Teppe Zagheh
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Tappe Zaghe (Persian تپه زاغه [ tæppɛ zɑqɛ ] ) is the oldest known village settlement in Iran. The archaeological site is located 60 km south of the provincial capital of Qazvin in a dry level in nearly 1300 m altitude in central Iran. The area of the village is 210 mx 145 m approximately 4 hectares.
The buildings date from the 8th millennium BC, although there are disagreements about the exact age. The houses were built of mud bricks in Zaghe. Use also found walls of trampled clay, which were only collected for the separation of rooms due to their lower Durabilität or served the fencing of gardens. In Zaghe was discovered 21 houses. The entrance is never with one exception due to the climatic conditions in the north-west or south-easterly direction, because the Raz- wind, which brings a lot of dust with it, blowing from the southeast, and the Meh - wind, a very cold wind from the northwest. Before the entrance of the house with the door to the west, a wall was built of mud bricks to keep the wind Meh.
There are four different types of houses in Zaghe:
- The houses with more than one uncovered space. These houses belonged to families that were economically dependent on livestock.
- The houses with more than one hidden room. These houses belonged to the families who worked as farmers.
- The houses, the residential and livestock space and a warehouse for agricultural products had. These houses belonged to families that were economically dependent on agriculture and cattle raising.
- The small houses with a living room, a small warehouse and a yard. These houses belonged to families who worked for the other groups.
The masons of Zaghe used clay, which was the easiest available building materials to make adobe bricks. They also used crushed plants such as straw and foliage mixed with gravel for mortar. They made the mud bricks without form. The surfaces of the walls and the ceiling were plastered with a mixture of straw and clay. The plastering of a house was decorated with colors. The decoration of the walls was geometrically in red, white, black and yellow colors. The front of the entrance of this house was paved with ceramic pieces. In Zaghe there is a large building. Ezzatollah Negahban believes that this building was used as a temple because:
The village was abandoned 5,000 years ago.