TEHRAN - As the Iranian New Year, Nowruz, approaches, the UNESCO-designated Burnt City is preparing to host enthusiasts of history and art during the festive season.

On Sunday, Zohreh Shirazi, who presides over the World Heritage site, expressed her intention to utilize the knowledge and enthusiasm of students, graduates, and enthusiasts in the fields of history and art in Sistan-Baluchestan province during this year's Nowruz holidays.

“The UNESCO-registered Burnt City aims to engage students, graduates, and enthusiasts in the fields of history and art to introduce and guide tourists in Burnt City and its surrounding areas,”

She further elaborated that the site also plans to allocate some booths for handicrafts and cultural products.

Also known as Shahr-e Sukhteh, or Shahr-i Sokhta, Burnt City is associated with four rounds of civilization, all burnt down by catastrophic sets of fire. The site is situated in the Sistan-Baluchestan province, which was once a junction of Bronze-Age trade routes crossing the Iranian plateau.

According to the UN cultural body, changes in water courses and climate change led to the eventual abandonment of the city in the early second millennium. The structures, burial grounds, and many significant artifacts unearthed there and their well-preserved state due to the dry desert climate make this site a rich source of information regarding the emergence of complex societies and contacts between them in the third millennium BC.

Burnt City, which was once situated at the junction of Bronze Age trade routes crossing the Iranian plateau, was populated during four main periods up to 1800 BC. Previous rounds of excavations showed that its residents had great skills in weaving, and creating fine arts such as decorative objects, stone carving, and pottery painting.

According to the UN cultural body, changes in water courses and climate change led to the eventual abandonment of the city in the early second millennium. The structures, burial grounds, and many significant artifacts unearthed there and their well-preserved state due to the dry desert climate make this site a rich source of information regarding the emergence of complex societies and contacts between them in the third millennium BC.

Last November, Iranian archaeologist Seyyed-Mansour Seyyed-Sajjadi announced that the earliest period of human settlement in Burnt City might have occurred in about 3500 BC, more than 300 years before what was previously thought.

“In recent research and tests, based on the evidence and findings, we found out that the burnt city, contrary to what we thought, does not belong to 3200 BC,” Seyyed-Sajjadi said.

“The site is at least 300 years older than what we thought, which means that this city was founded at least 3500 BC.”

He made the remarks in a meeting in which he unveiled some prehistorical table games once played in Burnt City millennia ago.

AM