Mundigak
| Mundigak مونډي ګاګ |
|
|---|---|
| Archeological site | |
 Mundigak
مونډي ګاګ |
|
| Coordinates: 31°54′14″N 65°31′29″E / 31.9039°N 65.5246°ECoordinates: 31°54′14″N 65°31′29″E / 31.9039°N 65.5246°E | |
| Country |
 Afghanistan
|
| Province | Kandahar |
Mundigak (Pashto: مونډي ګاګ), in Kandahar, Afghanistan, is an archaeological site in Kandahar province in Afghanistan. It's situated approximately 55 km northwest of Kandahar near Shāh Maqsūd, on the upper drainage of the Kushk-i Nakhud River.
Mundigak was a large prehistoric town with an important cultural sequence from the 5th-2nd millennia BC. The mound was nine meters tall at the time of excavation.
Pottery and other artifacts of the later 3rd millennium BC, when this became a major urban center, indicate interaction with Turkmenistan, Baluchistan, and the Early Harappan Indus region.
Mundigak flourished during the culture of Helmand Basin (Seistan), also known as Helmand Culture (Helmand Province).
With 21 hectare area, this was the second largest centre of Helmand Culture, the first being Shahr-i-Sokhta which was as large as 150 acres, by 2400 BCE.
Bampur, in Iran, is a closely related site.
Around 2200 BCE, both Shahr-i-Sokhta and Mundigak started declining, with considerable shrinkage in area and with brief occupation at later dates.
Mundigak has some Indus Valley Civilization related material. This material consists in part of ceramic figurines of snakes and humped bulls, and other items, similar to those found at other Indus valley sites.
Pottery found at Mundigak had number of similarities with such material found at Kot Diji. This material shows up at the earliest layer of Kot Diji.
Remains of a "palace" is found in one mound. Another mound revealed a large "temple", indicating urban life.
An extensive series of mounds marks the site of a town. The chronology is still uncertain, but it has tentatively been divided into seven main periods with many subdivisions. The main period seems to be Period IV, which saw a massive rebuilding after an earlier destruction. Both the "palace" and the "temple" and possibly the city walls as well date from this period. Another destruction layer and a marked ceramic change indicate a period of abandonment between IV and V Periods, followed by a period of further building and construction of new monuments, including the "massive monument". Periods VI & VII saw only periodic occupation on a small scale.
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Wikipedia