Bronze Age culture in current day Afghanistan and Iran
Pottery vessel from Shahr-e Sukhteh
The Helmand culture (also Helmand civilization), c. 3300–2350 BCE,[1] is a Bronze Age culture that flourished mainly in the middle and lower valley of the Helmand River, in southern Afghanistan (Kandahar, Helmand and Nimruz provinces) and eastern Iran (Sistan and Baluchestan Province), predominantly in the third millennium BCE.[2]
The people of the Helmand culture lived partly in cities with temples and palaces, providing evidence for a complex and advanced social structure. The main cities so far known are Shahr-i Sokhta (in modern Iran) and Mundigak (Afghanistan). Research on the finds from both places showed that these cities shared the same culture.[3] These are the earliest discovered cities in this part of the world, although the village Mehrgarh further to the south east is considerably older. It is possible that the Helmand culture formed once one ancient state.[4]
The pottery of the Helmand civilization is colorfully painted with mainly geometrical patterns, plants and animals are also depicted. Bronze was known. In Shahr-i Sokhta were found texts in Elamite language providing evidence with connections to the west of the Iran. There are also a few connections with the Indus Valley civilisation, but it seems that the Helmand civilization was earlier and did not overlap chronological very much with the cities in the Indus valley.[5]
V. M. Masson discussed several types of early civilizations. He distinguishes three typesː 1. Civilizations of tropical agriculture; 2. Civilizations of irrigation agriculture and 3. civilizations of non-irrigated Mediterranean agriculture. For the civilizations of irrigation agriculture he sees two sub typesː Civilizations with irrigation derived from large rivers and civilizations with irrigation agriculture based on limited water sources. According to Masson, the Helmand culture clearly belongs to the latter type. He does not mention the term Helmand culture, but the cities Mundigak and Shahr-i Sokhta.[6]
^Vidale, Massimo, (15 March 2021). "A Warehouse in 3rd Millennium B.C. Sistan and Its Accounting Technology", in Seminar "Early Urbanization in Iran".
^Schaffer, Jim G., and Cameron A. Petrie, (2019), "The development of a 'Helmand Civilisation' south of the Hindu Kush", in Raymond Allchin, Warwick Ball, and Norman Hammond (eds.), The Archaeology of Afghanistan, From earliest Times to the Timurid Period, New Edition, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, ISBN 9780748699179, pp. 161–259.
^Biscione, Raffaele, (1974). Relative Chronology and pottery connection between Shahr-i Sokhta and Munigak, Eastern Iran, in Memorie dell'Istituto Italiano di Paleontologia Umana II, pp. 131–145.
^McIntosh, Jane, (2008).The Ancient Indus Valley: New Perspectives (Understanding Ancient Civilizations), 1st Edition, Santa Barbara, California, ISBN 978-1-57607-908-9, pp. 86–87.
^Jarrige, Jean-François, Aurore Didier, and Gonzague Quivron, (2011). "Shahr-i Sokhta and the Chronology of the Indo-Iranian Borderlands", in Paléorient, 2011, vol. 37, n°2., pp. 7–34.
^V. M. Masson: Altyn-Depe. (translated by Henry N. Michael from Russian), The University Museum – University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 1988, ISBN 0-934718-54-7, pp. 128–130
The Helmandculture (also Helmand civilization), c. 3300–2350 BCE, is a Bronze Age culture that flourished mainly in the middle and lower valley of the...
Helmand (Pashto/Dari: هلمند; /ˈhɛlmənd/ HEL-mənd), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan...
Thus, the Jiroft culture is closely related to the Helmandculture. The Jiroft culture flourished in eastern Iran, and the Helmandculture in western Afghanistan...
record of Ficus religiosa in human culture is the use of peepal leaf motifs in the pottery of the Helmandculture, found at Mundigak site, in Kandahar...
province in Afghanistan. During the Bronze Age, it was a center of the Helmandculture. It is situated approximately 55 km (34 mi) northwest of Kandahar near...
Mundigak (near Kandahar in the south of the country) was a center of the Helmandculture. More recent findings established that the Indus Valley Civilization...
region on the Afghanistan–Iran border. In Iran, it is also known as Hāmūn-e Helmand, Hāmūn-e Hīrmand, or Daryāche-ye Sīstān ("Lake Sīstān"). Hāmūn is a generic...
Vidale (2008), Cultural Relationships beyond the Iranian Plateau: The Helmand Civilization, Baluchistan and the Indus Valley in the 3rd Millennium BCE...
Afghanistan and the capital of Helmand Province. It is located in Lashkargah District, where the Arghandab River merges into the Helmand River. The city has a...
archaeological site of Shahr-e Sukhteh in Iran (associated with the Helmandculture), has five images painted around it that have been interpreted as consecutive...
There are multiple settlements of this culture in Pakistan and in Iran. Gregory Possehl sees Mundigak, in the Helmand River basin of Afghanistan, as part...
possible that the early city of Mundigak (near Kandahar) was a part of Helmandculture. The first known people were Indo-Iranians, but their date of arrival...
the most important regions of Afghanistan since the Bronze Age, when Helmandculture (c. 3300 – c. 2500 BC) was centred on the site of Mundigak. The area...
PMID 27222033. Shaffer, Jim G. (1992). "The Indus Valley, Baluchistan and Helmand Traditions: Neolithic Through Bronze Age". In R.W. Ehrich (ed.). Chronologies...
the site in the fourth and third millennium BC, attributed to the Helmandculture. In the same area of the Kandahar Plain, the contemporary site of Deh...
important site in relation to the ancient Helmandculture of western Afghanistan, and to the closely related Jiroft culture of eastern Iran. The position of Bampur...
course of the Gagghar-Hakra. "Sarasvati" has also been identified with the Helmand in ancient Arachosia, or Harauvatiš (Old Persian: 𐏃𐎼𐎢𐎺𐎫𐎡𐏁), in present...
Helmand University (Pashto: هلمند پوهنتون) is located in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. It was established in 2006. Helmand...
Panjab, and Sind Shaffer, Jim G. (1992), "The Indus Valley, Baluchistan and Helmand Traditions: Neolithic Through Bronze Age", in Ehrich, R. W. (ed.), Chronologies...
The Helmand and Arghandab Valley Authority (HAVA) based in Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan, originally named the Helmand Valley Authority (HVA) until its expansion...
Assistance Force (ISAF) pacification offensive in the town of Marjah, Helmand Province, Afghanistan. It involved a combined total of 15,000 Afghan, American...
the Helmand River not far off from the city of Alexandria in Arachosia (present day Kandahar). Largely desert, the region is bisected by the Helmand River...
referred to as the pre-Islamic period of Afghanistan, dates back to the Helmand Civilization around 3300–2350 BCE and the Oxus Civilization around 2400–1950...
Baluchestan, and the southern areas of Afghanistan, which include Nimruz, Helmand and Kandahar provinces. It borders the Khyber Paktunkhwa region to the...
Material Culture and Ethnicity, edited by G. Erdosy, pp. 213–257. Berlin, W. DeGruyter. Shaffer, J. G. 1992 The Indus Valley, Baluchistan and Helmand Traditions:...
the Qatar office. Khan was born on 26 February 1971 in a village of the Helmand Province, his family's roots being in the Paktia Province, getting his...
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