NECROPOLIS

The area of the graveyard has been estimated to be 20-25 ha. On the basis of the concentration and density of the graves, approximately one in every 12 sq.m., the graveyard has been estimated to contain about 37500-40000 of them. Between 1997 and 2015, 900 graves have been excavated, marking an average of 13.5 graves per 100 sq.m.

Although it is considered one of the largest graveyards of the Bronze Age Period in the Middle East, it seems that the area was not large enough to collect the graves of all the individuals who lived for more than 1000 years in this city.  Perhaps the proximity of the water of Hamun Lake with the western and south-western edges of the site for thousands of years is the reason of the erosion and destruction of part of the graveyard and its graves. Calculations based on the density and distribution of the graves have shown that this necropolis could contain between 37500 and 40000 graves. Among more than 900 in total, no grave of the last period of occupation has been found, nor those of the earlier phases of the first period, but almost all graves belonged instead to the II and III periods of occupation of the site.

To date, ten types of grave structures have been distinguished: 

 1) Simple pits;

2) Bipartite pits divided into two sections by a mud-brick wall,

3) Catacombs,

4) Pseudo Catacombs,

5) Square-shaped graves made with mud-bricks,

6) Rectangular-shaped graves made with mud-bricks,

7) Square-shaped graves with two mud-brick walls,

8) Rounded graves with a mud brick wall.

9) Rounded graves with mud-brick doors

10) Pottery graves (Bowls and Jars)