section_path: Near East/Iranian plateau
section_name: Iranian plateau
paragraph_text: Iranian plateau
  
  Elam was a pre-Iranian ancient civilization located east of Mesopotamia. In the Old Elamite period (Middle Bronze Age), Elam consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian Plateau, centred in Anshan. From the mid-2nd millennium BC, Elam was centred in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Its culture played a crucial role in both the Gutian Empire and the Iranian Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded it.
  
  The Oxus civilization was a Bronze Age Central Asian culture dated to c. 2300–1700 BC and centred on the upper Amu Darya (Oxus). In the Early Bronze Age, the culture of the Kopet Dag oases and Altyndepe developed a proto-urban society. This corresponds to level IV at Namazga-Tepe. Altyndepe was a major centre even then. Pottery was wheel-turned. Grapes were grown. The height of this urban development was reached in the Middle Bronze Age c. 2300 BC, corresponding to level V at Namazga-Depe. This Bronze Age culture is called the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC).
  
  The Kulli culture, similar to that of the Indus Valley civilisation, was located in southern Balochistan (Gedrosia) c. 2500–2000 BC. The economy was agricultural. Dams were found in several places, providing evidence for a highly developed water management system.
  
  Konar Sandal is associated with the hypothesized " Jiroft culture ", a 3rd-millennium-BC culture postulated based on a collection of artefacts confiscated in 2001.