Said Qala Tepe is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

near

Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the ca ...

in Afghanistan. The tell is about 8 meters high and 200 by 200 meters in area. It has produced particularly strong evidence for the prehistoric period, showing an intensive settlement of the site in the fourth and third millennium BC, attributed to the Helmand culture.

Context

In the same area of the

Plain, the contemporary site of Deh Morasi Ghundai is located. :"Stylistically the finds from Deh Morasi and Said Qala tie in with those of pre-

Indus Valley The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kash ...

sites and with those of comparable age on the

Iranian Plateau The Iranian plateau or Persian plateau is a geological feature in Western Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia. It comprises part of the Eurasian Plate and is wedged between the Arabian Plate and the Indian Plate; situated between the Zagros ...

and in Central Asia, indicating cultural contacts during this very early age." Deh Morasi Ghundai is situated about 16 km to the south-west of Said Qala, and it is about half its size. Deh Morasi is somewhat later than Said Qala.

Excavations

Limited excavations was were carried out at the site in the 1970s by Jim G. Shaffer, who uncovered two 10 meter squares and a 6 by 2 meter area. During the excavation, six layers were observed. One of the layers was a cemetery that dates to the

Kushan The Kushan Empire ( grc, Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν; xbc, Κυϸανο, ; sa, कुषाण वंश; Brahmi: , '; BHS: ; xpr, 𐭊𐭅𐭔𐭍 𐭇𐭔𐭕𐭓, ; zh, 貴霜 ) was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, ...

–

Sassanid The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Name ...

period. Four prehistoric occupations were identified at Said Qala, all of them being contemporary with Mundigak levels III 5 to IV 1. To periods II and III belong an adobe wall of an unknown function that consists of a 3-meter-wide foundation with two additional walls filled with clay between them. In addition, various houses were excavated that only contain one room.

Ceramics

The pottery found at Said Qala Tepe is similar to that from

Mundigak Mundigak ( ps, منډیګک) is an archaeological site in Kandahar province in Afghanistan. During the Bronze Age, it was a center of the Helmand culture. It is situated approximately northwest of Kandahar near Shāh Maqsūd, on the upper draina ...

, about 96 km away. It is generally handmade, but some pieces were made on a

potter's wheel In pottery, a potter's wheel is a machine used in the shaping (known as throwing) of clay into round ceramic ware. The wheel may also be used during the process of trimming excess clay from leather-hard dried ware that is stiff but malleable, ...

. The surface of the ceramics is mostly smoothed, but some also have fragments on their surface with pressed-in basket patterns. There are painted ceramics in the Nal style, and also those similar to the related Amri culture in the Indus valley. Painted ceramics never made up more than about 10% of the total ceramic volume. Found in the village were stone tools, bone artefacts, fragments of stone vessels, weaving spindles, beads made of different materials, and various bronze objects. In addition to this, some seals with geometric motifs, cattle and human figures made of clay, have been found in the town.

Chronology

The chronological classification of the finds is problematic. Three C-14 surveys were carried out, but they provided the oldest data for the youngest layers, possibly due to groundwater contamination. The chronological integration of the finds was accordingly based on comparisons with other sites, especially with the ceramics from Mundigak. Layers of Said Qala Tepe I-IV mostly correspond to the ceramics of the Mundigak III-IV layers, which are from 2400 to 3500 BC. As Deh Morasi is later than Said Qala, it represents a Mundigak IV type occupation.Tosi, S. Malek Shahmirzadi and M. A. Joyenda (1993)
THE BRONZE AGE IN IRAN AND AFGHANISTAN.
unesco.org

Literature

* Cameron A. Petrie and Jim G. Schaffer, in: Raymond Allchin, Warwick Ball, Norman Hammond (Eds.): ''The Archeology of Afghanistan, From earliest Times to the Timurid Period'' , Edinburgh, University Press, Edinburgh 2019, 224 -237

References

Archaeological sites in Afghanistan Kandahar Province Helmand culture Amri-Nal culture {{Kandahar Province