New road threatens ancient Afghan site
An important archaeological site in northern Afghanistan that was
occupied by humans as far back as the sixth century BC is being
threatened by the construction of a road, archaeologists warn.
The picturesque Cheshma-e-Shafa gorge in the northern province of
Balkh is just one of several ancient sites faced with destruction by a
post-Taliban push for development, they say.
This is despite laws in place to protect the country's heritage.
Traces of ancient human habitation were discovered in 2007 at
Cheshma-e-Shafa, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) southwest of the city of
Mazar-i-Sharif, says the French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan
(DAFA).
|
An archeological site in northern Afghanistan where traces of
human occupation date back to the sixth century BC is being
threatened by the construction of a tar road despite laws that
heritage sites must be protected, French archeologists warn. The
site at the Cheshma-e-Shafa gorge in the northern province of
Balkh contains the remains of dwellings from the Archemedian
period and once controlled part of a major route connecting
Central Asia to India. AFP |
They were found to date back to the Achaemenid period (sixth to
fourth century BC), named after the first Persian dynasty that reigned
over the area until its removal by Alexander the Great.
But a South Korean company has been contracted by the government to
build a road through the site, said DAFA director Roland Besenval,
heading excavations.
"We had stopped the bulldozers by putting ourselves in front of them
but they restarted the work the next day," he told AFP.
"They could divert the road towards the east but clearly they don't
want to.
"Afghan laws prohibit the destruction of archaeological sites. The
ministry of public works knows about all of this, the ministry of
culture too," he said.
According to DAFA, engineers from the Korean Samwhan Corporation had
said in a meeting they would have to use dynamite to blow up the narrow
gorge to let the road through.
Citing an email, DAFA said that despite their pleas, the company
intended to push ahead with the project.
"The government authorities have ordered us to proceed with the road
construction as per our approved road construction drawings regardless
of the concern you mentioned in the meeting," the email said.
The area was occupied until the 13th century and was on the route
used by Alexander the Great and other conquerors, DAFA said.
"It is a site which controlled an old route by which people could
come from Central Asia to India, a place completely strategic for
controlling traffic," DAFA scientist Philippe Marquis added.
"Then the Mongols passed through around 1220 and destroyed the whole
region and the area then lost strategic interest," he said.
Among its features are walls standing 15 metres (50 feet) tall and
nine metres thick and a Zoroastrian fire temple that is "one of the most
ancient in the world", according to DAFA.
Zoroastrianism is one of the world's oldest religions and was founded
by Zarathustra, who is believed to have lived in the ancient city of
Bactria, now called Balkh and about 30 kilometres north of
Cheshma-e-Shafa.
"Zarathustra would have stayed here," said Marquis, referring to the
threatened site.
Afghanistan's rich ancient heritage has been plundered, neglected or
destroyed during decades of war.
One of the best-known examples is the 2001 destruction by the
Islamist Taliban regime of the famed statues of Bamiyan Buddhas.
Other important excavations also threatened by construction are in
the western province of Herat and in Logar, near Kabul, where an ancient
city dating back 1,700 years is threatened by a planned Chinese-funded
copper mine. "There is a new type of problem for Afghan heritage that is
the confrontation with development," Besenval said.
KABUL, AFP |
