"Historical data enable us to maintain that early patterns of such a structure of Central Asian urban Jewish communities should be traced back to the 8th (Merv. al-Tabari) -12th (Samarkand. Binyamin of Tudela) -12th (tombstones of the Jewish cemetery near the village of Jam close to the site of the historical town of Firuzkuh) centuries. Source: "THE BUKHARIAN JEWS: HISTORY, CULTURE, PERSPECTIVES--THE ABSTRACTS OF III CONFERENCE'S REPORTS - THE INNER STRUCTURE OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF THE CITY OF BUKHARA IN THE MID-19th CENTURY " [September 2002]
in western Afghanistan. It is located in the Shahrak District, Ghor Province, by the Hari River. Jam, which is believed to be ancient Firuzkuh, was the summer retreat of the Ghurid emperors (1150-1216), a Sunni Moslem dynasty whose empire stretched over vast areas including modern Afghanistan, Iran, Turkistan and Iraq. The archaeological landscape around Jam also includes the ruins of a 'palace', fortifications, a pottery kiln and a Jewish cemetery, and has been suggested to be the remains of the lost city of Turquoise Mountain. Source [January 2010]
Hebrew-inscribed tombstones from Jam in a corner of the Kabul Museum. Source [February 2010]