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Teppe Zagheh () was an early urban settlement located in
There were also many small clay 'tokens', used as counting objects, that were found at Zagheh; these are variously shaped, and are similar to such tokens at other Neolithic sites. These Zagheh tokens are dated typologically to c. 6000 BC. Thus, there were probably two periods of occupation.
''Zagheh archaic painted ware'' (ca. 6000-5500 BC) was found in
Qazvin
Qazvin (; ; ) is a city in the Central District (Qazvin County), Central District of Qazvin County, Qazvin province, Qazvin province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is the largest city in the provi ...
, Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
.
In Persian, ''Tappeh'' means " tell, mound". It was first excavated by a team from the University of Tehran
The University of Tehran (UT) or Tehran University (, ) is a public collegiate university in Iran, and the oldest and most prominent Iranian university located in Tehran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as ...
under the direction of Ezzat Negahban in the early 1970s
Important finds
- Discovery of a shrine with interior decoration. - 23 graves of adults and infants with local and imported goods. - Administrative artifacts such as tokens. - Residential dwellings. It is suggested that the Painted Building was a special place for women to give birthChronology
After the re-excavation of Zagheh in 2001, new radiocarbon dates were obtained. The radiocarbon estimations for the settlement of Zagheh was c. 5370–5070 BC and abandoned c. 4460–4240 BC. Thus, it may belong to TransitionalChalcolithic
The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...
.
There were also many small clay 'tokens', used as counting objects, that were found at Zagheh; these are variously shaped, and are similar to such tokens at other Neolithic sites. These Zagheh tokens are dated typologically to c. 6000 BC. Thus, there were probably two periods of occupation.
''Zagheh archaic painted ware'' (ca. 6000-5500 BC) was found in Tepe Sialk
Tepe Sialk () is a large ancient archeological site (a ''tepe'', "hill, tell") in a suburb of the city of Kashan, Isfahan Province, in central Iran, close to Fin Garden. The culture that inhabited this area has been linked to the Zayandeh Rive ...
I, sub-levels 1–2. This is the early painted ware, that was first excavated at Teppe Zagheh.
Clay figurines found in Mehrgarh
Mehrgarh is a Neolithic archaeological site situated on the Kacchi Plain of Balochistan, Pakistan, Balochistan in Pakistan. It is located near the Bolan Pass, to the west of the Indus River and between the modern-day Pakistani cities of Quetta, ...
, an important precursor to the Indus Valley civilization
The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation, was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form from 2600 BCE ...
, resemble those discovered at Teppe Zagheh, and at Jeitun
Jeitun (Djeitun) is an archaeological site of the Neolithic period in southern Turkmenistan, about 30 kilometers north of Ashgabat in the Kopet-Dag mountain range. The settlement was occupied from about 7200 to 4500 BC possibly with short interr ...
in Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...
(6th millennium BCE).
The faunal remains from the site were studied by Marjan Mashkour
Marjan Mashkour () is an archaeologist and member of the French National Centre for Scientific Research. She is the first Iranian to specialize in the field of zooarchaeology and has been engaged in many field and laboratory projects in Iran and t ...
who identified Sheep, goats, wild goats, cattle, Gazelles, boars, dogs, and foxes.Mashkour, Marjan., Fontugne, Michel., Hatte, C. 1999. "Investigations on the Evolution of
Subsistence Economy in the Qazvin Plain (Iran) from the Neolithic to the Iron Age." Antiquity 73: 65–76.
Relative chronology
Notes
References
*''Sabk Shenasi Mi'mari Irani'' (Study of styles in Iranian architecture), M. Karim Pirnia. 2005. {{ISBN, 964-96113-2-0See also
*Iranian architecture
Iranian architecture or Persian architecture (, ''Me'māri e Irāni'') is the architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Its history dates back to at least 5,000 BC with characteristic examples distr ...
Populated places established in the 6th millennium BC
Populated places disestablished in the 5th millennium BC
Tells (archaeology)
Architecture in Iran
Archaeological sites in Iran
Prehistoric Iran
National works of Iran
1970s archaeological discoveries
Archaeological discoveries in Iran