The music of Iran or Persian music has thousans of years of history dating back to the Neolithic age, as seen in the archeological evidence of Elam, one of the earliest world civilizations, which was located in southwestern Iran. A distinction needs to be made between the science of Music or Musicology which as a branch of mathematics has always been held in high regards in Persia/Iran; as opposed to Music performance, (Tarab, Navakhteh, Tasneef, Taraneh or more recently Muzik) which has had an uneasy and often acrimonious relationship with the religious authorities and, in times of religious revival, with society as a whole.