The Effect of Trading Lapis Lazuli on the Settlements in the East of Iran's Central Plateau (3<sup>rd</sup>–4<sup>th</sup> Mill. BCE)

Abstract

Lapis lazuli was one of the ancient world's most precious stones, extensively traded during the third and fourth millennia and important for the settlement of Shahr-i Sokhta in Sistan and Baluchestan province. The authors scrutinised recent archaeological evidence in order to evaluate the impact of the lapis lazuli trade between this part of Persia with locations as far apart as Central Asia and southern Egypt. The raw material came from mines in Badakhshan (northern Afghanistan), whilst the evidence suggests that Shahr-i Sokhta became a wealthy production and trading centre for lapis lazuli, which was exported as jewellery and as ornaments for temples and palaces. This would explain why the city also became the social, political, economic and cultural centre of the whole region for much of the third millennium.