柿崎尚のイラン考古資料蒐集記録をめぐって

抄録

Mr. Kakizaki Hisashi (1902-84), famous for his many technical innovations and his acquisition of many patents for machines making silk fabrics, was dispatched to Iran by the United Nations as a technical guidance expert. In 1963, when he played an active part in Gilan Province, he had the opportunity to witness clandestine digging at Sirkuh, a village situated at the foot of Dalfak mountain (Kuh-e Dalfak) on the east bank of the Sefidrud river (Sefid rud).
As is well known in connection with “Amlash objects”, many precious objects of cultural heritage, found in the vicinity by clandestine digging, had flowed abroad from Iran at that time. According to the Kakizaki's inquiries, pot-hunters dug so many ancient graves at great speed that they changed radically the form of geographical features.
His field notes with pictures contain not only the archaeological objects but also his detailed observation of the character of the ancient structures where the objects were discovered in situ. And Kakizaki's report about stratigraphical character observed on the section of ancient graves are comparable with the results from our general survey. His sharp observation seems to have been based on an innate ability to understand what he saw. Moreover, scientific archaeological investigation which started at that time in this area would have reminded him of how ruins were investigated earlier in Japan.
Regretfully, clandestine digging of ancient sites is still one of the serious social problems in Iran today. Also, various community developments are obliterating many ancient ruins which are relatively inconspicuous, one after another. The damage to the cultural heritage of Iran which Kakizaki wrote down in his note is not a past occurrence but a serious contemporary phenomenon.