Jiroft culture A
Jiroft culture has been postulated as an
early Bronze Age (third millennium BC)
archaeological culture, located in the territory of present-day
Sistan and
Kermān Provinces of
Iran. The hypothesis is based on a collection of artifacts that were confiscated in
Iran and accepted by many to have derived from the Jiroft area in south central Iran, reported by online Iranian news services, beginning in 2001. 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.
Recent finds A report from Iran states that the
Halil Rud region near "Jiroft 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. Since February 2003, archaeologists have recovered a wealth of artifacts from the necropolis which they had named Mahtoutabad. 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". Two nearby mounds were also excavated, named Konar Sandal South and North. 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 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 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".
Modern history In 2024 extensive land fraud in the transfer of state lands was discovered. More than eighty parcels had been transferred or occupied without proper authority. Value of the properties eceeded 9,400 billion rials (US$220 million). ==Transportation==