Tepe Hissar

🕰️When was it built?

Occupation dates from the 4th to the 1st millennium BC. Archaeologists identified 3 main layers and divided each into smaller phases. Few traces of the earliest homes remain, and nothing like an intact ancient town survives.

🏛️What was it built for?

People here relied on farming, animal husbandry and crafts. Homes were built of unfired mud brick, with hearths and niches inside. Metal objects, pottery and burial practices help explain everyday life and changes in this society.

👀What you will see

• The rises of Tepe Hissar mark a settlement with multiple archaeological layers. View the landscape from permitted routes without walking onto sensitive areas.
• You may see pottery fragments on the surface. Leave them in place and avoid stepping on them.

💡Something interesting

In autumn 1995, construction of the Tehran–Mashhad railway through part of the site drew protests from archaeologists. The episode shows why protecting a site involves more than preserving a building: the ground and the relationships between buried layers matter too.

🎒Good to know before you go

• Wear shoes suitable for uneven ground and keep to permitted routes.
• Keep away from the railway and do not enter its boundary to take photographs.
• Do not collect pottery or stones. Moving a fragment can destroy part of its archaeological context.