Recent news from Susa, one of the world’s oldest cities, show the evidence of termite infestation in the hall where the ancient artifacts are kept.

Ehsan Yaghmaei, a prominent Iranian archeologist who supervises the excavations in numerous old castles in Susa and is considered as the discoverer of Bardak-e-Siah Palace, an Archimedes remains, has told the ISNA, a government reporting agency that: “There is so much bad news about Susa that the invasion of the termites could be considered just a negligible event!”

He reports about the vast destructions that have taken place in the ancient sites of Susa and refers to the fact that these sites are now used as sheep pasture and a gathering place for the addicts.

He says: “At this moment, the Susa sites are neither under the supervision of local Cultural Heritage officers nor any other authority. They are now in the hands of those who are constructing a hotel right on the ancient site.”

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*Susa (Persian: ý Shush) was an ancient city of the, Elamite, Persian and Parthian empires of Iran. It is located in the lower Zagros Mountains about 250 km (160 mi) east of the Tigris River. The modern Iranian town of Shush is located at the site of ancient Susa. Shush is the administrative capital of the Shush County of Iran’s Khuzestan province.