Helmand: Iran's Lost Civilization You've (possibly) Never Heard Of [10:58]

YouTube transcript reformatted at textformatter.ai follows.

Transcript
The ruins of Shahar Isukta, or the burned city as the name translates, are located in modern Iran. The ruins form the westernmost point of a series of destroyed sites running from Iran along the Helmond River into southern Afghanistan to the remains of Mundigok in Sed Kalateepe, comprising an archaeological zone that appears to share a broadly similar material culture and occupy a distinct chronological period approximately 3,300 to 2,300 BC.

This is the Helmand civilization, named after the river around which it was centered, and it is one of the most enigmatic archaeological cultures dating to the Copper and the Bronze Ages that we know of. This was connected in some capacity, whether through trade relations or otherwise, to better-attested civilizations in the ancient Near East because archaeologists have found evidence of Elamite script at several locations.

It is thought that this was either a state or a collection of city-states which, for reasons that are still unclear, appear to have ended sometime around 2,300 BC, with most major sites being burned and then abandoned, and then simply buried literally by the sands of time.

With no script of its own and seemingly no mentions of it being made in Near Eastern texts, Helmand represents a genuine lost civilization stretching from Iran into southern Afghanistan. It is not necessarily an exaggeration to say that there is still so much about this, outside of the two major sites, that we simply do not know.

Probably the most extensively studied site is Mundok, located in Afghanistan, approximately 50 kilometers or 34 miles northwest of modern Kandahar, which consists of a series of mountains. The entire region is astounding because today the Helmond River traverses some of the most arid parts of the globe. However, modern satellite imagery has indicated that there are dozens of archaeological sites situated along both the modern course of the Helmond and along dried-up channels where the river or tributaries used to flow.

The biggest site, however, is the burned city of Iran, Shahari Sukta, which stretches over 500 acres and is chronologically broken up into five separate periods of occupation. The earliest traces of habitation at the site begin somewhere between 3,500 and about 3,300 BC. It is at the end of the first phase, around 3,000 BC, that the city first appears to have been burned, with scorch marks showing up in the stratigraphy alongside copious amounts of ash and charred wood.

The excavations began here in 1967, and prior to the destruction layer, Shahari Sukta shows very strong evidence of long-distance commercial contact not only with the ancient Near East but also with the Kandahar region in Afghanistan, the Keta Valley in Baluchistan, the Bampur Valley in Iran, the Indus Valley civilization, and at least one of the centers of the Bactria-Margiana archaeological complex, the BMAC or Oxus civilization near the Eurasian steppe.

Primarily, this trade took the form of ceramics during this period. Although it's not certain why the city was burned around 3,000 BC, habitation did not stop. Between 3,000 and 2,600 BC, that is to say phase 2, those long-distance connections continued, and relations with the site of Mundok in Afghanistan appeared to have prospered, with the primary trade items flowing from Mundigok to Shahari Sukta being tin and lapis lazuli.

It is during phase 3, however, that the archaeology indicates a drastic shift in the layout of the site. The city had evidently bounced back from whatever happened to it in 3,000 BC. Beginning around 2,600 BC, probably as a result of increasing prosperity from trade relations and population expansion, the site was enclosed by massive fortification walls.

The cemetery, which contains thousands of graves spread out over about 60 acres, begins to show increasing levels of differentiation in terms of grave goods and elaborate burials. Whatever caused this was probably helped by another major fire which struck the city around 2,700 BC. Much like the first fire around 3,000 BC, the site was essentially leveled. In the aftermath, the city could be rebuilt and extensively fortified.

What exactly happened around this date is again not certain, but there does not appear to be any evidence, at least as of right now, of the city having succumbed to some sort of attack. It is entirely possible that buildings in a densely packed urban center simply caught fire as the flames spread. It is also interesting to note here that this reorganization of the city and the construction of fortifications occurs broadly speaking when the ancient Near East is developing the first major empires of world history.

What sort of relationship the site had to these early states is, like so much else, uncertain. But starting around 2,400 BC, the site no longer turns up ceramics or other goods from the ancient Near East. Trading links with sites further to the east and north continue, however, which suggests that there was some kind of interruption to contacts in the west.

There is a decline in phase 4 between about 2,400 and 2,300 BC. Although there was some sort of gigantic structure that was built, which archaeologists referred to as the burned palace, the city was evidently abandoned sometime around 2,350 BC. There was a gap in occupation until about 2,200 BC. In the very last phase, between 2,100 and 2,000 BC, portions of the city were reoccupied before being totally abandoned and eventually forgotten.

At one point, Shahari Sukta's sister site, Mundigok, baffled the world. It seemed that with conditions so inhospitable in the region, no city should exist here. And yet, there it was, covering approximately 52 acres. This site, like Shahari Sukta, has five distinct levels, with the most famous being level four, dating to approximately 2,900 to 2,400 BC, at a location known as mound A, which originally reached a height of about 18 m or about 60 ft, but which by the end of the 50s had essentially been cut in half by digging, revealing a stunning lost ruin.

The uppermost layers of mound A consisted essentially of refuse and other garbage, the remains of pastoral lifestyles. But halfway down, a structure was uncovered which appears to essentially consist of the entire area of mound A. Today it is known as the palace or the White Palace, although whether it truly was that type of building is uncertain. What this attests to, however, is the presence of a major urban site in the region.

The first two sub-periods of phase one are indistinguishable on the basis of architecture, and the initial chronology is instead based on lithics and pottery. However, by the end of phase 1, Mundigok begins to show evidence of mudbrick houses, all rectangular in shape and built atop earlier sub-periods, which indicates that habitation at the site was beginning to be long-term.

By the end of phase one and the beginning of phase two, the construction becomes more complex, and houses begin to show evidence of foundations. The site shows evidence of two distinct structures separate from the houses but located nearby, which held ovens possibly for the manufacture of ceramics.

It is in the third phase, however, that the plan of Mundok began to change drastically. Construction with mud brick continued, but there was a sharp decline in two-room structures, probably best interpreted as houses, and a shift towards increasing density with two or three smaller rooms. There was also an associated decline in open-air spaces.

All of this was located on mound A, but the overall site consists of several different mounds. It is in the transition from phase three to phase four on mound A that the next of these, known as mound C, began to function in increasing capacity as a cemetery.

In phase 4, all of the other mounds, represented by letters B through I, come into use. This is when the palace, or whatever structure that has been termed the palace, actually seems to have been built. Today, the pillars stand about a meter and a half tall, built of mudbrick and covered in whitewash. It was with the excavation of mound B that the first evidence of a fortification wall, the ruins of which seemed to circle the entire city, were discovered.

A structure located at mound G is thought to be a temple of some kind. It is not certain how or why, but much like Shahari Sukta, Mundigok was burned and then mostly abandoned. Some evidence of habitation seems to continue until approximately 1,000 BC, but after that date, the city was deserted, and like its sister city, it was buried by time. There are dozens of smaller sites scattered along the Helmand River, all of which share a broadly similar material culture, especially in terms of ceramics and bronzes, but also in seals which show up especially at Mundigok.

There are also some curious figurines which appear in later phases of most of these sites, but again, especially at Mundigok. These are basically all female, and what they symbolize, if anything, is not known. There are, of course, speculations that this may be evidence of some sort of goddess religion, sort of similar to speculations about female figurines associated with Old Europe, but we don't know for sure.

It is also not certain how the civilization ended or what sort of long-term impact it may or may not have had outside of being connected to the ancient Near East, the Indus Valley, and the Oxus civilization. Sites like Shahari Sukta and Mundigok appear to have been burned, but much more work needs to be done at other sites in order to determine what happened and why.

Unfortunately, owing to the history of the region over the past few decades, digging at sites associated with the Helmand civilization has either been stopped or is extremely limited. But a lost chapter of human history is still out there, patiently waiting to be discovered.

bttt

Two words: Peg Bundy. The rest of the Burnt City keyword, sorted:

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Ancient Earrings Discovered At Burnt City Disprove Ornament Theory [03/09/2005]
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There are a lot of Bronze Age civilizations to talk about, but when you bring out the Helmand, you bring out the best.

Big history buff here and I’m just now getting into this part of the world. I finished reading “Persians - The Age of the Great Kings.” Now after watching a documentary on Alexander the Great, I had to order a book about him.
History is fascinating.

😆