Shahr-i Sokhta: The Bronze Age Burnt City of Eastern Iran

Shahr-i Sokhta, the “Burnt City”, is a large Bronze Age settlement in the Sistan region of eastern Iran, occupied from about 3200 to 1800 BC. At its height it was one of the biggest towns of the Iranian plateau, a centre of craft production and trade between Mesopotamia, Central Asia and the Indus Valley. Its well-preserved remains, from an artificial eye to children’s games, offer a rare picture of daily life on the eastern edge of the early urban world.

Setting and discovery

The site lies about 55 kilometres south of Zabol, near the Afghan border, in a region that is now dry and windswept. In the Bronze Age, branches of the Helmand River delta and the Hamun lakes made the area green and fertile, allowing farming, herding and fishing.

The mound had long been known locally, but scientific excavation began in 1967 under the Italian archaeologist Maurizio Tosi, working for the Italian Institute for the Middle and Far East (IsMEO). His team excavated until 1978. Iranian teams, led from 1997 by Seyyed Mansur Sajjadi, resumed large-scale work, and research has continued since.

The rise of the city

Archaeologists divide the occupation into four main periods. The first settlers, around 3200 BC, used pottery and administrative tools similar to those of the proto-Elamite culture of south-western Iran. A tablet written in the proto-Elamite script was found at the site, showing contact with a writing tradition that itself followed the invention of cuneiform writing in Mesopotamia.

In the following centuries the town expanded greatly. Estimates of its maximum size vary, but the settlement and its surrounding areas covered around 150 hectares by the early to middle third millennium BC. Separate districts held houses, a monumental building, craft workshops and a very large cemetery.

The name Burnt City comes from layers of burning found in the ruins. The settlement suffered fires several times, though it is not clear whether these were caused by war or accident.

Crafts and trade

Shahr-i Sokhta was a major workshop centre. Its craftsmen worked lapis lazuli from the mountains of Badakhshan, turquoise from Central Asia or northern Iran, and carnelian, turning raw stone into beads and ornaments. Large numbers of unfinished beads and tools show that much of this work was for export.

The city stood between several great cultures. Objects and styles link it with the Bactria-Margiana region to the north, with the cities of the Indus Valley Civilisation to the east, and, through the Iranian plateau, with Elam and Mesopotamia to the west. Lapis lazuli that passed along such routes reached the royal tombs of Ur and the temples of Sumer.

Famous finds

The site’s cemetery is one of the largest of its time in the region; estimates of the number of graves range from about 25,000 to 40,000. Dry soil preserved organic materials such as textiles, basketry, wood and food remains unusually well.

In 2006 excavators found an artificial eye in the grave of a woman aged in her late twenties or early thirties, notable for her height of about 1.8 metres. Dated to around 2900-2800 BC, the eyeball was made of a light material, probably bitumen paste, with a pupil and fine radiating lines of gold, and small holes that may have held it in place. It is among the oldest known artificial eyes.

Other celebrated finds include a painted earthenware goblet showing a wild goat in a sequence of positions, leaping towards a tree, sometimes described as an early form of animation. A wooden gaming board with dice and counters has also been found, as well as the skull of a young girl showing signs of surgery, although the interpretation of this case is debated.

Decline and legacy

From around 2300 BC the settlement shrank, and by about 1800 BC it had been abandoned. Most researchers link its decline to environmental change, such as the shifting of river channels and increasing dryness, together with changing patterns of trade across the Iranian plateau.

In 2014 UNESCO added Shahr-i Sokhta to its World Heritage List as an outstanding example of an early urban society in eastern Iran.

Timeline

• c. 3200 BC: The first settlement is founded on the Helmand delta.
• c. 3000 BC: Proto-Elamite contacts are visible in pottery, seals and a written tablet.
• c. 2900-2800 BC: A woman is buried with an artificial eye.
• c. 2800-2300 BC: The city reaches its greatest size as a craft and trade centre.
• c. 1800 BC: The settlement is abandoned.
• 1967-1978: Italian excavations led by Maurizio Tosi.
• 2014: Shahr-i Sokhta becomes a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Why it matters

Shahr-i Sokhta shows that early urban life was not limited to the great river valleys of Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Indus. Its craftsmen and traders tied together a vast network across Asia, and its remarkable state of preservation makes it a key site for understanding how ordinary people lived in the Bronze Age.