Located 56 km from the city of Zabol in Sistan-Baluchestan province, Burnt City is of historical importance. With an antiquity of 5,000 years, it has recently opened up its secrets to archeologists to enable the contemporary generation realize its advanced lifestyle.
According to Cais-soas website, the people who lived in this hot desert region had their own civilization and architectural style--the remains of which that had once been buried under the region’s ancient hills have now been pulled out.
Fragments of clay work were found at many locations, but archeologists have not been able to inspect the entire region due to the hot and windy weather.
Specifications
Burnt City, spanning over 150 hectares, is the largest area in the Middle East dating back to the Brass Age. It was founded in 3200 BCE and ruined in 2100 BCE, and witnessed four civilizational eras in the course of its 1,100-year life. It was burnt thrice and completely ruined in the last fire. That’s why the city is called Burnt City .
So far, no one has found the real name of the city known as Shahre Sukhta. Record indicates that Burnt City was first discovered by British scholar Orwell Stein in 1915. In the 1960s, a team from the Italian Institute for Middle East and Oriental Studies launched archeological excavations in cooperation with the Archeology General Department during 1967-78.
With the discovery of 250 graves, the team collected valuable information. However, excavations were halted in the area from 1978 till 1996 and archeological activities resumed in 1997. Studies show that in the early stage of settlement in the region (3200 to 2800 BCE) the people of Burnt City established contacts with eastern and northeastern parts of Iran, Central Asia and Quetta (in what is today known as Pakistan’s Baluchistan).
Archeologists believe Burnt City was the center of “Hirmand River Zone Civilization“ 5,000 years ago. However, due to the displacement and drying up of Hirmand River delta, living in the region lost its charm. It is said that the Burnt City had about 70 villages that were highly active in agriculture and production of clay works.
In the course of the 2001 archeological excavations in the area, over one ton of clay objects were collected from inside the graves and in architectural environments. The number of objects discovered from across the historical site is very large. Nevertheless, it is difficult to express an opinion about those who lived in Burnt City when we hear that objects, including 12 patterns of fabrics in different colors as well as inlaid works dating back to 5,000 years, have been discovered there.
Graveyard
The city’s graveyard, which extends over 20 hectares, contains about 40,000 graves. Of these, only 134 graves have been excavated in the course of four seasons and 158 skeletons have been discovered. About 120 samples have undergone anthropological studies.
Research shows that due to hard labor and tough weather conditions, men and women in Burnt City had a short span of life such that men lived for 26 to 53 years and women for 26 to 46.

Artworks
Archeologists have also found remains of paints in pots indicating that artists of that time painted clay pots. Elaborating on people’s belief in placing pots beside the buried body, archeologist say inhabitants of Burnt City believed in the afterlife and viewed death as temporary sleep. They placed dishes, water and all the basic requirements in graves so that they could be used when the dead reawaken.

The first exhibition of Iranian miniature is being held at Kashan’s Ameriha Historical Complex, the head of Isfahan’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Department, Mohammad Hossein Dehqani, said.
According to CHN, Dehqani added that the department is sponsoring the event, which aims to introduce miniatures of art students of Kashan’s Center for Learning Handicrafts.
The exhibition opened on May 24 on the occasion of World Handicrafts Day. Over 70 miniatures are showcased in the exhibition, which is open to all interested parties till June 10.
Ameriha Historical Complex is located on Kashan’s Alavi Avenue.

Little is known about the education of children during the Achaemenid period. In two Elamite documents from Persepolis drafted in the 23rd regal year of Darius (499 BC), Persian boys (who) are copying texts are mentioned (Hallock, nos. 871, 1137); the texts in question are records of the issue of grain to twenty-nine individuals and drinks to sixteen.
According to Cais-soas website, it is possible that the boys were learning Persian cuneiform script, which was probably known only to a few scribes, as it was used mainly for royal triumphal inscriptions. Most of nobles and high-level Persian civil servants were literate, and writing played a key role in standard Persian education. The Persians also used foreign scribes (writing chiefly in Aramaic) in the state chancery. Greek sources provide some idea of typical Persian education. According to Herodotus, Persian boys were not allowed to meet their fathers until the age of five; until then they lived with women. From ages five to twenty they were trained in horsemanship, swordsmanship, archery, and telling the truth (Herodotus, 1.136).
Persians regarded lying as the worst of offenses, whereas prowess in arms was the mark of manliness. Xenophon wrote in Cyropaedia that until the age of sixteen or seventeen years the sons of Persian nobles were brought up at the royal court, practicing riding, archery, throwing the spear, and hunting.
They were also instructed in justice, obedience, endurance, and self-restraint. Clearly, apart from ethical guidance, the aim of Persian education was to produce efficient soldiers. This conclusion is confirmed by the tomb inscription of Darius: “Trained am I both with hands and with feet. As a horseman I am a good horseman. As a bowman I am a good bowman both afoot and on horseback. As a spearman I am a good spearman both afoot and on horseback“ (DNb 40-45; Kent, Old Persian, pp. 139-40).
In Alcibiades (attributed to Plato, 1.120-23) it is noted that Persian princes were assigned at the age of fourteen years to four eminent Persians, called respectively the “wisest,“ “most just,“ “most temperate,“ and “bravest,“ who tutored them in the worship of the gods, government, temperance, and courage, respectively. Plutarch (Artaxerxes 3.3) mentioned a priest who taught “the wisdom of the Magi“ to Cyrus the Younger (q.v. vi).
There is practically no information on education in the eastern satrapies of the Achaemenid empire, but the evidence for Babylonia and Egypt, where traditional educational systems continued under Persian rule, is extensive. In both provinces formal education was restricted to boys. Reading and writing, as well as some grammar, mathematics, and astronomy, were taught in scribal schools. In Achaemenid Babylonia literacy also was widespread among the non-Iranian population; scribes were numerous and included the sons of shepherds, fishermen, weavers, and the like. Many school texts have survived from Mesopotamia. They include Sumerian-Babylonian dictionaries, tablets with cuneiform signs and collections of examples of grammatical usage and exercises (Oppenheim, pp. 244-49).
The literacy rate was even higher among the Achaemenid military colonists in Elephantine in Egypt (qq.v.), where witnesses to contracts in Aramaic usually signed their own names (Naveh, p. 22). Darius I ordered the restoration of the medical school at Sais in Egypt.
It seems, however, that among the Egyptians education remained the privilege of the nobility: The Egyptian dignitary Ujahorresne declared that there were no children of “nobodies“ among the students in this medical school (Posener, pp. 1-2, 22).

Head of Fars Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Department said that some parts of Izadkhast Caravansary were renovated in line with the policy of protecting historic edifices and within the framework of projected plans.
According to IRNA, Mohammad Reza Barzegar added, “This caravansary is almost in good conditions. References are made to the caravansary in various historic itineraries.“
The official did not elaborate on the budget allocated for the undertaking.
The caravansary is located in the eastern valley of Izadkhast Castle. It was built during the reign of the Safavid king, Shah Abbas. The main balcony and entrance gate are situated in the western side of the edifice. Among the important construction materials used in the edifice are brick and stone. Stone has been used in the basement while bricks have been used in the upper sections.