Louvre Museum Hosts Seminar on Iran’s Ancient Sialk Hills

Louvre Museum in Paris held the seminar on Sialk hills at its auditorium on Monday.

According to the Iranian Embassy in France, researchers and Archaeology experts from major international academies and famous museums, such as the Louvre Museum, the British Museum, and top-rated German museums attended the event.

A delegation of officials and experts from the National Museum of Iran attended the seminar. The head of delegation was Jebraeil Nokandeh, the curator of the museum, who was accompanied by archaeologists and researchers working on the Sialk Hills.

Iran’s Ambassador to France Bahram Qassemi was also among the participants at the opening of the seminar. In comments on the sidelines of the event, the ambassador held talks with a number of participants and officials about the efforts to enhance relations between Iran and France.

History of excavation

The ancient archeological site, dating back to around 6000-5500 BC, is one of the oldest cradles of civilization.  It has become a common ground for cooperation between the Iranian and French archeologists and excavators for decades.

French “Roman Ghirshman” was the first archeologist who excavated the Sialk Hills archeological site. His work continued for two seasons during 1930s. Later a group led by “Sadegh Malek Shahmirzadi” started to work on the site in the 2000s.

The Monday event was part of a series of seminars known as “Sialk, the Heart of Archaeology in Iran”. The purpose of seminars is to highlight the historic value of the ancient site and explore avenues to continue archeological excavation in the site.

Archaeologist estimate that the ancient objects coming from the Sialk Hills date back to 8,000 years ago. Experts regard them as one of the oldest known evidence for anatomically modern humans in the world.

The first edition of the “Sialk, the Heart of Archaeology in Iran” seminars was held in the UK in 2018.  Germany and Iran plan to hold the third and the fourth editions in 2020 and 2021 respectively.