"Iran's 'Burnt City', a Bronze Age archeological treasure trove, was once one of the world's largest communities at the dawn of urban settlement. The city, called Shahr-e-Sookhteh, sits on the banks of the Helmand river along the Zahedan-Zabol road in the southeast province of Sistan.
Covering an area of 151 hectares, the city was built around 3200 BC and abandoned over a millennium later in 2100 BC. The city experienced four stages of civilization and was burnt down three times. It took its eventual named because it was never rebuilt after the last fire.
The oldest known backgammon, dice and caraway seeds and numerous metallurgical finds, such as pieces of slag and crucible, are among the city's excavated artifacts. The unearthed game of backgammon is made of 60 pieces from turquoise and agate, and has a rectangular ebony board.
Other objects found at the site include a human skull with signs that suggest brain surgery was conducted on it in this prehistoric city.
The striking find reminds one of The Story of Sinuhe, written in hieroglyph during the Egyptian Middle Kingdom around 2000 BC, in which Sinuhe, an Egyptian nobleman and a physician in the court of Amenemhet I, gives an account of open brain surgeries. The unearthed skull in Iran's Burnt City has discredited the belief based on Sinuhe's account that brain surgery originated in Egypt."
See the above page for the full story.
3 comments:
Um... I believe that someone has confused the ancient Egyptian tale of Sinuhe with Mika Waltari's novel _The Egyptian_, whose protagonist, a physician, is named Sinuhe and which was, in many editions (including foreign ones), titled _Sinuhe the Egyptian_. It was vaguely inspired by the Middle Kingdom story but takes place during the Amarna Period.
Hello there! Good to hear from you. Thanks very much for pointing out this confusion. It is remarkable how often these oddities arise.
All the best
Andie
One must wonder sometimes! :)
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