March 27, 2005

Burnt City Citizens' DNA Under Study, Iran

French and German scientists are to help study D.N.A. of the skeletons found in the 5000-year-old site of Burnt City in Sistan-Baluchistan, uncovering secrets about the ancient people living in the area.

The study will help archaeologists identify the race of the people, their skin and hair color, and find out from where they immigrated to the area.

According to head of the archaeology team of the Burnt City, Mansour Sajadi, some theories have already been formed on the race and genetic qualities of the citizens, yet D.N.A. studies are necessary to confirm the theories and answer further questions on the civilization.

German and French genetic scientists and archaeologists are soon to join the Iranian team for the study of these D.N.A. features.

A team of Italian archaeobotanists have been working on the site during the two previous archaeological seasons and they are to return to Iran for the next upcoming one.

The Burnt City is located in an area land of 150 hectares between Zabol and Zahedan cities, in the southern province of Sistan-Baluchistan. So far archaeological work has been carried out on the site for 8 seasons, but many secrets still remain unsolved of the rich developed civilization that lived there 5000 years ago.

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