Tureng Tepe (, "Hill of the Pheasants"; alternatively spelled in English as Turang Tappe/Tape/Tappa/Tappeh) is a

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

and

Chalcolithic 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 ...

archaeological site in northeastern

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 the Gorgan plain, approximately 17 kilometers northeast of the town of

Gorgan Gorgan (; ) is a city in the Central District (Gorgan County), Central District of Gorgan County, Golestan province, Golestan province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. It lies approximately to the nor ...

. Nearby is a village of Turang Tappeh. The site was a major fort on the Sassanian period " Alexander’s wall" (see: Great Wall of Gorgan).

Archaeology

Tureng Tepe consists of a group of mounds, covering an area of about 35 hectares, interspersed with ponds and water courses. The whole archaeological pattern is about 900 meters in diameter. Most of the mounds rise between eleven and fifteen meters above the level of the surrounding plan, but the steep central mound, marked A on the Wulsin's plan, is over 30 meters high and dominates the entire site. A small modern village lies at the foot of the large mound. The significant mounds are:
Bessenay-Prolonge, Julie, and Régis Vallet, "Tureng Tepe and its high terrace, a reassessment" The Iranian Plateau during the Bronze Age: Development of Urbanisation, Production and Trade, pp. 165-178, 2020 *Main Mound (Mound A) - A 35 meter high flattened cone 110 meters in diameter at the base and 40 meters at the top and heavily eroded by wind on the western slope, with a large modern village lying at its southeastern foot. Ruins of a 19th-century residence at the peak. *North Mound (Mound B) - Covered with a modern cemetery *Tepe South *Small Mound (Mound C or Naghar Tepe) - West of the main mound. Now part of an artificial dam In 1841, some material (including gold vessels), known as the "Asterabad treasure", from the site was sent to the Shah ( Mohammad Shah Qajar), and examined by Clement Augustus (C.A.) de Bode, piquing initial modern interest in the site.Rostovtzeff, M., "The Sumerian Treasure of Astrabad", The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 4–27, Jan 1920 The first modern excavations were done by Frederick Wulsin in June and October 1931, sponsored by the Atkins Museum of Fine Arts. Grey burnished ware pottery, red ware, red ware with black painted decoration, coarse ware, and one example of cream colored ware with black painted decoration were found and studied. Excavation occurred on the central mound (Mound A) with a 17 meter deep pit at the top to explore a large brick structure eroding out of the western face of the mound. The building was found to have two settlement layers and sit on an extensive mudbrick platform. Tunnels were also excavated in the northern and eastern sides of Mound A. Excavation squares were dug on Mound C and Mound A. One grave was found on Mound A and the surface of Mound C contained 75 Bronze Age graves associated with architectural remains. A number of finds ended up at the

Penn Museum The Penn Museum is an archaeology and anthropology museum at the University of Pennsylvania. It is located on Penn's campus in the University City, Philadelphia, University City neighborhood of Philadelphia, at the intersection of 33rd and Sout ...

.Wulsin, F.R., "Excavation at Tureng Tepe, near Asterabad", Bulletin of the American Institute for Persian Art and Archaeology, vol. 2, no. 1 (3), pp. 2-12, 1932 Excavations resumed at the site in 1960 led by Jean Deshayes of the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

with a two-month season excavating two test pits on the northern part of Mound C to establish the stratigraphy. In 1962 three pits were excavated on Tepe South. Work on the main mound began in 1967 and continued until 1977 excavating a total of 3150 square meters.
Leriche, Pierre, "Fouilles de Tureng Tepe I (Review)", Syria, vol. 71, no, 1, pp. 239–242, 1994 Publication of the excavation began but was interrupted by the Iran Revolution and death of the principles but is now in process.Deshayes J., Boucharlat R. and Lecomte O., "Fouilles de Tureng Tépé, les périodes sassanides et islamiques", Paris, 1987

History

The oldest remains on the site date to the

and

periods. The Bronze Age settlement portion of the site dates from approximately 3100-2900 BC through 1900 BC. The Strata up through IIIC are synchronized with those from Tepe Hissar.Moreau, Kathy
Tureng Tepe, Iran expedition records (finding aid)
(University of Pennsylvania, Penn Museum Archives, 2010), Retrieved July 19, 2010

Neolithic and Chalcolithic

*Tureng IA (Neolithic period - these layers are assumed to lie below the water table. From this horizon occur Djeitun-like sherds, incorporated in bricks made in later periods) *Tureng IB (Late Neolithic period - again presumably below the water table) *Tureng IIA (Early Chalcolithic period)

Bronze Age

*Tureng IIB (ca. 3100–2600 BC) *Tureng III A / B (ca. 2600–2100 BC). To this period belongs an enormous, mud-bricks high terrace, constructed in the center of the settlement and representing perhaps the earliest example of monumental architecture in this region.Deshayes J., "À propos des terrasses hautes de la fin du IIIe millénaire en Iran et Asie centrale", in J. Deshayes (dir.), "Le plateau iranien et l’Asie centrale des origines à la conquête islamique: leurs relations à la lumière des documents archéologiques, actes du colloque international 567, 22‑24 mars 1976, Paris, pp. 95‑111, 1975 This structure was radiocarbon dated to 3880+/‑110 CYBP i.e. 2550 BC ‑ 2185 BC. *Tureng III C (about 2100 -? BC)

Iron Age

*Tureng IV A (Iron Age, possibly 7th century BC) *Tureng IV B (Iron Age, possibly 6th century BC) *Tureng VA (2nd century BC)

Historical time

*Tureng VB (1st century BC) *Tureng VC / D (1st–2nd century AD) *Tureng VI A Sasanian empire(3rd–5th century AD) *Tureng VI B end of the Sasanian empire (possibly 6th - 7th centuries) *Tureng VII A / B Islamic occupation at the top of Mound A(10th–11th century AD) *Tureng VIII some Islamic remains located in the south-west part of the site (possibly 13th century AD)

Figurines

The figurines of Tureng Tepe have long been recognized as quite remarkable. They include both

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

and stone figurines.Olson, Kyle, "The figurines of Tureng Tepe: Ceramic bodies and social life at a Bronze Age site in northeastern Iran", Dissertation, The Ohio State University, 2012 As far as the stone figurines, there are many similarities between Tureng and the nearby sites of Shah Tepe, Tepe Hissār, and Gohar Tappeh. Yet the terracotta figurines of Tureng Tepe are unparalleled at any other nearby site. These baked clay figurines find their parallels with sites further away, 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 ...

and the

Indus valley The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans- Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in the Western Tibet region of China, flows northwest through the disp ...

. Some parallels as far as Mesopotamia have been suggested.

References

External links

Turang Tepe, View of the Mound, From an Altitude of 1,740 M on May 12, 1937 - Oriental InstituteReport on similar finds at the nearby Bazgir Tepe - Tehran Times 2011
{{Authority control Tells (archaeology) Archaeological sites in Iran History of Golestan province Buildings and structures in Golestan province Neolithic sites of Asia Prehistoric Iran Buildings and structures on the Iran National Heritage List