5,000-year-old fingerprint found in Iran’s Burnt City

Archeologists in Burnt City, a UNESCO-registered site in southeast Iran, have recently found a fingerprint left on a clay vessel made by a potter some 5,000 years ago.

The 5,000-year-old fingerprint was unearthed by archeologists along with plant seeds while excavating the Tapeh Dasht area of the Burnt City.

Moreover, some pottery fragments have been found in Tapeh Dasht, which is one of the 700 satellite sites situated around the Burnt City.

Called Shahr-e Sukhteh in Persian, the Burnt City is associated with four rounds of civilization, all burnt down by sets of fire.

The site is situated in the Sistan and Baluchestan Province, which was once a junction of Bronze-Age trade routes crossing the Iranian plateau.  

The excavations show that the residents of the city had great skills in weaving, creating fine arts such as decorative objects, stone carving, and pottery painting.

Shahr-e Sukhteh has been inscribed on the list of national cultural properties of Iran in 1966.

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