Tepe Sialk — ziggurat
Sialk · Kashan, Iran · c. 3000–2500 BCE (the late Sialk IV levels on the south mound; the construction is more often dated to c. 3000–2900 BCE)
A stepped complex on the Iranian plateau. Not the Mesopotamian canon of Ur-Nammu but a kindred idea: a sacred platform built up in stages. It shows that the type also lived on east of the Tigris.
Dossier
- Type: Iranian (Sialk)
- Ancient city: Sialk
- Modern location: Kashan, Iran
- Deity: local temple cult
- Dating: c. 3000–2500 BCE (the late Sialk IV levels on the south mound; the construction is more often dated to c. 3000–2900 BCE)
- Material: mud brick (by the excavators' estimate, about 1.25 million bricks)
- Plan: On the summit of the south mound are the remains of a massive stepped mud-brick platform (three setbacks survive), and a few dozen metres away a second, smaller structure of the same date.
- Tiers: 3
- Survived: yes, the ruins can be visited
What matters
The exact dimensions of the Sialk platform are not established: the structure is heavily eroded and partly hidden by later layers. Only the number of setbacks of the great platform can be given with confidence — three. Its title as the "oldest ziggurat in the world" is disputed: most scholars see here a stepped mud-brick platform of the Proto-Elamite tradition (about 3000–2900 BCE).