pothos.org

It is possible that some cities have remained from that period but no city is comparable in magnitude, number of districts and building application with the "Dahaneh Gholaman". Dahaneh Gholaman in the east of Iran is the only city remaining from the Achaemenid era, which includes residential areas, temples, treasuries, and industrial and military quarters. This city was discovered in the desert by Italian archaeologists with the cooperation of the officials of the Iranian Department of Archeology in 1960 after unearthing running sands and sand dunes.The architecture of the buildings in this town is remarkably comparable with later urban and contemporary architecture. The roof of the structures and buildings in Dahaneh Gholaman is elliptical and not flat and horizontal like that of Persepolis. Although an elliptical roof covers Chogha zanbil Ziggurat, an important temple belonging to the Elamite era. Compared with Achaemenid architecture, the invention made by the inhabitants of the Dahaneh Gholaman to conform with the specific climate of the region, is quite remarkable. In fact, the real value of genuine traditional Iranian architecture lies in such inventions. Moreover, such buildings are indeed perfect museums or examples of ancient civilizations. This large region with a sizable population and a political/administrative Achaemenid headquarters (Drangiana), was most probably the famous Achaemenid Zranka Satrapy, known among Arabs as Zaranj.North of the city, one can see a large building consisting of a central yard with several chambers (including 45 main rooms and two side rooms). 12 chambers are located in the north and the east, 10 chambers in the south and 11 chambers in the west. This building has only a single gate. After entering the yard, one can see many doors opening to the chambers. Three standing platforms are inside the yard each over 1 meter long.

Could you post its co-ordinates, please?Susan

This city has been unearthed nearly unharmed by moving sands through these many centuries. The porticos and columns in this city indicates that the Achaemenid architects copied it in their own buildings. Besides the above monuments, the archaeologists have unearthed a number of artifacts, hand-driven millstones, boar bones, and several other important items.A temple was discovered at the northwestern part of the Slaves Entrance. This is a square building with four watchtowers. This features and contours of the temple, which should naturally represent the faith and religion of the worshippers and residents, scarcely resembles Zoroastrian temples. The only common denominator between the inhabitants of this city and the Zoroastrians was that they were both fire worshipers. The darkness of the temple chamber, in which animals were sacrificed in, resembles Mitra temples and one of the reasons preventing us to understand the religion of the inhabitants of the Dahaneh Gholaman is the exceedingly simple appearance and features of the architecture. The city dates back to 4th century BC, it is said that the inhabitants of the Dahaneh Gholaman evacuated the city when the river suddenly dried.