TEHRAN – A team of archaeologists and cultural heritage experts has recently commenced a thorough demarcation project on a Bronze Age site in southeast Sistan-Baluchestan province.  

The demarcation project is underway at Bagh-e Nil in Delgan county intending to protect the historical site from illegal constructions within its boundaries as well as preserve its originality, the deputy provincial tourism chief said on Saturday.

A budget of 400 million rials ($9,500 at the official exchange rate of 42,000 rials per dollar) has been allocated to the project, Mansureh Molla-Elahi added, CHTN reported. 

Dating back to the Middle Bronze Age (2200–1550 BC), Bagh-e Nil is located near a village with the same name. The ancient site was inscribed on the National Heritage list in 2019.

According to Encyclopedia Iranica, during the Bronze Age, the populations of the Iranian plateau bounded on the east by the Hindu Kush and the Himalayas and on the west by the lowlands of Khuzestan and Mesopotamia. There is also evidence that at the end of the 4th millennium BC settlements throughout Iran were linked in a common cultural network, the “Proto-Elamite horizon.”

The collective province -- Sistan in the north and Baluchestan in the south -- accounts for one of the driest regions of Iran with a slight increase in rainfall from east to west, and an obvious rise in humidity in the coastal regions. In ancient times, the region was a crossword of the Indus Valley and the Babylonian civilizations.

The province possesses special significance because of being located in a strategic and transit location, especially Chabahar which is the only ocean port in Iran and the best and easiest access route of the middle Asian countries to free waters.

The vast province is home to several distinctive archaeological sites and natural attractions, including two UNESCO World Heritage sites, namely Shahr-e-Soukhteh (Burnt City) and Lut desert.

ABU/AFM