Eastern Iran’s Bronze Age connections with the Harappan world.
📍 RegionIran
🧬 Closest modern matchMarathi Brahmin Deshastha
⏳ Time periodEarly Bronze Age · c. 3200–1800 BC
Indus-related ancestry at Shahr-i-Sokhta
Shahr-i-Sokhta stood between the Iranian plateau and South Asia, and its archaeology records extensive connections across that wider region. Ancient DNA reveals that part of its population carried an ancestry profile closely related to the Indus civilization. This reference highlights that connection within a major eastern Iranian city, complementing the separate profile of its principal Bronze Age genetic cluster.
A city at the meeting of regional worlds
Founded around 3200 BC and occupied until approximately 1800 BC, Shahr-i-Sokhta developed distinct areas for housing, craft work, monumental activity and burial. Its position in Sistan made it part of networks linking the Indus plain with the Iranian plateau, Central Asia and the southern maritime routes. The city’s organized neighborhoods and specialist production show the local infrastructure through which these wider relationships operated. Specialized production helped sustain those connections across several neighboring regions.
The IVC-related profile combines ancestry related to early Iranian populations with a substantial contribution from deeply rooted South Asian hunter-gatherer lineages. Unlike the main Shahr-i-Sokhta cluster, it has little or no Anatolian farmer-related ancestry. A genome recovered within the Indus civilization itself supports the relationship between these profiles and the Harappan population world. That finding gives a genetic counterpart to the archaeological evidence for connections between eastern Iran, Baluchistan and the Indus region.
This ancestry combination predates the later mixtures that shaped many historical and present-day South Asian populations. It is particularly informative when compared with Iron Age groups from the northwest, where additional steppe-related ancestry is visible. At Shahr-i-Sokhta, the contrast with the main local cluster also shows how a shared urban environment could bring together people with different backgrounds. The two references thus answer complementary historical questions: one follows the eastern Iranian city’s principal population, while the other follows its connections with the Indus world. Both belong to the broader story of people moving through Bronze Age exchange networks.
What is Iran EBA Shahr-i-Sokhta (IVC Profile) DNA closest to?
In the World Genetics modern G25 comparison, the closest non-self match for Iran EBA Shahr-i-Sokhta (IVC Profile) is Marathi Brahmin Deshastha. Other nearby references include Toda, Gujarati Kanbi (Patidar) Patel, Malayali Nair Maniyani, and Malayali Poduval. This gives the Iran EBA Shahr-i-Sokhta (IVC Profile) profile its nearest modern genetic context inside the current reference database.
Closest Matches
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What does Iran EBA Shahr-i-Sokhta (IVC Profile) ancestry look like?
The ancestral breakdown below loads the best-fitting World Genetics calculator for the Iran EBA Shahr-i-Sokhta (IVC Profile) average. It should be read as a model of deep ancestry components, while the closest-match table is the better guide to which modern populations are most similar in G25 space.
Ancestral Breakdown
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Where is Iran EBA Shahr-i-Sokhta (IVC Profile) DNA closest on the map?
The heatmap gives the Iran EBA Shahr-i-Sokhta (IVC Profile) profile a geographic shape. Warmer areas mark regions where available modern reference populations sit closer to the Iran EBA Shahr-i-Sokhta (IVC Profile) average, while cooler areas represent more distant matches.
What populations are genetically closest to Iran EBA Shahr-i-Sokhta (IVC Profile)?
The closest non-self match in this World Genetics comparison is Marathi Brahmin Deshastha. Other nearby references include Toda, Gujarati Kanbi (Patidar) Patel, Malayali Nair Maniyani, and Malayali Poduval.
Is Iran EBA Shahr-i-Sokhta (IVC Profile) DNA closest to Marathi Brahmin Deshastha?
In the current modern G25 reference set, Marathi Brahmin Deshastha is the closest listed match to the Iran EBA Shahr-i-Sokhta (IVC Profile) average after removing Iran EBA Shahr-i-Sokhta (IVC Profile) itself from the table.
What does the Iran EBA Shahr-i-Sokhta (IVC Profile) heatmap show?
The heatmap shows where modern reference populations are closer or farther from the Iran EBA Shahr-i-Sokhta (IVC Profile) G25 average, giving the closest-match results a geographic view.
