The Burnt City

Winter stars from Sirius (at left) to Pleiades (at right) over the archeological site of Shahr-I Sukhta (Burnt City in Persian), a World Heritage Site in Sistan plains of southeastern Iran. The area of 151 hectares is covered with pottery remains. It was one of the world’s largest cities at the dawn of the urban era. It also contains up to 40,000 ancient graves. The settlement appeared around 3200 BC and was burnt down three times before being abandoned in 1800 BC.