The artists of Shahre Sukhteh were able to fulfill the long-standing desire of man to move the image. It was one of the wishes of ancient artists to find a way to show their drawn figures in a moving state; the same thing is now called animation. Several thousand years ago, in a cave in what is now Spain, an image was carved on the cave wall showing an animal with multiple arms and legs. It is as if the caveman wanted to depict the animal’s movement with this work or convey such a feeling to the viewer of his painting. Although those ancient cave dwellers failed in their wish, the artists of Shahre Sukhteh found a way to achieve it, with their ingenuity.
In the excavations of Shahre Sukhteh, artists found a pedestalled clay cup with an image of a goat on it. When turning the bowl, the goat is drawn standing on two legs to grip a tree leaf.
This is how the world’s first animation was created. Shahre Sukhteh animated cup is 10 cm high and was a container for drinking liquids. The cup is pedestalled and is very beautiful. This vessel, now kept in the Museum of Ancient Iran, was found in a grave in a Shahre Sukhteh and is five thousand years old. This animated cup was found by Italian archeologists during their excavations. Recently, a 20-second video has been made of this cup and its rotation, and in this way, you can better see the goat jumping to catch the tree’s leaves.
The goat of Shahre Sukhteh animation is standing in front of a tree in the first movement, preparing to jump in the second movement, starting to jump in the third movement, resting on a branch in the fourth movement, and eating tree leaves in the fifth. The point worth noting is that the idea of the designer and artist who created such an animation for the first time, remained unique for centuries, and it did not occur to ancient people to use such an innovative idea and create a new work.
Another point is that the animation of Shahre Sukhteh was later reflected in a story called “Draxt ī Āsūrīg.” This story, a conversation between a goat and a palm tree, was written in the Pahlavi Parthian language during the Sassanid era. Fortunately, it did not disappear and has been translated and printed many times. The moving bowl of Shahre Sukhteh is reflected in this ancient story, which was later retold in the days of the Parthians, and as we mentioned, it was written in the days of the Sassanids.
Creating games and entertainment tools in Shahre Sukhteh
The findings of Shahre Sukhteh are so abundant and full of novelties that every lover of ancient heritage will be amazed. The artists of that ancient city were able to make a game board that is something like a chess game. Dr. Seyedsajadi writes that the Shahre Sukhteh game board is nearly a century older than the game tools found in the Ur Kingdom cemetery (the capital of the Sumerian civilization) in Mesopotamia. Therefore, Shahre Sukhteh has also been the leader in this art. Shahre Sukhteh’s board game, which archeologists found in one of the graves, has a dice and four pieces. The board is made of ebony (a dark and hard wood).
Indeed, Shahre Sukhteh, five thousand years ago, was a city full of signs of civilization and artistic and innovative people; a city whose many ruins and findings are amazing to observe.
