Location
Dalma Tepe is located at the southwestern end of Lake Urmia, north of the modern village of Dalma. There are two other small tells close by, including Agrab Tepe. Ḥasanlū Tepe site is about 5 km southwest of Dalma.
Dalma Tepe was inscribed on the national heritage list of Iran in 2006. In 2021, Archaeological survey again began at Dalma Tepe after a six-decade hiatus. [1]
The mound rises approximately 4 meters above the surrounding plain. Its diameter measures approximately 50 meters. The site was researched in 1958 by Charles Burney and additionally in 1961 in collaboration with T. Cuyler Young Jr. as part of the Hasanlu Project of The University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology of the University of Pennsylvania.
Large quantities of handmade, chaff-tempered pottery were found. [2] This includes 'Dalma plain ware', 'Dalma impressed ware', and 'Dalma red-slipped ware', which was covered with a uniform coat of dark-red paint. There was a variety of shapes.
'Dalma painted ware' is decorated with large patterns of triangles in deep shades on red.
Conical clay spindle whorls were also found.
Dalma pottery represents Period IX at Ḥasanlū Tepe, and is dated to around 5000–4500 BCE. Links with Level XVI at Tepe Gawra have been identified, which, in northern Iraq, represents Ubaid 3 period. [3]
Similar pottery has been found at Seh Gābī and Godin Tepe, attributed to Period X. Kul Tepe Jolfa is another related site from the same period. It is located north of Lake Urmia. [4]
In 2013, nine ancient sites containing Dalma sherds have been identified in the Songhor and Koliyaei Plains in Central Zagros. [5]
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Teppe Hasanlu or Hasanlu Tepe is an archeological site of an ancient city located in northwest Iran, a short distance south of Lake Urmia. The nature of its destruction at the end of the 9th century BC essentially froze one layer of the city in time, providing researchers with extremely well preserved buildings, artifacts, and skeletal remains from the victims and enemy combatants of the attack. The site was likely associated with the Mannaeans.
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Yarim Tepe is an archaeological site of an early farming settlement that goes back to about 6000 BC. It is located in the Sinjar valley some 7km southwest from the town of Tal Afar in northern Iraq. The site consists of several hills reflecting the development of the Hassuna culture, and then of the Halaf and Ubaid cultures.
Kul Tepe Jolfa is an ancient archaeological site in the Jolfa County of Iran, located in the city of Hadishahr, about 10 km south from the Araxes River.
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Rose L. Solecki was an American archaeologist, who worked with her husband Ralph Solecki on excavations in Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and Sudan.
Dalma culture was a prehistoric archaeological culture of north-western Iran dating to early fifth millennium B.C. Later, it spread into the central Zagros region and elsewhere in adjacent areas. Its widespread ceramic remains were excavated in central and northern valleys of the Zagros Mountains in north-western Iran. Dalma assemblages were initially discovered by the excavations carried out at Dalma Tepe and Hasanlu Tepe in south-western parts of Lake Urmia, in the valley of Solduz.
Carol Kramer was an American archaeologist known for conducting ethnoarchaeology research in the Middle East and South Asia. Kramer also advocated for women in anthropology and archaeology, receiving the Squeaky Wheel Award from the Committee on the Status of Women in Anthropology in 1999. Kramer co-wrote Ethnoarchaeology in Action (2001) with Nicolas David, the first comprehensive text on ethnoarchaeology, and received the Award for Excellence in Archaeological Analysis posthumously in 2003.
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Bülövaqaya settlement is an archeological site located on the left bank of the Sarisu river, west of Göynük village of Babek district.
