of security provided for Iran’s pre-Islamic heritage.
It wasn’t known if the damage was just idle vandalism or politically motivated. Some extreme Islamists have opposed any efforts to preserve Iran’s pre-Islamic artifacts, though that is not the stance of the government.
In this case, however, the bas-relief depicts Arab rulers bringing gifts to the Sassanid King Bahram II, who reigned from 276 to 293 CE. That could make it a target of some Arabs.
In the bas-relief, King Bahram is holding a mace. The vandal knocked the entire head of the mace off.
The broken mace head was found on the ground below the bas-relief, so this was a case of vandalism and not looting of artifacts. That also means the broken piece can be re-installed on the bas relief, apart from about 20 percent that was crumbled into dust.
The damaged bas-relief is located with five others in the Tang-e Chogan, a gorge near the town of Kazerun.
Mehdi Abbaspur, one of those who reported the damage, told the Mehr news agency the underlying problem was the meager security precautions provided at historical sites.
He said five of the bas-reliefs in the area are protected by fences that can be easily be climbed, while the sixth has no fixed security at all. He said there is a “small team” of guards that will visit each bas-relief on occasion.
There are frequent charges from regime opponents that the government doesn’t care about pre-Islamic history and makes no effort to protect such sites. But tourism authorities do recognize that it is pre-Islamic sites that draw tourists and can earn Iran considerable revenue. Security is, however, limited at most sites. But then that was true before the revolution as well.
Meanwhile, an official at the Shushtar cultural office reported that the ruins of the ancient city of Dastvar in Khuzestan province have been looted repeatedly in recent months.
That official, who asked to remain anonymous, told Cultural Heritage News there is only one guard stationed at the site at any one time. What’s more, he said, the looters have on occasion taken the guard captive and tied him up while they went about ransacking graves.
He said, “No one knows have many artifacts have been unearthed and looted—but since a large part of the site has never been excavated by archaeologists, undoubtedly they have not left the site empty-handed.”
The site has been excavated in 1968, 1984, 1988, 1993 and 1998 by Iranian archaeologists. Busts of the ancient gods Mithras and Anahiti were found at the site.
