Said Qala Tepe

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Said Qala Tepe is an archaeological dig site in Afghanistan . The settlement hill is close to Kandahar and is about 8 m high and 200 × 200 m in size. There was limited excavation here in the 1970s, led by Jim G. Shaffer , who uncovered two 10 meter squares and a 6 x 2 meter area. In these investigations, six settlement layers could be distinguished. One cemetery dates to the Kushan - Sassanid period. Above all, the four layers of the prehistoric period were extremely strong and prove an intensive settlement in the fourth and third millennium BC. BC, which can be attributed to the Helmand culture . Layer III could be divided into four (IIIA-D) further settlement layers. Various architectures were touched upon during the excavations. The remains of an adobe wall of unknown function date from period II in particular. It consists of a 3 m wide foundation on which there are two more walls, the space between them being filled with clay. In addition, various houses, which often only consist of one room, were excavated, especially in period II and III.

Numerous ceramics have been found that have many similarities to that of Mundigak (about 96 km away). The ceramics are handmade, but some are also made on the potter's wheel. The surfaces were mostly smoothed, but from layer I there are also fragments, the surface of which shows pressed-in basket patterns. There are painted ceramics in the Nal style , but also some that have similarities with the Amri culture in the Indus valley. Painted pottery never made up more than about 10% of the total pottery volume. Numerous stone tools, bone artifacts, but also numerous bronze objects, most of which are tools, were found. Other finds include fragments of stone vessels, weaving spindles and beads made from various materials. In addition, various seals with geometric motifs came to light. There were also various cattle figures made of clay and human figures made of the same material.

The chronological classification of the finds is problematic. Three carbon 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 based on comparisons with other sites, especially with the ceramics from Mundigak. Layers of Said Qala Tepe I-IV correspond in ceramics primarily to the Mundigak III-IV layers, which in turn date from around 3500 to 2400 BC. Are to be set.

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, ISBN 9780748699179 , 224 -237