For five thousand years, a thick layer of desert sand had covered the remains of a very ancient city so that no passerby could see that a brilliant civilization was hidden under those piles of sand and soil. But on the ground, everywhere they looked, there were small and big broken pieces of pottery. Where did this pottery come from?
In 1312 (1933), an English archeologist named Marc Aurel Stein, (died 1943 AD) tried to find the secret of those broken pottery pieces scattered on the ground. He guessed there should be an ancient area hidden there. But Stein’s efforts were just on surface, and he soon stopped excavating and thought that it was useless to search for any archeological signs there! But he asked his question again: where did the pottery on the ground and the hills come from?
Aurel Stein was mistaken; if he had continued his explorations with more patience, he could have discovered the most important city of the ancient world; A place in Sistan that was later called “burnt city,” and archaeologists found such works there that dazzled the eyes and shed new light on the forgotten world of five thousand years ago. The truth is that due to an event whose secret remains unsolved, the people of the burnt city left their land thousands of years ago and never returned there, and no other people replaced them. Since then, the monsoon winds have dragged thick layers of dirt and sand over the city’s remains, hiding it.
Since then, the seasonal winds dumped thick layers of dirt and sand over the city’s remains, hiding it for millennia. This layer (before the city was discovered) was 20cm thick. Since the “burnt city” remained hidden and no one knew about its existence for 5,000 years, no damage was done to its remains. Therefore, archeologists finally discovered a virgin city.
The beginning of archaeological excavations in the burnt city
The Italian archaeologists who tried to reveal the hidden secret of the hill’s pottery were more patient than Stein. They first pulled out several million pieces of broken pottery from the surface and under the soil, and then ten Italian experts continued their search with the help of microscopes and laboratory work. At this time (20th century), several Japanese archaeologists joined them and continued the work. They soon found barley, wheat, chestnut, and even grape seeds. Human made artifacts were among the findings. A cemetery was also discovered with 21 thousand graves in it. Surprisingly, 55% of the bones found were of children! In addition, signs of the mat weaving, pottery, and stone carving industry were explored and discovered. Italian and Japanese archaeologists explored nine seasons in a place whose name still needed to be found and is now called Shahre Soukhteh. Then they stopped working due to the political events of those years.
The new season of excavation in Shahre Soukhteh started in 1378 (2000) by Iranian archeologists. They continued working until 1383 (2004). The supervisor of the excavation was Dr Seyed Mansour Seyedsajjadi. He published the report of his and his group’s extensive work in numerous writings and books. Now archaeologists know a lot about the secrets of the burnt city, and a world of five thousand years ago has been opened to them, full of impressive and sometimes unique findings.
But maybe it is still the beginning, and the explorations to be done will increase our knowledge about this rare civilization. We should be on the lookout for new findings to learn more about a lesser-known part of Iran’s ancient civilization. This culture was very influential in the ancient world.
Series of articles named “Wonders of burnt city” will be rewriting about this mysterious world and the archaeological findings there. In these writings, geography, men and women, rituals and beliefs, industry, agriculture, medical achievements, skull surgery five thousand years ago, the discovery of the world’s first animation, found entertainment and Game and entertainment tools, method of burial, and the secret of the extinction of this city will be briefly discussed. All of this will introduce us to the times when the first foundations of civilization and urbanization were built on the plateau of Iran. It initiated a new and advanced way of human living in those days.
