Ignoring Copyright and other Points Regarding "Iranian-Ferench Archaeological Mission in Bam"

In the previous issue of this journal a paper appeared by Benjamin Mutin and Omran Garazhian. This paper propounds to be the result of two seasons of field research by the Joint Iranian-French Archaeological Expedition to Bam. Alas it contains a number of inexcusable errors some of which we will try to address here, especially the ones dealing with ignoring research ethics by neglecting previous research or using them without citation. Work, including archaeological fieldwork, began at Bam shortly after the devastating 2004 earthquake. Over the course of the past 15 years, many archaeological teams have worked at Bam, including one by the two of us on "Archaeological Landscape of Bam." These teams have produced many reports all of which are available at the Bam Research Base. Alas, Mutin and Garazhian have used these reports with acknowledging the source or proper citation. In some cases even the results of another team has been presented as their own finding. Additionally, Mutin and Garazhian claim to have discovered "over 250 sites" (p. 93) some of which are located in Dārestān and Bidarān. In fact several large sites are located in these two regions many of which have been disjointed over time due to erosion or other natural factors. Thus, the discovery of 160 Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites, as Mutin and Garazhian claim is clearly an exaggeration or error on their part.Last, but not least, for a team whose focused on the prehistory of the area, not ignoring some key areas including the immediate vicinity of the Arg-e Bam and the areas to its east and west is questionable.