Ирандағы Сіалк төбесі: Археологиялық қазбалар және ежелгі мәдениеттер ошағы

Archaeological site in Kashan, Isfahan province, Iran

Tepe Sialk (تپه سیلک) 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 River Culture.

A joint study between Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization, the Louvre, and the Institut Francais de Recherche en Iran also verifies the oldest settlements in Sialk to date to around 6000–5500 BC. The Sialk ziggurat was built around 3000 BC. Sialk, and the entire area around it, is thought to have originated as a result of the pristine large water sources nearby that still run today. The Cheshmeh ye Soleiman (Solomon's Spring) has been bringing water to this area from nearby mountains for thousands of years. The Fin garden, built in its present form in the 17th century, is a popular tourist attraction. It is here that the kings of the Safavid dynasty would spend their vacations away from their capital cities. It is also here that Abu Lu'lu'a Firuz, the Persian assassin of the second caliph Umar ibn al Khattab , is popularly believed to have been buried. All these remains are located in the same location where Sialk is.

The northern mound (Tepe) is the oldest; the occupation dates back to the end of the seventh millennium BC. The mound is composed of two levels: Sialk I (the oldest), and Sialk II. Sialk I level architecture is relatively rudimentary. Tombs containing pottery have been uncovered. The ceramic is initially rather rough, then becomes of better quality with the time. Zagheh archaic painted ware (c. 6000–5500 BC) is found in Tepe Sialk I, sub levels 1–2. This is the early painted ware, that was first excavated at Tepe Zagheh in the Qazvin plain. In sub periods 3, 4 and 5, the pottery has a clear surface with painted decoration. Stone or bone tools were still used. The Sialk II level sees the first appearance of metallurgy. The archaeological material found in the buildings of this period testifies to increasing links with the outside world.

The southern mound (Tepe) includes the Sialk III and IV levels. The first, divided into seven sub periods, corresponds to the fifth millennium and the beginning of the fourth (c. 4000 BC). This period is in continuity with the previous one, and sees the complexity of architecture (molded bricks, use of stone) and crafts, especially metallurgical. Early excavations had recovered five Proto Elamite tablets. Like other outlying site with Proto Elamite writing it was abandoned for time afterward. More recent work has found evidence on the south mound of actual occupation from the Proto Elamite period. At Tappeh Sialk, the oldest evidence of silver production in the world has been found such as the litharge fragments and cakes. "Pieces of charcoal found in one of the furnaces in which litharge fragments were found provided a radiocarbon date of 3660 3520 B. C. which introduces them as the oldest so far known fragments of such process in the ancient world." Some other ancient sites in Iran from the same time have also revealed silver production, such as Arisman, and Tappeh Hissar. These sites are attributed to Sialk III IV and Hissar II III periods.

Sialk IV level begins in the second half of the fourth millennium. For the oldest sub periods of the Sialk IV, there are links with the Mesopotamian civilizations of Uruk and Jemdet Nasr. Later on, the material is similar to that of Susa III (Proto Elamite level), so this is where the Proto Elamite horizon at Sialk is located, as is also evidenced by the discovery here of some Proto Elamite clay tablets. The ruins of what would be the oldest Ziggurat in the world are found at this same Sialk IV level. This period ends with the temporary abandonment of the site at the beginning of the third millennium.

After an abandonment of more than a millennium, the Sialk site is reoccupied in the second half of the second millennium. This last phase of occupation of the site is divided into two periods: Sialk V and Sialk VI. The archaeological material of these two levels has been mostly found in the two necropolises, called necropolis A and necropolis B. The first represents the Sialk V level. Here are found weapons and other objects in bronze, as well as jewelry, and some iron items. The ceramic is gray black, or red, sometimes with some decorations that consist of geometric patterns, and can be compared to items coming from the sites in Gorgan valley (the later levels of Tureng Tepe, and Tepe Hissar).