Shahr-e Sukhteh

The Burnt City was occupied from about 3550 to 2300 BC on the bank of a river in what is now empty desert, and it grew to a substantial size with distinct residential, industrial and burial quarters, extensive craft production and long-distance trade, before being abandoned for reasons that are still not understood. Its dry ground preserved organic material unusually well, and excavation has produced finds that are widely reported: a prosthetic eyeball made of bitumen paste and gold thread, found in a woman's skull; a pottery goblet painted with five images of a goat leaping toward a tree that have been read as a sequence of movement; evidence of skull surgery on a girl who survived it; and a backgammon-like board game with dice.

The main sights

• A large Bronze Age city plan - residential, craft and burial quarters.
• The site of the prosthetic eye find - bitumen and gold thread, in a burial.
• Craft workshop areas - the industrial quarter of the settlement.
• The Helmand river setting - the river the city stood beside.

When to go

November to March; summer here is extreme and the Sistan wind blows hard for months. Two to three hours. The famous finds are in museums in Zabol and Tehran, not on site.

Things to know

The site is at foundation level and needs interpretation to mean anything. The celebrated objects are elsewhere. It is very remote and this province requires additional formalities for foreign visitors, so check requirements first. There is no shade and the wind is relentless.

Nearby

Zabol is north; the Hamun wetlands lie west along the border.

Key facts