Qalaichi
سه گردان، قلایچی ، قلایه چی Ghalay-chi | |
Glazed tile excavated by B. Kargar from Qalaichi in the Urmia Museum. Depicted is a winged sphinx. | |
Shown within Iran | |
| Location | Bukan, Iran |
|---|---|
| Region | West Azerbaijan province |
| Coordinates | 36°34′13″N 46°16′31″E / 36.57028°N 46.27528°E |
| Type | settlement |
| Length | 93m |
| Width | 102m |
| Height | 1507m |
| History | |
| Material | stone, mud brick, baked brick |
| Founded | 9th-7th century BCE |
| Abandoned | ? |
| Periods | Mannean |
| Cultures | Iron Age II and III |
| Associated with | 0 |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 1985, 1999-2006 |
| Archaeologists | E. Yaghmaei, B.Kargar |
| Condition | plundered, later excavated |
| Ownership | public |
| Public access | accessible |
Qalaichi, Ghalay-chi, قلایچی in Persian (UTM 38S 615552 m E 4046795 m N) is an important archaeological site for the Iron Age of north-western Iran. It is a mound 11 metres (36 ft) high, situated about 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) north-west of Bukan City in West Azerbaijan Province 18 kilometres (11 mi) away from the border of Kurdistan province. The site is located near a village from whence it got its name. Hills and mountains surround it; the highest one in the east is the so-called Kal-Tage.
Discoveries
Qalaichi is known from cuneiform texts as a settlement town which lay in the polity of Mannea. The main period of occupation extended from the 9th to 7th centuries BCE. Key archaeological finds include a stele inscribed with an Aramaic text.[1] In addition, the ancient settlement yielded a large number of glazed objects. Some of these objects are monochrome and the others show complex compositions.[2] The excavated artifacts are now in the collections of Urmia Museum and Tehran National Museum.
References
- ^ M. A. Lemaire, L'inscription araméenne de Bukân et son intérêt historique, in Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Année, vol.142,1998: 293-300; E. Yaghmaei, Discovery of a three thousand years old temple at Bukan, Keyhan Newspaper, Thursday, 11 March 1985, 9 (in Persian).
- ^ B. Kargar, Qalaychi/Izirtu: a Mannean center, Period Ib, in M. Azarnoush (ed.), Proceedings of International Symposium on Iranian Archaeology: North-western Region, Tehran, 2004, 229–45(in Persian).
External links