Iranian, Italian archeologists to reconstruct Burnt City

EghtesadOnline: Iranian and Italian archaeologists are studying animal and plant remains in an effort to reconstruct the nature of the Burnt City in the third millennium, the Public Relations Office of the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism (RICHT) reported.

News ID: ۷۷۳۷۳۳

06 February 2017

RICHT Public Relations Office quoted Iranian head of the joint project Hossein Moradi as saying the first season of interdisciplinary studies and review of the precinct and privacy of the Burnt City has been launched in cooperation with of the Italian group under the supervision of Enrico Ascalone from Salento University of Italy.

“Survey of the archeological materials such as skeletons, animal bones and plant samples is underway in the Burnt City in the presence of a group of Iranian and Italian archeologists and interdisciplinary experts,” he added.

According to Moradi, the researchers plan to conduct study on the human remains collected from the cemetery of the Burnt City and in addition to understanding part of the way of life in the third millennium BC in this area, also deal with issues such as racial diversity by focusing on studies related to the genetic knowledge on human bones unearthed from the Burnt City, according to IRNA.

“In this project the first season of which is being conducted in the current year with the aim of providing preliminaries for a widespread study, Italian researchers while inspecting the Burnt City have been familiarized with the cultural material and ancient remains that have been obtained in the course of 15 exploration seasons by the Iranian group under the supervision of Seyed Mansour Seyed Sajjadi in the Burnt City,” the archaeologist said.

Based on the findings of archaeologists, the Burnt City has a span of 280 hectares and its remains show that the city had five basic parts, including the residential part located in the northeast of the Burnt City, central parts; the industrial area; historical monuments and the cemetery that are located as successive hills attached together. Eighty hectares of the Burnt City formed the residential part.

One of the most amazing findings of the Burnt City is the discovery of the signs of the most ancient brain surgery in the City. The skull of a 12 or 13-year-old girl in 4800 years ago parts of which had been removed by doctors of that area for the treatment of hydrocephalus (collection of liquid in the skull) and undergone surgical operation. The girl had stayed live long after the operation.