Fwd: [Ind-Arch] ancient civilization in Iran (near Jiroft)

January 7, 2008

---------- Forwarded message ----------Michel Danino <micheldJan 7, 2008 12:40 PM

[ind-Arch] ancient civilization in Iran (near Jiroft)IndiaArchaeology <IndiaArchaeology >

En Iran, un autre berceau de la civilisationLE MONDE 2 | 04.01.08 | 14h51 • Stéphane Foucart

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3244,36-995170,0.html(and following pages)An excellent article (in French, from " Le Monde " ) about recent discoveriesin the Halil valley of south-eastern Iran, in the vicinity of Jiroft: a

Bronze Age civilization (starting about 2500 bce). Hundreds of sites, mostof them severely plundered, with artefacts sold on the international blackmarket since 2000 or earlier.According to the article, some of the archaeologists suggest that the main

city, whose area is estimated to have been several hundred hectares, couldhave been the legendary eastern city of Aratta mentioned in Mesopotamiantexts.Scholars quoted in the article call for a revision of current models and

textbooks on the origin of civilization. A quote from archaeologist MichèleCasanova (my translation): " Our entire concept of the beginnings of ancientcivilization needs to be revised. The model in vogue, based on the

centre-periphery pair, gives pride of place of urban civilizations born inEgypt and Mesopotamia and relegates to the background regions like Iran,central Asia and the Arab peninsula, regarding them as marginal. This model

requires a thorough revision. ... Egypt and Mesopotamia are viewed as thecradle of our Judeo-Christian civilization because they play an importantrole in the Bible. " Note that unlike in India, scholars have no problem challenging and revising

old models dealing with ancient civilization. It is only in India thatobsolete textbooks and models dealing with the same protohistoric times arenot allowed to change. Those calling for revision of models in the West are

viewed as progressive; those doing the same in the Indian context are called " nationalist " or " fundamentalist " .( " Middle Asia Takes Center Stage " in " Science " of 3rd August 2007 had more

on the archaeological finds, especially on the connections with the Induscivilization, but did not have a discussion on the issue of Aratta.)Regards,Michel