Damb Sadat

A damb is a type of archaeological mound (tumuli) found in the Baluchistan region of Iran.

Makran

Those of Makran are little stonebuilt structures, which occur in groups on the hill-sides. Such hills are generally called Damba Koh by the people and are not infrequently attributed to Bahman (the Artaxerxes Longimanus). Excavations conducted by Major Mockler led to the discovery of buildings at Sutkagen Dor, a place about 40 miles to the north-west of Gwadar, which he considered to be the remains of temples or water works. The houses were built with baked bricks or stone, and a large earthen pot was unearthed in one corner, while fragments of pottery, pieces of lime, and flint knives were common everywhere. At Jiwnri and at a place called Gati, 6 miles from Gwadar, Major Mockler discovered numerous little houses, oval or square in shape, and built of stone obtained from the surface of the hills. Better specimens, however, than those at Jiwnri were seen at Damba Koh south-east of Dashtian in Persian Makran, and in them were found different kinds of earthenware vessels, clay and stone beads, grinding stones, stones for sharpening knives, a shell ring, pieces of rope pattern pottery, a lump of oxide of iron and a coin. The latter appeared to be of Greek or Bactrian origin.

In the eleven mounds opened at Jiwnri, vessels containing bones, scraps of iron, stones for sharpening knives, copper bracelets and shell ornaments were discovered and similar finds were made at Gati. The conclusion at which Major Mockler arrived was that the places had been used for purposes of interment, the bones of the deceased being placed occasionally in an earthen pot, but more generally on the floor of the dumb. Pots containing food, weapons and sometimes a lamp, were the accompaniments of the corpse, which was apparently exposed previous to burial. In Sir Thomas Holdich's opinion the structures are possibly relics of the Dravidian races, which dispersed eastward on being ousted by the Semites from Chaldaea.

The old mound, 2 miles west of Turbat, to which the name of Bahmani has been given by the people, from Bahman, the son of Asfandiar, the hero of the Shahnama, is apparently of the same type as that at Sutkagen Dor. It is covered with pottery, but shallow excavations made in 1903 failed to disclose anything of interest. Names from the Shahnama are again to be met within the ancient karezes (underground canals) in Kech called Kausi and Khusrawi after kings Kaus and Kai Khusrau. The latter is especially interesting in the light of the evidence afforded by the Shahnama which mentions Kai Khusrau as effecting great improvements in the agricultural conditions of the country. The Khusrawi kares is also known as Uzzai. Both are still running and their length is unknown, but while cleaning the bed of the Khusrawi karez, the local cultivators state that they have followed the channel up to the bed of the Dokurm torrent under which it passes, and found that it was roofed with slabs of flat stones supported on pillars which rested in their turn on an arch over the runningwater. Another karez of interest is one at Kalatuk called Sad-o-bad, a name which is said to be a corruption of Saadabad. According to local accounts it was excavated by one of the Arab generals Saad-bin-Ali Wiqas in the time of the Caliph Omar.

See also

• Nausherwani tombs