The Archaeology of Southwest Afghanistan, Volume 1

This book is the first of two volumes comprising a legacy report of ten years of a joint US/Afghan archaeological project in the southwest quadrant of Afghanistan-- the Helmand Valley and Sistan region. Though conducted in the 1970s, political events in Afghanistan make this both the first and most recent archaeological synthesis of the region, likely the only one for decades to come. The Helmand River is one of the main routes between the Middle East, South, and Central Asia over the past 5,000 years and project findings reflect that mixing of cultures. Our research identified key monuments from Bronze Age, Persian, Hellenistic, Buddhist, Zoroastrian, and Islamic cultures, and explored the role of intensive irrigation agriculture in one of the world’s driest regions. Among key findings of preIslamic Sistan include a previously unknown Iron Age culture, the westernmost Buddhist shrine from the early expansion of the religion, an extensive canal system that irrigated the otherwise-barren Sar-o-Tar plain, and contemporary shrines of Buddhist, Zoroastrian, and Greek religions. Contributions to Islamic archaeology include the first material correlates of the Saffarid Dynasty of the 10 th -11 th centuries CE, the cultural history of Shahr-i Gholghola (ancient Taq), the large fortress city occupied for almost 1500 years, and the plotting of extensive rural estates of the Timurid era

Afghan · Ancient history · Archaeology · Bronze Age · Buddhism · Chiefdom · Fortress (chess · Geography · Islam · Persian · Politics · Prehistory · Zoroastrianism · Eurasian Exchange Networks · History · Islamic Studies and History · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East

• An overview of the pottery from Sistan in the Late Iron Age/Achaemenid period

  Open Access•Giulio Maresca•ISIMU Revista sobre Oriente…•2024

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