Shahr-I-Sokhta 8 highest quality genomes in 23andme format

The samples are:

I8725, I8726, I8728, I11456, I11462, I11474, I11476, I11478

Shahr-i-Sokhta, meaning "Burnt City," was a major Bronze Age settlement located in Balochistan, on the border of Iran and Pakistan. Flourishing between 3200 and 1800 BCE, this urban center was a hub of cultural innovation and trade, showcasing the achievements of early Iranian societies. The inhabitants of Shahr-i-Sokhta were descendants of Iranian Neolithic farmers, whose legacy shaped their advanced agricultural practices, urban planning, and artistic traditions. The settlement’s layout, featuring well-organized residential areas, workshops, and cemeteries, reflects a high degree of social complexity and a thriving economy.

The pottery of Shahr-i-Sokhta is particularly notable for its artistic sophistication and cultural significance. Among its remarkable artifacts is a vase bearing a series of sequential drawings that depict a goat leaping toward a tree—considered the world’s first recorded animation. This discovery highlights the innovative spirit of its artisans and their capacity for storytelling through art. The pottery, often decorated with geometric patterns and animal motifs, also points to the settlement's connections with neighboring civilizations, such as the Harappan civilization, Elamites, and the Oxus culture. These relationships were facilitated by Shahr-i-Sokhta’s strategic location along key trade routes, enabling the exchange of goods, ideas, and technologies.

The city's trade links are further evidenced by the discovery of Harappan seals, Elamite pottery, and materials like lapis lazuli and turquoise, which were likely exchanged for agricultural produce and locally crafted goods. These connections not only underline Shahr-i-Sokhta’s role as a cultural crossroads but also its integration into the broader networks of the Bronze Age world.

Genomes of Shahr-i-Sokhta’s inhabitants are available and fall into two clusters. First cluster, abbreviated as BA1, is mainly of Iranian Neolithic Farmer stock, while the second cluster, abbreviated as BA2, is strongly mixed with Ancient ancestral south Indians. For this video, I gathered the genomes of 8 inhabitants of shahr-i-sokhta, 3 of them belonging to the BA2 cluster and 5 of them belonging to the BA1 cluster. I analyzed the genomes with my trait predictor tool for DNA analysis.