Jiroft


Jiroft is a city and capital of Jiroft County, Kerman Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 95,031, in 19,926 families. It is located south of the city of Kerman, and south of Tehran along Road 91. In the past it was also called Sabzevaran, and on account of its being very fertile land it is famous as Hend-e-Koochak.
Jiroft is located in a vast plain, Halil River, on the southern outskirts of the Jebal Barez mountain chain, surrounded by two rivers. The mean elevation of the city is about 650-metres above sea level. The weather of the city is very warm in summer and temperatures are moderate in winter. It is one of the hottest places in Iran.
There is a large dam upstream the city on the Halil River. It is under operation since 1992. Having a reservoir of more than 410 million cubic meters of water, irrigates 14200 hectares of the downstream and generates electricity.
The city is served by Jiroft Airport, located several kilometres to the northwest.

Jiroft culture

A "Jiroft culture" has been postulated as an early Bronze Age archaeological culture, located in the territory of present-day Sistan and Kermān Provinces of Iran. The hypothesis is based on a collection of artifacts that were confiscated in Iran and accepted by many to have derived from the Jiroft area in south central Iran, reported by online Iranian news services, beginning in 2001.
The proposed type site is Konar Sandal, near Jiroft in the Halil River area. Other significant sites associated with the culture include; Shahr-e Sukhteh, Tepe Bampur, Espiedej, Shahdad, Tal-i-Iblis and Tepe Yahya.
The local language of Jiroft is Jirofti, also designated as Garmsiri. Garmsiri is a continuum of closely related dialects extending from the Halilrud river valley in the north down to the Strait of Hormuz in the south.

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