a mere 25 million tomans for excavation of the
site in the final months of construction. This eliminated the
possibility of a genuine excavation of the area, leaving those on the
site, because of lack of time, money and manpower, with no choice but
to remove a few sample artifacts.

In another case, the 7,000 year-old archaeological site, Tape-ye Mehr
Ali Farsi, located in the province of Fars, was buried under water
with the filling of the Mollasadra Dam in 2006 without any prior
announcement. The internationally famous site, Persepolis, one of the
most important and well known national symbols of Iran, has been put
in danger by a railroad project due to pass through the area, which
could result in damage to the site. Also, the archaeological site,
Bistun, is under threat due to activities of a petro-chemical company
on the site, and the digging of a canal. The 3,500 year-old temple of
Cheqazanbil has been damaged in an effort to discover new oil wells,
and preservation experts have stated that if explosions to find new
gas and oil deposits continue, it will be destroyed. The statues of
Jamshid Jam and Qar-e Adam, near Pardis Mountain, located in the
province of Bushehr, have also been placed in danger because of the
activities of oil and gas companies in Asaluye. Taq Gora, the tomb of
one of the Sassanid kings near Qasr-e Shirin is also under threat for
similar reasons. It has been called one of the historical wonders of
Iran. The tomb of Ferdosi and the historical city of Tus is also in
serious danger, due to nearby high voltage electric transformers.

In Esfahan, following the deconstruction and reconstruction of many
historical buildings, and after a few years of back-and-forth on the
construction of a tower that nearly caused Naqsh-e Jahan Square to be
cut from the World Heritage list, the site of Chahar Baq-e Esfahan
found itself in danger of being damaged by metro construction. The
historical city of Masuleh has been faced with ruinous floods in
recent years, a result of deforestation by people and government
institutions. Cultural heritage experts have stated that this city
also risks destruction because of landslides and the resettling of
the mountain.

In addition to archaeological and historic sites that have been
destroyed or risk destruction, unexcavated sites are also at risk.
The 3,300 year-old Elamite-era archaeological compound at Susa was
considered very important in the history of humanity, but was ruined
prior to its excavation by agricultural activity. Dasht-e Bastani
Moqan and the compound of Ultan Ghalas is an unknown historical site
around Ardebil that is coming under threat by factories and nearby
industrial dumps. In the last three years, archaeological sites in
Jiroft has been plundered by a rush of hundreds of unauthorized
excavators. Thanks to the lack of attention paid by cultural heritage
authorities and government institutions, most of its artifacts have
fallen prey to theft and antique smugglers before they can be
examined by experts. Other archaeological sites in the province of
Khuzestan, a large portion of which have already been ruined by the
filling of Karun Dam, among others, are also in danger.

These cases demonstrate how cultural heritage sites have routinely
suffered at the hands of the government; however, dozens of other
cases can be presented to illustrate the harmful effect that
unchecked public and private development has had.

Smuggling Artifacts

The smuggling of artifacts in Iran is so rampant that it has been
dubbed "plundering history." This is in spite of current laws
prohibiting vandalism of sites, and the smuggling, buying, selling
and digging up of artifacts. According to Articles 558 to 569 in the
Islamic Penal Code, damaging or smuggling ancient artifacts is
punishable by one to ten years in prison (depending on the
circumstances), restitution of properties, and a cash fine equal to
double the value of the smuggled goods. Article 727 of the Islamic
Penal Code, in the chapter on the "Destruction of Historical and
Cultural Properties," describes these fines, stating that this crime
is not prosecuted except in the case of a "personal compliance"
grievance. If a personal compliance is remitted, the court can issue
a lower fine or, in compliance with religious measures, can choose to
not prosecute at all. Unofficial news sources have reported that
dozens of organized crime circles excavate these sites illegally. In
many cases, these groups are related to powerful and influential
individuals, some connected to the regime, which looks the other way
as they plunder artifacts and smuggle them out of the country.

Taha Hashemi of the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization has
said, "The laws and punishments regarding cultural heritage need to
undergo a thorough review. Clearly, a petty thief is not the same as
a thief who steals national heritage and in doing so threatens the
national identity of a country, removes artifacts from the country,
and, in doing so, challenges a sense of order." She emphasized
that, "the crime of people who threaten national heritage and who
participate in smuggling is just as serious as drug smuggling. Just
as drug smugglers profit from the weakness of the human body,
artifacts smugglers profit from the weakness of the spirit of our
nation. They put the esteem and global respect of a nation up for
sale. The solution lies in increasing the risk of smuggling within
the country." Hashemi noted that the price of returning stolen
artifacts to Iran is very high due to expensive international court
proceedings: "We have paid many times the amount needed to prevent
smuggling just to get an artifact back."

In 2004, Iran implemented a plan to control smuggling by forming the
Pasdaran Cultural Heritage Special Forces Unit for Handicrafts and
Tourism in Iran. However, the unit's allotment of manpower and
funding has been insufficient given the breadth of damage. In August
of last year, the commander of the Pasdaran Unit announced the need
for more than 8,000 people for the preservation of more than 16,000
registered historical structures in Iran.

The Pasdaran Cultural Heritage Special Troops Unit is charged with
maintaining the 16,000 structures registered as national sites, as
well as museums and depositories of historical artifacts. To this
end, it has erected more than 207 bases in regions of historic
significance around the country through spring 2007. But despite
these steps, smuggling continues. In late May of this year, the
government newspaper, Iran, reported that, according to Pasdaran
Cultural Heritage Special Troops commander Abasali Ruhi,at least 743
people accused of involvement in smuggling ancient artifacts have
been arrested in the last year.

According to one government official, some of the arrested
individuals had connections outside the country and 444 people were
arrested during excavations, while 299 people were arrested as they
attempted to smuggle artifacts illegally. He said that 253 smuggled
stashes were discovered in 2006 alone, including such items as a gold-
plated statue, a precious rug, Parthian masks, a statue of a standing
woman, a statue of a winged horse, 30 volumes of manuscripts, 1584
gold coins and 8058 historical coins. Describing Iran's cultural
heritage police, he admitted, "We are 50 years behind other
countries."

On August 13, 2007 the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported
the discovery of a room containing a large stash of ancient artifacts
at the customs station in south Tehran. Hasan Qarakhani, a cultural
heritage expert, announced that this stash at the customs station was
discovered completely accidentally. According to Qarakhani,
this "room included at least 300 examples of Iranian antiques as well
as pieces of European and Buddhist art. They were presented to
customs as 'household items' with the intention of smuggling them to
America via Iran's southern border." This historical artifacts expert
also claimed that "some large, well-equipped companies, with the
trust of the country's border crossings, use their abounding power
and influence to transport historical artifacts out of the country by
air and sea." While refraining from naming the company and its
directors, he said, "It is one of the biggest companies that work in
packing and transportation. This company packs historical and
cultural artifacts as household items and stores them in the food
storage areas in very unfavorable conditions. They are trusted by
officials at the border crossings and benefit from our outdated and
backlogged customs system and inefficient inspections." According to
Qarakhani this case was revealed completely unintentionally by a
customs official. He added, "There is no guarantee that we will find
other such stashes unless somebody accidentally reveals it. This
company sends several big shipments of various items to the borders
of Europe every day."

He concludes – as will I – with a lamentation for Iran's cultural
heritage: "Iran is a wellspring of historical artifacts which has
become a source of cultural and historical items for foreign
galleries and this is shameful."