Konar Sandal (Jiroft – Marhashi)
كنار صندل · Konar Sandal A–B · Jiroft · Marhashi
Early to Middle Bronze (2500–1800 BCE; peak 2400–2200 BCE)·Jiroft / Kerman Bronze Age (Proto-Elamite derived, Halil Rud)·🇮🇷 Kerman Province, Jiroft County, Halil Rud valley, Iran
About
About Konar Sandal (Jiroft – Marhashi)
Twin-mound Bronze Age centre on the Halil Rud south of Jiroft: Konar Sandal A (citadel 13 m) and B (21 m, 13.5 ha two-storey windowed citadel with massive mudbrick ramparts), heart of the 'Jiroft culture' (c.2500–2100 BCE) equated by many with Sumerian Marhashi. Excavated since 2001 by Y. Madjidzadeh after looters' flood of chlorite 'intercultural style' vessels, it yielded inscribed brick in linear Elamite-like script, a fortified lower town, carved chlorite vessels with scorpion-man and palm, and a 4500 BCE cemetery below. Halil Rud flooding links it to Shahdad and Shahr-i Sokhta network.
Why it mattersGreatest Bronze Age site in SE Iran; challenges Susa-centred Iranology by proposing independent Marhashi/Jiroft civilisation exporting art to Mesopotamia and Central Asia.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Is Linear Elamite tablet from Konar Sandal decipherable?
Theories
- 01Marhashi = Jiroft; Intercultural Style chlorine rather than imported Mesopotamian
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 2500 BCE (Early Bronze city) ; earlier Chalcolithic below
- Period
- Early to Middle Bronze (2500–1800 BCE; peak 2400–2200 BCE)
- Culture
- Jiroft / Kerman Bronze Age (Proto-Elamite derived, Halil Rud)
- Builders
- Halil Rud urban community; hypothesized Marhashi polity
- Purpose
- Citadel city controlling Halil Rud agropastoral plain and chlorite trade
- Abandoned
- c.1800 BCE (shrinkage) then reoccupied Iron Age
- Rediscovered
- 2000–2001 after Halil River floods + looter chlorite flood to markets; excavated 2001– Madjidzadeh
- Excavation
- Excavated
c.2450 BCE
Citadel B 13.5 ha platform and ramparts built
c.2300 BCE
Chlorite mass production peak, inscribed brick laid
2001
Government recovery operation; scientific excavation begins
On the ground
Structures & features
28.4589° N · 57.7822° E · 700 m · 2 mapped features
Citadel B (Konar Sandal South)
citadelWindowed two-storey citadel 21 m high with ramparts
28.4494° N · 57.7784° EChlorite workshop quarter
workshopWorkshop with unfinished chlorite vessels and drill bits
28.4587° N · 57.7820° E