'Iran is a region of important contacts of cultures. This is why I want to work here,' said Professor Pfalzner in an exclusive interview with IRNA on the sidelines of the 14th Annual Symposium of Archaeological Research, at the Iranian National Museum, Tehran, from March 6 to 8, 2016.
He said he and his Iranian colleague Nader Soleimani were jointly heading an archaeological research into a hot and dry region of 110 by 120 kilometers south of the city of Jiroft in Kerman Province, looking out for Early Bronze Age way-stations and any other trade activity.
He said the project had been sponsored by the Iranian Centre of Archaeological Research (ICAR) and the University of Tubingen’s Resource Cultures collaborative research centre.
The scholar reiterated that the project focused on the civilizations of Mesopotamia and southeastern Iran to investigate the origins of the stone, using the methods to move such heavy loads over great distances.
He said the German-Iranian team had so far mapped and investigated 42 settlements.
Based on the incoming reports, the archaeologists found diorite and gabbro in the Iranian province of Kerman, not far from the Persian Gulf, which matches that used in the Mesopotamian statues. In the same area, the archaeologists also found deposits of chlorite, which was used to make stone vessels traded as far away as Mesopotamia and the Levant. Close to these deposits, the researchers found petroglyphs and Early Bronze Age settlements, indicating that the stone was quarried during the Jiroft Culture of southeastern Iran (approx. 3000-2000 B.C.), and that it was traded across the Near East.
Professor Pfalzner boasted that major aim of the 'South of Jiroft Archaeological Survey' was to investigate the Mesopotamia and Jiroft culture in the 3rd Millennium BC.
'We found many sites of the 3rd Millennium BC (3000 until 2000 BC) and some of the sites are near to the natural deposits of the chromate stone which was exported to Mesopotamia and this how we constructd relationship between Jiroft culture and Mesopotamia.'
To a question on his aim of attending the symposium, he said he attended the meeting to get first hand account of activities in Iran and elsewhere.
He said he was seeking collaboration with Iranian students as his university was in close academic contact and cooperation with Iran.
He said that he was also to contribute to Iranian map of archeology.
'We recorded 70 more sites for this archeological map.'
On his performance in archeology, he said his also worked in Syria and Iraq.
He noted that he believed new period of Iran-Europe cooperation has just started. 'There is a bright future.'
Organized by Iranian Center for Archaeological Research (ICAR), 14th Annual Symposium of Archaeological Research was inaugurated in Tehran's National Museum with welcome addresses by Director of the National Museum of Iran, Dr. Jebril Nokandeh, Director of ICAR and the Scientific Secretary of the Symposium, Hamideh Chubak, the Director of the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism Seyed Mohammad Beheshti, the Cultural Heritage Deputy of the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, Mohammad Hassan Talebian, and the President of the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization Massoud Soltanifar.
There were also speeches in different sessions, held after the inaugural ceremony, focusing on Tepe Gavkoshi Esfandaqeh in Jiroft, a Neolithic Settlement in Southeast Iran; Salvage Excavation along Sewage System Course in Old District of Tehran; Excavation in Kholeh Kuh Site, Takestan, Qazvin Province; Archeological excavation in Mash Karim Site, Semirom, Isfahan Province; Straitgraphic Examinations and Identification of Core and Buffer Zone for Tepe Sabz Marvdasht, Fars Province; and Third season of archeological excavation in Kohneh Shahr Site (2014), Chaldoran, Western Azarbaijan Province.
There will also be speeches on Monday and Tuesday, when the meeting will wrap up its work.
The objective of this international event is to provide a yearly unrivalled opportunity for archaeologists from all over Iran and across the globe to meet, share their experiences, exchange points of views and present the results of their researches to an exceptional and distinguished academic community. As a rule, this event accompanies an exhibition on the most representative finds collected during the corresponding archaeological year ending and culminating with the symposium.
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