Shahr-I Sokhta

Tell site in the Seistan district of eastern Iran, close to the Afghan and Pakistan borders, which was the site of a vast urban center of the late 4th-early 2nd millennium BC. As well as abundant structural remains, enormous numbers of finds have been excavated - thousands of potsherds and stone tools, clay figurines, and animal bones. The wealth of Shahr-i Sokhta was due at least in part to its role in the trade in lapis lazuli between its source in north Afghanistan and the markets of Mesopotamia and Egypt. An industrial area produced thousands of unfinished lapis lazuli beads, as well as flint drills and other tools used in their manufacture. Shahr-i Sokhta also has a huge cemetery, estimated to have contained 200,000 burials. In the early 2nd millennium BC, the course of the Helmand River, on which the city depended, changed; this led to the decline and abandonment of the settlement. The site is still important for understanding the urbanization, production and subsistence techniques, and complex societies of Bronze Age Iran and Afghanistan.

Tell site in the province of Sistan in eastern Iran, close to the Afghan and Pakistan borders, which was the site of a vast urban centre of the 3rd millennium bc, covering cl 00 hectares and housing perhaps 20,000 people. The site, which has been under excavation since 1967, has proved remarkably rich, partly because of the environmental conditions which have sealed the occupation deposit under a layer of salt, sand and clay which has preserved the ancient city ‘as if kept in a pot of pickles’, to quote the evocative phrase of one of the excavators, Maurizio Tosi. As well as abundant structural remains, enormous numbers of finds have been excavated, including literally millions of potsherds and thousands of stone tools, clay figurines and animal bones. The wealth of Shahr-i Sokhta was due at least in part to its role in the trade in lapis lazuli between its source in north Afghanistan and the markets of Mesopotamia and Egypt. An industrial area produced thousands of unfinished lapis lazuli beads, as well as flint drills and other tools used in their manufacture. Another remarkable aspect of Shahr-i Sokhta is its enormous cemetery, covering some 42 hectares and estimated to have contained perhaps 200,000 burials. Shahr-i Sokhta was occupied from the 4th millennium bc to the early 2nd millennium. Towards the end of this long period, the course of the Helmand River, on which the city depended, changed; this led to the decline and abandonment of this extraordinary settlement.