In addition to the Brahmans in India there was also another religious ascetic group known as shramanas (linguistically related to the word shaman). These shramanas were perhaps the first to practice yoga and were a non-violent, meditative group who did not practice animal sacrifice, unlike the Brahmans.

The early Harrapan culture of Mohenjo-Daro and Harrapa of the Indus Valley (not known as yet to be a proto-Indo-Iranian people, but may have spread as far west as the Iranian Plateau) shows evidence of burials in the households of the people from about 3000 B.C.E. These burials included pottery and funerary objects. These Harrapan had their own writing system, as yet undeciphered, and had showers in their homes tied to a sewage system and a great central public bath which may have been for ritual purposes. Bathing (snana) is a major daily ritual for today's Hindus.

To the right is a picture of a seal from the Mohenjo-daro region near the end of the Harrapan or Indus Valley high civilization. With characters that have not yet been deciphered, this seal also shows a man in a yoga position which appeared around 1500 B.C. The Yoga positioned ithyphallic man with an antler headdress, called Pashupati, is thought to be the forerunner of Shiva. Notice in the swapped image how similar is the image of Cernunnos from the Gundestrap Cauldron found in Celtic Denmark, also an Indo-European people.

The early high gods central to the Proto-Indo-Iranians with representatives in Vedic culture including Brahmans and the pre-Zoroastrian Iranians. These Gods also have cognates in the Indo-European religions. Compare for example Indra, a heroic and thunder god seen as Thor by the Scandinavians. Those gods who come from the Indo-Aryan Vedic culture include: Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Indra, Agni, Vayu, Varuna, Vritra, and Mitra (Mithra in Zoroastrianism).

Another culture of great importance to Iran is that of the Elamites who lived in the southwestern Iranian area, east of Sumer and Akkad, around 2700 B.C.E. to 540 B.C.E. The Elamites later centered in the area known as Khuzistan today (from the Persian word for Elam) area where Susa (although the city of Susa dates back as far as 4000 B.C.E.) was their capital. It was preceded by a Proto-Elamite culture from about 3000 B.C.E. These are not an Iranian peoples, having a language that may be a part of a Elam-Dravidian language family and perhaps related to the Harrapan culture. The Elamite language continued to be used during the early Achaemenian dynasties of Iran, and the Elamites had much influence on later Iranian cultures, mixing with the Iranian peoples. The Elamites built zuggarats and had an undeciphered language and fine art work. The Elamites burried their dead in cemetaries, funerary pots and tombs. The main capital of the Elamites was the well-known Susa.

A royal tomb(?) discovered at Susa by the Delegation Archaeologique Francaise had been dug into the Elamite stratum, where a hypogeum in unbaked brick seems originally to have stood.  A bronze sarcophagus, shaped like a bathtub with flared edges, contained a man’s body accompanied by rich grave furniture. see: http://www.geocities.com/dr_asma2001/pages/about_mummy3.html

The Empire of the Medes was followed by the Achaemenians (from Old Persian Haxāmaniš "Of Friendly Mind" or "wisdom" ) who were Persians, Indo-Iranians, from the southwest of Iran, known as Parsa, today's Fars region. This great empire eventually became the largest in the ancient world, reaching even as far as Egypt. The Greek historian, Herodotus, writes that for religious practices the Persians of this era

",,,have no images of the gods, no temples nor altars, and consider the use of them a sign of folly. This comes, I think, from their not believing the gods to have the same nature with men, as the Greeks imagine." Herodotus claims the Persians offer sacrifice to: "the sun and moon, to the earth, to fire, to water, and to the winds. These are the only gods whose worship has come down to them from ancient times..."
see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achaemenid

The early Achaemenians seemed to follow the customs of the Elamites and Medes. Cyrus the Great, for example, was embalmed and placed in a tomb at Pasargadae. Later Achaemenian kings were buried in tombs cut out of the mountain. Achaemenian burials other than the mountain tombs have not been found, and perhaps the Achaemenian's as a whole already had a burial practice of excarnation (exposure of the corpse to the elements) and the great kings are the exception. Cyrus seems to appologize for wanting to be entombed: "I am Cyrus, who founded the empire of the Iranians. Grudge me not therefore, this little earth that covers my body."

Cyrus, of course, was killed in the midst of warfare with a Saka (Scythian) tribe led by the woman, Tomyris. Tomyris had the head of Cyrus cut off and placed in a skin filled with blood, as he had previously offered the leaders of the tribe food and skins full of wine. She said that now Cyrus could have his fill of blood.

Persian civilization was established by the great Achaemenian kings. While Aramaic was used mostly in the kingdom, Old Persian was the official language. Darius I organized the empire, rewrote the legal code, fortified and reorganized the military, and standardized weights and measures. While he was a Zoroastrian, he held a policy of religious tolerance, and did not allow the use of slaves.

The Seleucid Empire was next established by the Macedonian Alexander the Great, as Darius III was deposed by Alexander III, and the Persian Empire absorbed into the new, overextended, Hellenistic Empire. Much cultural exchange took place during this era.

The Parthians wrestled the Seleucid Empire from the Greeks and Romans. They were well-known for their horsemanship and the ability to ride forward while shooting arrows accurately behind them, just like the previous Scythians. They followed Zoroastrian-Mithraism as a religion.   Sasanians, who practiced dualistic Zoroastrian with belief in two gods representing good and evil, were the last great Persian Empire before the Islamic Conquest and statewide acceptance of Islam. They began rule in their home of Persis (Pars) and eventually ruled from Cappadocia in Turkey to the Indus River.

The Scythian/Parthian Backwards Shot - Head of Sasanian King Shapur II