The first season focused on the Sassanian mound and initial work on the main mound. The excavators determined a relative chronology of the site, dividing it into a number of layers. Note that unlike usual practice strata are numbers from oldest to most recent. • Strata I (subdivided into IA, IB, and IC) - painted pottery. Only examined in soundings so full extent is unknown though it is estimated to have covered and area with a diameter of 200 meters. Building were constructed with sun-dried mud bricks. Some walls were buttressed. Subdivisions are based on pottery with IA being handmade with rectilinear designs, IB being wheelmade decorated with animal or floral motifs and IC wheelmade with dark brown decoration on a light grayish brown ground. Clay finds included spindle whorls, cones, bicones, dics, and figurines. A number of seals were found but no sealings leading to the idea they were being used as decoration. Copper objects (in IA) included knife and dagger blades, pins, and needles. Numerous lithic and bone objects were also excavated as well as 144 burials. • Strata II (subdivided into IIA and IIB) - grey pottery. IIA featured wheelmade pottery with motifs similar to Strata IC while decoration changed somewhat in IIB. Strata II is the thinnest of the layers and assumed to have been the shortest occupation though this is not certain. Buildings construction and plan were similar to Strata I so this Strata is largely defined by pottery type. Small finds, lithics, figurines etc., were also similar to Strata I. More copper objects and types appeared including maceheads, rings, bracelets, anklets, earrings, and various tools. A few small gold and silver ornaments were found. Of the 209 burials excavated, those in IIA contained more and varied grave goods. • Strata III (subdivided into IIIA, IIIB, and IIIC) - handmade burnished greyware pottery. The oldest level, IIIA is minimal and ill-defined and its principle value is in making clear the demarcation between Strata IIB and Strata IIIB. The final and most recent layer at Tepe Hissar, IIIC, is also very thin and the buildings are few and insignificant however burials from that layer are "extraordinarily well-equipped" and the buried hoards on Treasure Hill was particularly rich in finds. Strata IIIB was the principle occupation layer including some structures destroyed by conflagration. One, called the Burned Building (BB) was, unlike the others, burned while occupied and still retaining its possessions. This occurrence provided the excavators with a number of skeletal remains and finds as well as baking the
mudbrick walls. The BB was the best constructed and elaborate building in Strata IIIB with six rooms (with several stairways leading to the roof), gateway passage, courtyard, outside latrine, and a tower at the door. The excavators declared it the residence of the towns most prominent resident and not a cultic site. Finds in the main room included numerous lapis lazuli, chalcedony, gold, and silver ornaments, copper daggers (one with a grip of silver bands), and large copper vessels. A storeroom contained a number of sizable lidded storage vessels as well as a copper mattock and two copper stamp seals. A large numbers of flint arrowheads were found inside and outside of the BB. Baked clay and lithic finds from Strata III were similar to those of Strata II while metal finds were much more numerous and varied, primarily of copper and silver. Burials excavated were 106 of Strata IIIA, 270 of Strata IIIB and 53 of Strata IIIC. After Strata IIIC the site was abandoned. While the majority of burials were simple pit graves (a few double burials) where the body was wrapped in woolen garments, five
cist graves, one "vault" grave, and one communal grave were also found. One cist grave (CG25, Strata II, adult male) was notable for its grave goods which included "a large copper stamp seal hung from his pelvic bone, a mace head, along with an abundance of copper jewelry, earrings and multiple-coil bracelets near his head and on his arm, copper pins with double scroll heads on his chest, a silver head band, and
lapis lazuli, carnelian, turquoise beads scattered on his chest". The communal grave (CG15, Strata II-III, mostly males and infants) contained a variety of grave goods, primarily copper ornaments, a copper mattock, and a copper knife. Five of the pit graves were of high status with many grave items, often of copper - "Dancer" (CF55 x1), "Warrior 1" (DF19 x2); "Warrior 2" (DF09 x1); "Priest" (DF08 x1) and "Little Girl" (DF18 x1) all dated to Strata IIIC. A one-week surface survey for lithic (stone) finds was carried out by a team led by Giuseppe Tucci with the Italian Archaeological Mission in Iran in 1972. Thousands of lithic tools, mostly fragmentary, were found primarily drills, burins, blades, and scrapers. In 1976 a two month long re-study project was performed, utilizing modern methods of stratigraphic assessments, ceramic typological analysis and radiocarbon dating led by
Robert H. Dyson and Maurizio Tosi for the
University of Pennsylvania Museum, the
University of Turin and Iran Center for Archaeological Research. After a surface survey four stratigraphic cuts were made, three on the main mound and one on an hillock to the southwest. The study included a cleaning and replacing of the Strata IIB Burned Building, finding an additional room and hearth and showing the "tower" of the excavators was actually a buttress. In association with that on the Damghan Plain two surveys were conducted. A geomorphological survey found that Tepe Hissar was settled on a natural hill that was next to a river that now flows further to the east. A surface survey found no other sites from the same period as Tepe Hissar. In 1995, a rescue excavation, due to an earlier rail line being run through the center of the site, was conducted by Esmaiil Yaghmaii, followed by areal soundings in 2006. The absolute chronology of the occupation levels, especially Strata IIIB and IIIC have been an issue of continuing research and speculation. The original excavators were uncertain but suggested Strata 1A began in the 5th millennium BC, IC ended around 3500 BC, and Strata III lay in the early 2nd millennium BC. Proposals for the end date of Hissar IIIC have ranged from 2300 BC down to 1500 BC. There has also been much speculation of the regional and cultural influences of Strata IIIB and IIIC. Cultural connections have been proposed as far away as
Turkmenistan and the
Oxus Civilization. Radiocarbon dates of levels thought to be chronologically contemporary with some at Tepe Hissar are available i.e.
Tureng Tepe (II - 3055 BC, 2813 BC) (IIIB - 2639 BC),
Altyndepe (IIIB - 2696 BC), and
Yarim Tepe (IIIB - 2626 BC). A single Tepe Hissar radiocarbon date from a sample taken in 1974 provided a calibrated date of 1841 BC +/- 64 for the end of Strata IIIC. As part of the 1976 re-excavation a number of stratified samples were taken for radiocarbon dating from four locations, Main Mound (Buildings 1, 2, and 3), North Flat (Burned building area), South Hill (industrial workshop), and Twins). Results were: • Stage A = Strata IIIC (c. 2200 BC - 1800 BC) • Stage E = Strata IIA (c. 3650 BC - 3400 BC) • Stage F = Strata IC (c. 3900 BC - 3700 BC) In 2016 DNA was extracted from a human skeletal sample (Strata not identified in source) and was found to carry a mtDNA Haplogroup of H32. ==History==