Hajji Firuz Tepe

36.99444444444445.474444444444Koordinaten: 36 ° 59 ' 40 "N, 45 ° 28' 28" E

Hajji Firuz Tepe is an archaeological site in Iran's West Azerbaijan province in the west of the country. At the site excavations were carried out by archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology 1958-1968. For days there was a village from the Neolithic period, which was inhabited in the second half of the 6th millennium BC and shows some of the earliest evidence for wine production.

Location

Hajji Firuz Tepe is located in the valley of the river south of Lake Urmia in the Gadar Sulduzebene. Nearby is the village of Hajji Firuz modern. It is a 140 by 200 meter large oval settlement mound (tell) and extends 10.3 meters above the plain. There are also still finds beneath the plane. The plane is part of the northwestern Zagros Mountains and is located 1300-1350 m above sea level. The Gadar here flows in an easterly direction and empties into the Lake Urmia. The level is an important transport hub, from where routes lead in all directions. So you can get further into the Mesopotamian plain here about the Kel -i -Shin - pass through the Zagros mountains to Rawanduz and from there. Nearby Hajji Firuz Tepes grew and still grows wild form of the grapevine (Vitis vinifera subsp. Sylvestris).

History of Research

Hajji Firuz Tepe was first noticed in 1936 by Sir Aurel Stein, who made some Tonscherbenfunde on the surface. Between 1958 and 1968, four excavation campaigns were carried out in the framework of Hasanlu Digs. Hasanlu, which is only two kilometers away, is another important archaeological site and home to an ancient city. As part of the excavation and the local environment was examined. Head of the excavations were Charles Burney (1958, 1961), T. Cuyler Young Jr. ( 1961) also explored the same time Dalma Tepe and Robert H. Dyson and Mary M. Voigt (1968). The excavation campaign a square shaft was driven into the hills.

Colonization

Although the excavations at the Neolithic phase concentrated, traces of later settlements have been found. In various layers finds from the Chalcolithic period, the Late Bronze Age, the Iron Age and n from the 11th century BC were made. Nevertheless, the Neolithic period was the most important phase of Hajji Firuz Tepe. They can be divided into twelve sections, where A is the oldest and L for the most recent phase.

Wine

The signs of a Hajji Firuz Tepe in wine production are six buried jars with a capacity of nine liters. These were found in a mud house, which was inhabited 5400-5000 BC. Inside the jars were discovered yellowish residue that contained traces of tartaric acid and calcium tartrate. In addition, the resin of turpentine pistachio was found that, similar to the Greek Retsinawein, could have served as a preservative.

Consequences of the discovery

If the pitchers are also no definitive proof, so they make the wine making but very likely. Although tartaric acid occurs naturally in non- fermented grapes before, but its high proportion in the wine crystallizes and deposits in wine containers from. Grapes also have a tendency to ferment by natural fermentation to alcohol. This already happens in closed containers at room temperature. Therefore, the buried jars could also have been just mere grape container that allowed a natural fermentation.

The presence of rosin, however, suggests that the fermentation was intended. Resin was for a long time used for sealing and preserving, before the Greeks offset their wine with it. Also, the volume of all pitchers ( 54 liters ) suggests that there probably about their own needs beyond wine was produced. Archaeologists also found near the jars right Lehmstopfen - a further indication that was stored here over a longer period of juice and protected from air.

Other finds

The Zagros, which separates the states of Armenia, Turkey and Iraq from Iran, is the habitat of many wild species of vines. The getrenntgeschlechtige plant offered the ancient inhabitants the possibility to get to the grapes. Several other sites in the vicinity of the Zagros show similar findings as Hajji Firuz Tepe. Further south, in Godin Tepe, which was inhabited 3500-3000 BC, was found buried jars with a capacity of 30 or even 60 liters. Both these pitchers and basins, which probably served for pressing the grapes, showed traces of wine residues.