8 December 2023 The Future is the Product of the Past

Life continues in Iran’s 12,000-year-old settlement “Meymand village”

At the south-eastern Iranian province of Kerman near Shahr-Babak city, there is a village dating back to the Stone Age. Meymand is a village of troglodytes – cave dwellers.

Meymand is 35 kilometers northeast of Shahr-e Babak, a city in Kerman province, on the road that connects Tehran to the port of Bandar Abbas in the south.

Meymand is believed to be a primary human residence in the Iranian Plateau, dating back to 12,000 years ago. It’s hard to fathom just how long a village like Maymand in Iran has been around.

Meymand has been providing cozy caves and rock shelters for early inhabitants of the Iranian Plateau some 12,000 years ago. The settlement has been continuously inhabited since then, making it one of Iran’s oldest surviving villages.

The village is a UNESCO world heritage site that was awarded the Melina Mercouri International Prize by UNESCO in 2005. The prize’s goal is to recognize exceptional instances of efforts in preserving and enriching the world’s significant cultural landscapes.

Maymand village
This 12,000-year-old Iranian cave village has been continuously inhabited for over 3,000 years.

The staggering age of the settlement at Maymand was determined by fragments of stone etchings that established the existence of human settlers.

 However the defining characteristic of the village, namely its 300+ in-ground cave homes are not nearly so old, only dating back 3-4,000 years. Hand-dug houses are carved into a range of hills, beside the natural caves. They have been the residences of the local people since 3,000 years ago, and they are still in use.

It is thought that the cave dwellings began as religious sites but slowly evolved into permanent houses as settlers stayed on the spot longer and longer. As the locals tell it, their ancestors carved out the simple cave homes using a type of hard, sharpened stone that can be found in the area as opposed to traditional tools. The single room dwellings are stacked atop one another four and five tall sometimes, yet each of the barren caves has room for its own stove area.

Maymand village
Meymand, Iran

Compared to Kandovan, another troglodytic village in the country that has been inhabited for 700 years, Meymand is really ancient; it is, in fact, one of the oldest surviving villages as 10,000-year-old stone engravings and 6,000-year-old potteries were discovered.

Some 130 and 150 people are currently dwelling in the village many of whom are semi-nomadic shepherds, living in the village caves during the winter months when the population is at its peak. They move to higher pastures in summer, leaving about 60 people behind.

The villagers have done little to add color to the natural earth tones of the landscape. Their homes and streets have no potted flowers or ornamental plants. The village’s stark appearance is complemented by the spartan life of its inhabitants.

Iran's 12,000-year-old settlement
Iran’s 12,000-year-old settlement.

There are a total of 406 residential cave units with a total of 2,560 rooms. Some of the cave apartments are five stories high. A large number of the units are deserted.

The dwelling units were made by burrowing into the hillside’s soft sedimentary rock deposited in layers during the Mesozoic age some 100 to 200 million years ago. The concrete-like consistency of Meymand’s sedimentary rock is soft enough to be shaped by manual labor while still being hard enough to support the roofs of the cave units.

Some lower cave dwellings are grouped together. Their entrance trenches meet on a terrace used for family and social gatherings.

The history village in meymand
Meymand Village, Iran.  Source

There is also an eight-room guest house near the entrance to the village, but visitors can sometimes find lodgings with some of the residents. The guesthouse has felt carpets on the floors, beds carved into the walls, warm lighting, and shared but clean bathrooms with steam showers. The caves may have a sort of barren beauty, but they are not exactly luxury accommodations.

Iran is a country rich in history, and Maymand is both one of the country’s oldest and most picturesque villages. On 4 July 2015, the village was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list.

Related Articles

Iran’s legendary ruined city “Susa”

12 August 2021

12 August 2021

Ancient Susa is one of the oldest cities in the world. The Elamite, Persian, and Parthian empires formerly ruled over...

Mihi enim erit isdem istis fortasse iam utendum

9 August 2018

9 August 2018

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Quae autem natura suae primae institutionis oblita est? Cuius quidem, quoniam Stoicus...

The Most Unusual Places İn The World

10 February 2021

10 February 2021

There are countless beautiful places in the world. All of them are interesting and great than each other. We have...

Saudi Arabia’s the Red Sea Project

7 February 2021

7 February 2021

Saudi Arabia is preparing a huge tourism project on the west coast of 28,000 square kilometers and will cover more...

Egypt’s Lost city “Thonis-Heracleion”

6 September 2021

6 September 2021

Thonis-Heracleion (Egyptian and Greek names of the city) is a port city lost between myth and reality until 1999. Few...

The Ancient City of Kilistra, Cappadocia of Konya’s

1 February 2021

1 February 2021

When we talk about fairy chimneys, churches and underground cities, the first place that comes to mind is Cappadocia between...

Te enim iudicem aequum puto, modo quae dicat ille bene noris

9 August 2018

9 August 2018

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Quae cum ita sint, effectum est nihil esse malum, quod turpe non...

Discovering the rare works of Sanliurfa Archaeology Museum

13 October 2021

13 October 2021

The Sanlıurfa Archaeology Museum building involves many main attributes, such as the largest enclosed space and exhibition hall museum in...

Jordan’s mysterious ancient wall “Khatt Shebib”

22 October 2022

22 October 2022

The accomplishments of ancient civilizations are typically woefully underappreciated because we stereotype them as primitives who only wore loincloths, and...

The World’s Largest Pyramid Is Hidden Within a Hill in Mexico

8 October 2022

8 October 2022

The largest and tallest pyramids in the world are incredible feats of design, engineering, and construction. The Great Pyramid of...

Some interesting facts regarding its use the Galata Tower in Istanbul

10 July 2021

10 July 2021

The Galata Tower is one of Istanbul’s most recognizable landmarks, and its bright lights can be seen from all across...

Foundations laid with human blood “Foundation sacrifices”

5 September 2021

5 September 2021

The custom of sacrificing a human being at the erection of a new house or fortress is very old. Foundation...

Britain’s Best Viking Museums

18 March 2021

18 March 2021

The Vikings were famous seafaring people from the late 8th to early 11th centuries who made a name for themselves...

Contemporaneous with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia the Indus Valley Civilization city of ‘Mohenjo Daro’: Skilled urban planners with a reverence for the control of water

10 September 2022

10 September 2022

The Indus River Valley (or Harappan) civilization (3300-1300 BCE) lasted 2,000 years and spanned northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest...

Famous Celtic hero bust of the Czech Republic “The head of Mšecké Žehrovice”

5 May 2022

5 May 2022

Located in the Czech Republic, the Mšecké Žehrovice’s head makes an appealing piece with its delightful curling mustaches- “perhaps the...