source: http://www.ibtimes.com/china-afghanistans-minerals-archaeologists-still-scrambling-save-mes-aynak-1668808
More than a decade ago, the world was outraged when the Taliban destroyed two massive Buddha statues in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Valley in a vendetta against all non-Islamic art. Today, an even larger and older collection of artifacts is under threat, but this time the conflict has more to do with economics than religion.
Mes Aynak is a 9,800-acre archeological site in Afghanistan’s Logar Province. It was once a major city on the ancient Silk Road and is home to structures dating back more than 2,600 years. Archeologists say it’s a cultural goldmine, but others are more concerned with what lies beneath it -- 5.5 million metric tons of high-grade copper ore.
Six years ago, China’s largest mining company signed a $3 billion agreement with the Afghan government for rights to the site, a move cheered for its potential to boost jobs and the country’s struggling economy. But the decision left archeologists scrambling to recover what cultural heritage they could before work on the mine began. Even though the company has delayed its project for other reasons, tight budgets and a lack of assistance from the Afghan government mean the ancient city is far from safe.
“It was very clear since the beginning that the provisional schedule for mining was overly optimistic,” said Philippe Marquis, an archeologist at the French Archeological Delegation in Afghanistan, which started working at Mes Aynak a year after the deal was inked.
The area itself, less than an hour’s drive from Kabul, is home to some of the oldest Buddhist artifacts in Central Asia. So far, archeologists have identified more than 70 sites in the valley, including a handful of monasteries, monuments and more than 1,000 statues.
Experts have called the site “one of the most intriguing ancient mining sites in Central Asia, if not the world,” noting the city’s religious and economic significance over the millennia.
A gold-plated Buddha head is just one of many artefacts found at the Mes Aynak site, as archaeologists scramble to preserve what they can with limited time and resources.
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发表于 25-2-2015 10:01 AM
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