Archaeologists excavating Shahr-i Sokhta, the Bronze Age settlement better known as Iran’s Burnt City, have discovered what appears to be a new type of 4,600-year-old board game.image Credit: Tehran Times
The discovery was made during the 21st excavation season at the UNESCO World Heritage site in southeastern Iran.
The game is part of an unusually diverse collection of finds from the current excavations, which also includes an engraved bone comb, traces of textiles and leather, evidence of egg, new forms of burial, pottery and other material associated with life during the third millennium BC.
According to Rouhollah Shirazi, head of the excavation team, the newly discovered object represents a different type of intellectual or board game from material previously identified at Shahr-i Sokhta.
Its precise form, rules and complete archaeological significance have not yet been published in sufficient detail. For now, researchers are dating the object to approximately 4,600 years ago.
Shahr-i Sokhta Was Already Famous for an Ancient Game
The latest discovery is particularly intriguing because Shahr-i Sokhta had already produced one of the ancient world's most remarkable board-game assemblages.
In 1977, an Italian archaeological mission excavating Grave 731 discovered a wooden gaming board accompanied by 27 pieces and dice.
The assemblage is generally dated to approximately 2600–2400 BC and has been described as one of the most complete early board-game sets known from the ancient world.
Its carved design and gaming pieces have frequently been compared with the Royal Game of Ur from Mesopotamia.
However, no written instructions explaining the game's rules were found at Shahr-i Sokhta.
Consequently, researchers have spent decades attempting to reconstruct how the ancient game may have been played.
A recent analysis by Sam Jelveh and Hossein Moradi proposed a playable reconstruction based on the archaeological evidence and comparisons with the broader Game of Twenty tradition, while emphasizing that the original rules remain unknown.
A Second Gaming Tradition?
The newly discovered object could make the archaeological picture considerably more interesting.
If the excavation team's assessment is confirmed, Shahr-i Sokhta may preserve evidence for more than one gaming tradition within the same Bronze Age urban society.
That possibility raises several questions.
Were different games associated with different social groups?
Did particular games have different functions?
Were some games played for entertainment while others had social, ritual or funerary significance?
At present, the available evidence cannot answer these questions.
Researchers have not yet published enough technical information to establish exactly how the new game was played, whether all its components survived, or how closely it relates to the earlier assemblage from Grave 731.
Those questions will require detailed archaeological publication and analysis.
The Cemetery Provides More Clues
The new game was among discoveries made during excavations focused partly on the enormous cemetery of Shahr-i Sokhta.
According to Shirazi, the cemetery produced previously undocumented burial forms as well as plain, decorated and polychrome pottery.
The excavations also recovered several categories of organic material that are rarely preserved at archaeological sites.
Among these were traces of egg, textile and leather.
Such materials normally deteriorate rapidly, but the unusually dry environment around Shahr-i Sokhta has helped preserve organic remains that can provide information unavailable from pottery, stone and architecture alone.
These discoveries could offer clues about clothing, food consumption, craft production and funerary practices in the Bronze Age city.
What Did the Game Mean to Its Owner?
The cemetery context may eventually become especially important for interpreting the new gaming object.
Objects placed deliberately with the dead can carry meanings extending beyond their practical function during everyday life.
The game may have been a personal possession.
It could potentially have reflected social identity.
It might have been associated with a funerary practice.
Or it could have had an entirely different significance.
At this stage, none of these possibilities can be established from the available evidence.
The archaeological context and future analysis will be essential for determining why the object was present where it was found.
An Engraved Bone Comb
Another unusual discovery from the excavation season is a decorated bone comb featuring an engraved design.
Shirazi said no close parallel has yet been identified at Shahr-i Sokhta itself, although comparable objects are known from archaeological sites in Central Asia.
The comb could have been used for grooming and personal appearance, but its significance may extend further.
Its manufacturing technique and decorative pattern could provide evidence for technological traditions and cultural connections between Shahr-i Sokhta and communities farther north.
Researchers have not yet determined whether the comb was locally manufactured or reflects outside influence.
A City at the Crossroads of Bronze Age Exchange
The possibility of wider cultural connections fits the broader archaeological character of Shahr-i Sokhta.
UNESCO describes the city as standing at the intersection of Bronze Age trade routes crossing the Iranian plateau.
Archaeological evidence indicates connections extending toward:
- Central Asia
- The Indus region
- The Persian Gulf
- The Oman Sea
- Southwestern Iran
- Mesopotamia
Shahr-i Sokhta was therefore not an isolated settlement.
It formed one of the major urban centers of the Helmand Civilization, a Bronze Age cultural complex centered on the Helmand River basin and extending across parts of southeastern Iran and southwestern Afghanistan.
Other important centers included Mundigak in present-day Afghanistan.
The Helmand Civilization
The Helmand Civilization flourished during the third millennium BC.
Shahr-i Sokhta was among its largest and most important urban settlements.
At its height, the city appears to have occupied a central position within a wider landscape containing more than 100 contemporary settlements.
Its inhabitants produced pottery, stone vessels, metal objects and ornaments, while evidence of long-distance contacts reveals the city's participation in extensive networks of exchange.
UNESCO describes Shahr-i Sokhta as an important example of the transition from village communities toward organized urban society.
The city contained distinct residential, manufacturing, monumental and burial areas, reflecting increasingly complex forms of social organization.
Against this background, the discovery of a board game takes on a broader significance.
It is not simply evidence that people played games.
It is evidence emerging from a large, organized Bronze Age urban society connected to communities across a considerable geographical area.
Excavations Reveal Domestic and Craft Activities
The 21st excavation season began on July 20, 2026 and has investigated three areas.
One excavation area lies in the residential quarter, while two others are located around the cemetery.
In the northeastern residential zone, archaeologists identified two architectural phases.
They also recovered animal remains, tools, stone-working waste, animal figurines and hearths.
The discoveries have prompted researchers to reconsider the character of this part of the settlement.
Rather than classifying the area simply as an industrial quarter, Shirazi said the evidence suggests that craft production took place in spaces that were also used for ordinary domestic activities.
This provides another glimpse into how work and everyday life could overlap within the city.
A 273-Hectare Bronze Age City
Shahr-i Sokhta covered approximately 273 hectares.
The settlement developed from around 3200 BC and remained occupied through four principal periods until approximately 1800 BC.
Its large size and internal organization demonstrate the complexity of Bronze Age urban life in eastern Iran.
Residential areas existed alongside manufacturing, monumental and burial zones.
The latest excavations are adding smaller-scale evidence to this larger urban picture.
A board game suggests leisure or intellectual activity.
A decorated comb provides evidence connected with personal appearance and craftsmanship.
Textile and leather remains offer clues about materials that normally disappear.
Egg remains can provide evidence concerning food or other practices.
Hearths reveal domestic activity.
Burials reveal attitudes toward death and the treatment of the dead.
Together, these finds bring the ancient city down from an abstract archaeological map to the experiences of individual people.
Why the New Board Game Matters
The discovery of another ancient game is particularly significant because gaming is an aspect of daily life that can be difficult to identify archaeologically.
Buildings, weapons, pottery and tools can reveal how people lived and worked, but games can provide clues about how people spent their leisure time and interacted socially.
The earlier game from Grave 731 demonstrates that gaming was present at Shahr-i Sokhta at least by the middle of the third millennium BC.
The newly announced object could now indicate that the city's inhabitants had access to multiple forms of gaming.
However, researchers have not yet established whether the new object represents a complete game, a component of one, or a particular gaming tradition.
Detailed publication will be necessary before stronger conclusions can be drawn.
What Happens Next?
The excavation team is continuing to analyze material from the 2026 season.
Future research is expected to incorporate radiocarbon dating, ancient-DNA analysis, physical anthropology and other interdisciplinary approaches.
The new board game will require particularly careful study.
Researchers will need to document its form and manufacture, examine its archaeological context and determine whether additional gaming components are associated with it.
Only then will it be possible to establish how the game may have functioned and whether it represents a genuinely distinct tradition from the earlier gaming set discovered in Grave 731.
Conclusion
The discovery of a possible 4,600-year-old board game at Iran's Burnt City adds a fascinating new dimension to one of the ancient world's most important archaeological sites.
Shahr-i Sokhta was already famous for the elaborate gaming set discovered in Grave 731 in 1977.
The new discovery raises the possibility that Bronze Age inhabitants of the city participated in more than one gaming tradition.
Yet the significance of the find extends beyond the game itself.
The same excavation season has produced an engraved bone comb, textiles, leather, egg remains, pottery and evidence for previously undocumented burial forms.
Together, these discoveries reveal a remarkably complex urban society whose inhabitants played, worked, dressed, ate, crafted objects and buried their dead within a city connected to far-reaching Bronze Age networks.
Once the new game is fully studied and published, it may tell us not only how people played—but potentially something about who they were, how they interacted and what mattered to them nearly 4,600 years ago.
FAQ
What was discovered at Shahr-i Sokhta?
Archaeologists discovered what appears to be a new type of approximately 4,600-year-old board game during the 21st excavation season.
Where is Shahr-i Sokhta?
Shahr-i Sokhta, or the Burnt City, is located in southeastern Iran.
How old is the newly discovered game?
The excavation team is dating it to approximately 4,600 years ago.
Is this the first board game found at Shahr-i Sokhta?
No. A separate gaming set was discovered in Grave 731 in 1977. That assemblage included a wooden board, 27 pieces and dice and is generally dated to approximately 2600–2400 BC.
Do archaeologists know how the ancient games were played?
Not definitively. No original written instructions survived for the earlier game, and the rules of the newly discovered game have not yet been established.
What else was discovered during the 2026 excavations?
Finds include an engraved bone comb, textiles, leather, egg remains, pottery, animal remains, tools, animal figurines, hearths and evidence of previously undocumented burial forms.
What was the Helmand Civilization?
The Helmand Civilization was a Bronze Age cultural complex centered on the Helmand River basin and encompassing parts of southeastern Iran and southwestern Afghanistan during the third millennium BC.
Why is Shahr-i Sokhta important?
The city was one of the major urban centers of the Helmand Civilization and participated in extensive Bronze Age exchange networks linking regions including Central Asia, the Indus area, the Persian Gulf, Oman and Mesopotamia.
Has the new game been fully identified?
Not yet. The excavation team has not published sufficient technical information to establish its precise form, rules, complete components or relationship to the earlier gaming set.
