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23-481: A report from Iran states that this area "became famous between 2002/2003 [when news of] thousands of confiscated burial goods, especially elaborated carved chlorite vessels from the necropolises of Halil Rud" were released to public. For example, one grave contained "animal bones and food offerings, ceramics, and stone and copper items ... [indicating] a coherent cultural and chronological framework, around 2400-2200 BC".. Since February 2003, archaeologist have recovered

46-459: A 11.5 centimeter by 7 centimeter by 1.8 centimeter inscribed baked brick (with Texts γ / D') was submitted to the excavators, claiming to have found it in his garden (distance from Konar Sandal site is unclear). A small excavation in the garden found the remains of a kiln and three inscribed bricks baked were found. Two of the tablets (texts α / B', β / C') have what could possibly be Linear Elamite symbols on one side and symbols of an unknown nature on

69-425: A Early Bronze Age Jiroft culture along with Shahr-e Sukhteh , Shahdad , Tal-i-Iblis, and Tepe Yahya . This proposal has been critized on various grounds. Majidzadeh suggests they may be the remains of the lost Aratta Kingdom. Other conjectures have connected the site with the obscure city-state of Marhashi . Shimashki has also been suggested. Jiroft culture The Jiroft culture , also known as

92-401: A team led by Yusef Majidzadeh began excavations. The primary Jiroft site consists of two mounds a few kilometers apart, called Konar Sandal A and B with a height of 13 and 21 meters, respectively (approximate location 28°30′N 57°48′E  /  28.5°N 57.8°E  / 28.5; 57.8 ). At Konar Sandal B, a two-story, windowed citadel with a base of close to 13.5 hectares

115-491: A wealth of artifacts from the necropolis which they had named Mahtoutabad. The two nearby mounds, Konar Sandal South and North, were also excavated. A 2013 research paper about the South mound states that work during 2006 to 2009 "revealed the remains of three successive settlements dating to the fourth millennium BC". Excavation re-commenced in 2014 and revealed art works of "complexity and beauty" and artifacts that proved that

138-558: The French experts who studied this area, the evidence remained from these civilizations may be traced up to 11 meters under the ground. "What is obvious is that the evidence of Tal-i-Iblis culture in Bardsir can be traced in all parts of the region. Tal-i-Iblis culture, known as Ali Abad period (fourth millennium BC) was revealed by Joseph R. Caldwell , American archaeologist," said Majidzadeh. The Helmand culture of western Afghanistan

161-787: The Intercultural style or the Halilrud style , is an early Bronze Age (3rd millennium BC) archaeological culture , located in the territory of present-day Sistan and Baluchestan and Kermān Provinces of Iran . The proposed type site is Konar Sandal , near Jiroft in the Halil River area. Other significant sites associated with the culture include Shahr-e Sukhteh (Burnt City), Tepe Bampur , Espiedej , Shahdad , Tal-i-Iblis and Tepe Yahya . The grouping of these sites as an "independent Bronze Age civilization with its own architecture and language", intermediate between Elam to

184-580: The 1960s from nearby Tepe Yahya in Baft. The "Jiroft civilization" hypothesis proposes that this "intercultural style" is in fact the distinctive style of a previously unknown, long-lived civilization. This is not universally accepted; archaeologist Oscar Muscarella of the Metropolitan Museum of Art criticizes that the excavators resorted to sensationalist announcements while being more slow in publishing scholarly reports, and their claims that

207-537: The 1980s as part of an areal survey. Modern palm agriculture has destroyed the many small mounds in and around the main mounds that the survey identified and there is notable damage from looting. After objects from the site began appearing on the antiquities market in 2001, professional excavation were conducted from 2002 until 2008 by a team led by Yousef Majidzadeh. Among the finds were a decorated clay statue relief found in Konar Sandal South. In 2006

230-537: The Jiroft culture is closely related to the Helmand culture. The Jiroft culture flourished in eastern Iran, and the Helmand culture in western Afghanistan at the same time. In fact, they may represent the same cultural area. The Mehrgarh culture, on the other hand, is far earlier. An inscription, discovered in a palace, was carved on a brick whose lower left corner only has remained, explained Yusef Majidzadeh , head of

253-463: The Jiroft excavation team. "The two remaining lines are enough to recognize the Elamite script ," he added. "The only ancient inscriptions known to experts before the Jiroft discovery were cuneiform and hieroglyph," said Majidzadeh, adding that "The new-found inscription is formed by geometric shapes and no linguist around the world has been able to decipher it yet." Some Iranian archeologists believe

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276-536: The Konar Sandal North and about 1.3 kilometers northeast of the Konar Sandal South. After the graveyard area was exposed in a 2001 flood it was heavily looted by locals and objects began appearing on the antiquities market. The site was professionally excavated by a team led by Y. Madzjidzadeh from 2006 to 2009. The excavators defined four stratigraphic occupation levels: The site of Hajjiabad-Varamin lies about 5 kilometers southwest of Konar Sandal South. It

299-585: The discovered inscription is the most ancient script found so far, predating these others, and that the Elamite Cuneiform and Sumero-Akkadian Cuneiform written language originated in Jiroft, where the writing system developed first in its original form and was then spread across the old world. Majidzadeh has attempted to identify the Jiroft sites with the land of Aratta mentioned in Sumerian sources. His conclusions have been met with skepticism from

322-504: The most notable archaeological excavations done in Kerman Province was one done by a group led by Professor Joseph Caldwell from Illinois State Museum in 1966 (Tal-i-Iblis) and Lamberg-Karlovsky from Harvard University in 1967 (Tepe Yahya, Sogan Valley, Dolatabad ). Many artifacts associated with Jiroft were recovered from looters described as "destitute villagers" who had scavenged the area south of Jiroft before 2001, when

345-437: The other. The third has only unknown symbols. Text B' bears 5 (or perhaps 6) characters and text C' 6 (or perhaps 7) characters. There has been speculation about the unknown symbols, called "Geometric script" by the excavator, ranging decorative gibberish to musical symbols. There has been controversy as well about whether the tables themselves are forgeries. The site of Mahtoutabad is located about 1.4 kilometers southeast of

368-444: The site's stratigraphy shows continuity into the 4th millennium as overly optimistic. Muscarella does nevertheless acknowledge the importance of the site. According to Majidzadeh, geophysical operations by French experts in the region indicate the existence at least 10 historical and archaeological periods in the region belonging to different civilizations who lived in this area during different periods of time in history. According to

391-429: The society had several writing systems. According to National Geographic , the content of the mounds is significant: They turned out to contain the remains of two major architectural complexes. The northern mound included a cult building, while in the southern one were the remains of a fortified citadel. At the foot of the mounds, buried under many feet of sediment, were the remains of smaller buildings. It’s believed that

414-437: The two mounds had once formed part of a unified urban settlement that stretched many miles across the plateau ... [artifacts] "have been dated to between 2500 and 2200 B.C. [They are said to be evidence of] the "development of a complex civilization". This Rabor County location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Konar Sandal Konar Sandal is a Bronze Age archaeological site, situated in

437-407: The valley of the Halil River just south of Jiroft , Kermān Province , Iran . The site consists of two mounds a few kilometers apart, called Konar Sandal North and Konal Sandal South with a height of 13 and 21 meters, respectively. Konar Sandal North, the larger of the two, has an area of about 300 meters by 300 meters. The site was first visited by Aurel Stein in 1936. The site was examined in

460-635: The west and the Indus Valley civilization to the east, was first proposed by Yusef Majidzadeh , head of the archaeological excavation team in Jiroft (south central Iran). The hypothesis is based on a collection of artifacts that have been formally excavated and recovered from looters by Iranian authorities; accepted by many to have derived from the Jiroft area (as reported by online Iranian news services, beginning in 2001). Early excavations at Kerman were conducted by Sir Aurel Stein around 1930. One of

483-519: Was a Bronze Age culture of the 3rd millennium BC. Some scholars link it with Shahr-i Sokhta , Mundigak , and Bampur . The term "Helmand civilization" was proposed by M. Tosi. This civilization flourished between 2500 and 1900 BC, and may have coincided with the great flourishing of the Indus Valley Civilization. This was also the final phase of Periods III and IV of Shahr-i Sokhta, and the last part of Mundigak Period IV. Thus,

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506-531: Was an industrial production site and occupied from the late fifth to the late third millennium BC. Several cemetery areas lie adjacent to the main mound in the east. The site of Konar Sandal South occupation has been dated to c. 2880 BC to c. 2200 BC in the Early Bronze Age. Dating of Konar Sandal North occupation pattern is less clear aside from being in the 3rd millennium BC. Based on ceramic and artistic parallels these sites are proposed to belong to

529-492: Was found. The team uncovered more than two square kilometers of remains from a city dating back to at least the late 3rd millennium BC. The data Madjidzadeh's team has gathered demonstrates that Jiroft's heyday was from 2500 BC to 2200 BC. The looted artifacts and some vessels recovered by the excavators were of the so-called "intercultural style" type of pottery known from Mesopotamia and the Iranian Plateau, and since

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