Zabol in the context of "Zaranj"

Zabulistan (Persian: زابلستان, Zābolistān, Zāwulistān or simply زابل ), is an ancient and medieval name for a historical region that included mainly southern Afghanistan as well as southeastern Iran.

By the tenth century, Iranian sources mention Zabulistan as part of the Khorasan marches, a frontier region between Khorasan and India. In the Tarikh-i Sistan, finished around 1062 CE, the author regards Zabol as part of the land of Sistan, stretching from the Hamun Oasis all the way to the Indus River.

Oshida or Mount Khwaja or Mount Khwajeh (Persian: کوه خواجه, romanized: Kuh-e Khājeh) is a flat-topped black basalt hill rising up as an island in the middle of Lake Hamun, in the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan.

The trapezoid-shaped basalt lava outcropping, located 30 km southwest of the town of Zabol, rises to 609 meters above sea level and has a diameter ranging from 2.0 to 2.5 kilometres. It is the only natural height in the Sistan area, and is named after an Islamic pilgrimage site on the hill: the tomb and shrine of Khwaja Ali Mahdi, a descendant of Ali ibn Abi Talib.

The Helmand culture (also Helmand civilization), c. 3300–2350 BCE, is a Bronze Age culture that flourished mainly in the middle and lower valley of the Helmand River, originally in eastern Iran (Zabol, other name: Sistan in Sistan and Baluchestan Province) and southern Afghanistan (Kandahar, Helmand and Nimruz provinces) , predominantly in the third millennium BCE.

The people of the Helmand culture lived partly in cities with temples and palaces, providing evidence for a complex and advanced social structure. The main cities so far known are Shahr-i Sokhta (in Zabol, Iran) and Mundigak (in modern Afghanistan). Research on the finds from both places showed that these cities shared the same culture. These are the earliest discovered cities in this part of the world, although the village Mehrgarh further to the southeast is considerably older. It is possible that the Helmand culture once formed one ancient state.

Sistān (Persian: سیستان), also known as Sakastān (سَكستان, lit. 'the land of the Saka', current name: Zabol) and Sijistan (سِجِستان), is a historical region in south-eastern Iran, and extending across the borders of south-western Afghanistan, and south-western Pakistan. Mostly corresponding to the then Achaemenid region of Drangiana and extending southwards of the Helmand River not far off from the city of Alexandria in Arachosia. Largely desert, the region is bisected by the Helmand River, which empties into the Hamun Lake, located in Zabol, that forms part of the border between Iran and Afghanistan.

Shahr-e Sukhteh (Persian: شهر سوخته, meaning "Burnt City"), c. 3550–2300 BC, also spelled as Shahr-e Sūkhté and Shahr-i Sōkhta, is an archaeological site of a sizable Bronze Age urban settlement, associated with the Helmand culture. It is located in Sistan and Baluchistan Province, the southeastern part of Iran, on the bank of the Helmand River, near the Zahedan-Zabol road. It was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in June 2014.

The reasons for the unexpected rise and fall of the city are still wrapped in mystery. Artifacts recovered from the city demonstrate a peculiar incongruity with nearby civilizations of the time and it has been speculated that Shahr-e Sukhteh might ultimately provide concrete evidence of a civilization east of prehistoric Iran that was independent of ancient Mesopotamia.