New archeological and art studies on insignias unearthed in the Iranian ancient site of Jiroft clearly shows that the southern area used to be the most important business nucleus of Persia and its residents had bustling trade ties with people living in other parts of the country.

“During two excavation seasons, archeologists have found around 25 insignias and seals, dating back from the 3rd millennium BC to 2,300 years BC,” announced team leader Dr. Yusef Majidzadeh, an Iranian born archeologist now living in France.

The insignias have had trademarks of ancient northern, southern, eastern and western parts of Persia, indicating Jiroft had been a trade hub for the whole nation, he added.

“Some of the seals depict an impression of snakes, mostly associated with ancient Pakistan and Afghanistan, while others portray Mesopotamian champions or squatting women hailing from Susa,” Dr. Majidzadeh noted.

Iranian archeologists have concluded that ancient Persians packaged their goods inside earthenware vessels and/or jugs and then covered the lid with mud and sealed it with special insignias.

During the last season of excavation in Jiroft, in the southwestern province of Kerman, experts unearthed an insignia, measuring 3 cm in length and 2 cm in width, with some intriguing letters engraved on it.

“Now two renowned script experts are scrutinizing it at Philadelphia and Sorbonne universities,” Dr. Majidzadeh further added.

Jiroft came into spotlight nearly three years ago when extensive illegal excavations and plundering of the invaluable historical items of the area by local people surfaced. Since 2002, two excavation seasons have been carried out there under the supervision of Majidzadeh, leading to the discovery of a ziggurat with more than four million mud bricks dating back to 2300 B.C.

Based on previous explanations by American Professor Holly Pittman, the handwriting discovered in Jiroft is unlike any other handwriting so far discovered. Its novelty and its being contemporary to the innovation of handwriting by Sumerians lead us to a civilization comparable to the first human civilization and may in the upcoming studies even change the course of human civilization.

The historical site of Jiroft, located in Kerman, is one of the richest historical sites of the world, encompassing invaluable remains and items from the third millennium B.C. and with more than 100 historical areas in just 400 kilometers of Halil Rood riverbank.

Many great Iranian and foreign experts see the findings in Jiroft as signs of a civilization as great as that of Sumerian and Mesopotamia. Majidzadeh believes that Jiroft is the ancient city of Aratt mentioned in an Iraqi clay inscription as a great civilization.