Jiroft civilization
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The Jiroft Kingdom or Jiroft Civilization (تمدن جيرفت) was an ancient civilization that existed in what is now Iran from roughly 3000 BCE to ? BCE.
Research into this civilization is a relatively recent and ongoing multinational archaeological project that is uncovering a previously unknown "civilization" in a series of newly discovered sites in Iran's Kerman Province, located at , known as Jiroft or Halil Rud area. There are a multitude of related sites in the vicinity.
Sir Aurel Stein was the first archaeologist to survey the area in the early 1900s. At least twelve sites are now under excavation in the area, the oldest thought to be more than 5,000 years old. The recent accidental discoveries have led to a surge in illegal excavations and looting, mainly of ancient tombs. The number of smuggled artifacts discovered became so noticeable that police forces had to be dispatched to try stop the looting. Interpol has also been cooperating on stopping the trade sourcing from the area.
The most significant of these sites are Shahr-i Sokhta (Burnt City), Tepe Bampur, Espiedej, Shahdad, Iblis, and Tepe Yahya. Some are in the neighboring Sistan and Baluchistan province.
The recent findings that have uncovered an "independent, bronze age, civilization with its own architecture and language" have led professor Yusef Majidzadeh, head of the archaeological excavation team in Jiroft, to speculate them to be the remains of the lost Aratta Kingdom, though others disagree. But what is certain is that this kingdom had a large pottery industry, was a transit hub for trade merchants, and had active interactions with the Elamites.
According to Majidzadeh, an inscription in the Elamite language was discovered on a brick in a palace at the site, that is 300 years older than the oldest Elamite inscription discovered to date at Susa; however it is too fragmentary to identify positively the king named in the inscription.
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[edit] Pre-Mesopotamian Artifacts
Archeological excavations in Jiroft led to the discovery of several objects belonging to the fourth millennium BC. Latest archeological excavations in Jiroft, known as the hidden paradise of world archeologists, resulted in the discovery of a bronze statue depicting the head of goat which dates back to the third millennium BC. This statue was found in the historical cemetery of Jirof where recent excavations in the lower layers of this cemetery revealed that the history of the Halil Rud region dates arguably back to the fourth millennium BC, a time that goes well beyond some of the civilizations in Mesopotamia
“One of the reasons the archeologists and historians give for Messopotamia to be the cradle of civilization is that the most ancient historical evidence and relics which have been discovered in Jiroft so far date back to the third millennium BC or nearer, and therefore they argue that this region could not have been the place where civilization began. However, some cultural evidence and ancient artifacts belonging to the fourth millennium BC were traced while digging a trench beneath the Matot Abad cemetery which gave proof to the fact that the history of this region goes back to the sixth millennium BC. Aside from these ancient articles found so far, archeologists were able to unearth a bronze statue of the head of a goat from one of the graves of Jiroft cemetery which raised new questions about the history of this region and whether or not the civilization that lived here is older than that of Mesopotamia,” said Yousof Majidzadeh, head of excavation team in Jiroft.
“Two different kinds of clays were discovered in this cemetery, some belong to third millennium BC while the others go back to the fourth millennium BC. It was supposed that this area was a cemetery in both periods, but the trenches dug under the cemetery indicate that the region was a residential area during the sixth millennium BC. After this area was covered by different sediments and layers little by little over the period of 1000 years, the cemetery was established on the remains of the previous settlement area. The team of archeologists who are working in this area at the present is determined to continue the excavations to study more about the lower layers,” added Majidzadeh.
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 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.
Plunder of Matot Abad cemetery by the smugglers, which caused an unbelievable disaster in the history of archaeology, attracted the attention of public opinion to this region. Only from one of the cemeteries 30 stone dishes were plundered. Some metal and clay dishes as well as some gold articles were plundered by smugglers as well.
The excavations in the lower layers of Jiroft’s cemetery indicate that the history this region goes back to the fourth millennium BC. This further provided the proof to the claim that Jiroft was the cradle of civilization long before civilization first appeared in Mesopotamia, although this claim has not yet been approved by world organizations.
Analytical studies on relics found in Jirof in a research center in the United States indicate that the discovered materials in this region date back to the third millennium BC. Considering an inscription found earlier in the region, archeologists believe that the writing language of Jiroft is more ancient than that of Mesopotamia, and that the script language was spread to Mesopotamia from this region.[1]
[edit] Written Language
Archeologists believe that Jiroft was the city in which script appeared for the first time. Studies by five linguists from the United States, France, Russia, Denmark, and Iran on a discovered inscription in Jiroft indicate that this Elamit script is 300 years older than that of the great civilization of Susa. Archeologists believe that Jiroft was the origin of Elamit written language in which the writing system developed first and was then spread across the country and reached Susa. The discovered inscription of Jiroft is the third most ancient written script found so far. [2]
[edit] Comparison to Sumer
Many archaeologists believe that the Jiroft civilization was as important as Sumer and Mesopotamia, while Majidzadeh believes the findings show that the Jiroft civilization might be older than the Sumerian civilization, which is the oldest known civilizations.[3]
[edit] References
- For a thorough investigation, see: Dossiers Archeologica's feature titled: Jiroft, Fabuleuse Decouverte en Iran, 287, Oct 2003.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Saudi Aramco World report
- "Jiroft Inscription, Oldest Evidence of Written Language"
- "Jiroft, important trade center in ancient Iran"
- "New studies show Jiroft was anciemnt trade link"
- Second Royal Inscription Discovered at Jiroft's Konar Sandal Ziggurat
- A bout Jiroft
- A book of AS old AS a History (History of Iran)
- about Iran civilizations
 Bowl depicting scorpions. Excavated at Halilrud area. 3rd Millennium BCE. |
 Horned figure with Serpents, one of thousands of newly excavated artifacts from the area |
