🇮🇷 Iran · Tell
Chakhmaqlu Tepe
Chalcolithic (4500–3500 BCE) · NE Iran Chalcolithic
Chalcolithic (4500–3500 BCE) tell of NE Iran Chalcolithic in North Khorasan, Jajarm (c.4500 BCE).
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Band-e Golestan — Timurid Arch Dam, Mashhad
Timurid (Tamerlane) to Safavid (1350–1590) · Timurid Persian (Turko-Mongol Persianized); Mashhad Imam Reza shrine
1350 Timurid 24-m arch 96 m on Golestan gorge feeding Mashhad Imam Reza 8-km garden canal, still lake.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Qanat-e Gonabad South Gallery (Ghasemabad South Branch Qanat)
Achaemenid to present (520 BCE–ongoing) · Achaemenid Gonabad oasis (Khorasan piedmont)
South Gonabad gallery 4.1 km with 62 shafts 42 m mother well: Achaemenid 520 BCE saruj, 12 L/s to Ghasemabad saffron.
🇮🇷 Iran · Ancient village
Kul Tepe (Jolfa, near Araxes)
Late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze I–II (5000–2800 BCE) · Dalma → Pisdeli → Kura-Araxes (Transcaucasian)
Araxes floodplain tell with Dalma–Kura-Araxes sequence linking Urmia to Transcaucasia.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Qanat-e Zarch North Extension (Yazd Zarch Qanat Northern Arm)
Achaemenid core 500 BCE to Sasanian 450 CE (extension) to present · Yazdi Zarch piedmont oasis (Kavir piedmont)
North Zarch extension 8.2 km with 88 shafts mother 34 m, 6 badgir towers 18 L/s: Sasanian 450 CE graft onto 500 BCE core.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Band-e Gargar Secondary Canal (Shushtar Gargar Diversion Canal)
Sasanian (Shapur I post-Edessa 260) · Sasanian with Roman prisoner engineers
Gargar canal: 12-km Sasanian 260 CE cliff canal diverting Karun through Shushtar mills, UNESCO 1315.
🇮🇷 Iran · Ancient city
Shahr-i Sokhta — The Burnt City
Early Bronze Age Helmand–Jiroft horizon (c.3200–1800 BCE; variant 3200–2350 then eclipse) · Helmand/Sistan Bronze Age (Burnt City culture) — network with Shahr-i Sokhta, Mundigak, Indus
151 ha Burnt City between Sumer and Indus — animated goat bowl, artificial eye and 40,000 graves.
🇮🇷 Iran · Ancient city
Chogha Gavaneh (Choqa Gavaneh)
Chalcolithic to Islamic (5600 BCE–1500 CE; urban peak MBA 2000–1500 BCE) · Zagros Chalcolithic → Early Dynastic Zagros → Old Babylonian peripheral → Kassite → Islamic
45 m Zagros mound with Old Babylonian archive linking Babylon to Iranian intermontane valley.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Qanat-e Zarch West Branch (Yazd Zarch Qanat Western Gallery)
Ilkhanid branch on Achaemenid–Sasanian trunk · Ilkhanid Yazd (branch) on Persian qanat tradition
Qanat-e Zarch west: 11.2-km Ilkhanid branch of world's longest 71-km Yazd qanat, UNESCO 1476.
🇮🇷 Iran · Ancient city
Teppe Hasanlu
Bronze Age to Iron II (Late Bronze–U/A Mannaean; peak Hasanlu IVB Iron II c.1050–800 BCE) · Late Bronze Hurrian–Mitanni substrate → Iron Age Mannaean (Indo-Iranian hint) under Urartian pressure → Assyrian fringe
Solduz hill-citadel torched c.800 BCE — 150 massacre-victims around the Gold Bowl.
🇮🇷 Iran · Tell
Tepe Sialk
Neolithic to Iron Age II (c.6000–800 BCE; continuum sample) · Iranian Plateau local → Proto-Elamite → Old Elamite (?) → Iron Age Median-affinity
Iran's longest tell with two ziggurats — carbon-painted Sialk ware and Median horse burials.
🇮🇷 Iran · Temple complex
Takht-e Soleyman — Throne of Solomon and Azargoshnasb Fire Temple
Sasanian Empire 224–651 CE (peak 5th–7th century) → Ilkhanid 13th century reuse · Sasanian Zoroastrian → Ilkhanid Mongol Islamic palace phase
Sasanian Great Fire temple on a 120 m artesian lake — shahs' coronation sanctuary, later Ilkhanid palace.
🇮🇷 Iran · Tell
Chogha Golan
Pre-Pottery Neolithic to Chalcolithic (c.11700–3600 BCE) · PPNA → PPNB → Early Chalcolithic (Seimareh Neolithic)
Seimareh 10kyr Neolithic tell 8 m (c.11.7–3.6 ka, 12000 plant samples, pisé) near Seimareh valley.
🇮🇷 Iran · Tell
Sang-e Chakhmaq
Neolithic–Transitional Chalcolithic (c.7500–4500 BCE) · Jeitun-related → Cheshmeh Ali (Northeast Iran Neolithic)
Shahroud two-mound Neolithic tell (c.7500–4500 BCE, West PPN timber, East painted, 1400 m) at Shahrud.
🇮🇷 Iran · Cave
Kaldar Cave
Middle to Upper Palaeolithic (c.54,000–30,000 BP) · Zagros Mousterian → Baradostian
Khorramabad MP–UP cave 5 m (54–30 ka, first Baradostian 54 ka, AMH beads) 5 km N Khorramabad.
🇮🇷 Iran · Rock art
Dousheh Cave
Mesolithic to Bronze Age (c.8000–2000 BCE) · Zagros rock-art tradition (pre-pottery to Bronze)
Lorestan painted cave 40 m galleries (150+ black/red paintings, hunters/ibex, c.8–2 ka) in Kuhdasht.
🇮🇷 Iran · Tell
Tepe Guran
Aceramic–Early Ceramic Neolithic (7100–5500 BCE) · Zagros Neolithic (Guran)
Aceramic–Early Ceramic Neolithic (7100–5500 BCE) Zagros Neolithic (Guran) tell at Lorestan Province, Hulailan Plain, Zagros – campsite-to-village neolithic sequence in zagros (dims Mound 8 m, Guran PHASES a–j).
🇮🇷 Iran · Cave
Yafteh Cave
Upper Palaeolithic (c.35,000–30,000 BP) · Baradostian (Zagros Aurignacian)
UP Aurignacian cave (35–30 ka, Baradostian blades, shell beads) west of Khorramabad.
🇮🇷 Iran · Tell
Tepe Qabrestan
Chalcolithic–Early Bronze Age (c.5000–2900 BCE) · Qazvin plain Chalcolithic (Zagheh–Qabrestan)
Qazvin tell 12 m high (c.5000–2900 BCE, Zagheh→Qabrestan, cemetery) south of Qazvin.
🇮🇷 Iran · Tell
Chia Sabz
Chalcolithic–Early Bronze Age (c.4000–2700 BCE) · Seimareh valley Chalcolithic → Transcaucasian Early Bronze
Seimareh cemetery mound 15 ha (140 EB cist graves, bronze daggers, c.4–3 ka) in Seimareh valley.
🇮🇷 Iran · Tell
Tall-i Bakun A
Late Chalcolithic (4000–3500 BCE, Bakun) · Bakun A Chalcolithic
Late Chalcolithic (4000–3500 BCE, Bakun) Bakun A Chalcolithic tell at Fars Province, Persepolis plain – proto-urban chalcolithic painted-pottery centre (dims Mound 2 ha, Bakun A workshops).
🇮🇷 Iran · Cave
Ghar-e Boof
Middle Palaeolithic to Epipalaeolithic (c.80,000–15,000 BP) · Zagros Mousterian → Baradostian → Zarzian
Dasht-e Boof Palaeolithic shelter 2 m (80–15 ka, Neanderthal parietal, Zarzian microliths) at 1350 m.
🇮🇷 Iran · Tell
Tal-e Atashi
Late 5th millennium BCE · Kerman Chalcolithic
Late 5th millennium BCE Kerman Chalcolithic tell at Kerman Province, Bam plain – chalcolithic village near bam with mudbrick houses (dims Mound 3 ha, 6 m Chalcolithic).
🇮🇷 Iran · Tell
Tol-e Bashi
Neolithic–Chalcolithic (c.6000–4500 BCE, Mushki–Bashi–Bakun) · Fars Neolithic Mushki → Bashi → Bakun
Ramjerd Neolithic tell 5 m high (Mushki–Shamsabad, early painted Mushki ware) NW of Persepolis.