Hajji Firuz Tepe
تپه حاجی فیروز · Hajji Firuz · Haji Firuz · Hadjji Firuz
Late Neolithic–Late Chalcolithic (5900–4000 BCE; wine horizon 5400 BCE)·Hajji Firuz / Dalma (Urmia basin Chalcolithic)·🇮🇷 West Azerbaijan Province, Ushnu (Solduz) Valley, south of Lake Urmia, Iran
About
About Hajji Firuz Tepe
Chalcolithic village (c.5900–5000 BCE, Late Neolithic–Hajji Firuz ware) in the fertile Ushnu–Solduz alluvial valley south of Lake Urmia, excavated by T.C. Young, R. Dyson (U Penn–ROM 1958–68). Levels reveal mudbrick rectangular houses with plastered floors, painted Hajji Firuz ware (orange on orange), and the world's earliest wine production evidence — six 5000 BCE tartaric acid jars with terebinth residue in a mudbrick kitchen (McGovern 1996, Science). Bridges Halaf–Ubaid north Iranian plateau sequence to Dalma and Pisdeli horizons.
Why it mattersEarliest chemically attested wine (PNAS 1996) proves Neolithic viniculture already in 5400 BCE; defines Hajji Firuz-Dalma painted tradition linking Halaf to Transcaucasia.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Was wine medicinal or festive — 6 jars = 30 L store?
Theories
- 01Zagros piedmont as wild grape refugium for domestication
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 5900 BCE (Chaff-Tempered ware)
- Period
- Late Neolithic–Late Chalcolithic (5900–4000 BCE; wine horizon 5400 BCE)
- Culture
- Hajji Firuz / Dalma (Urmia basin Chalcolithic)
- Builders
- Ushnu valley Chalcolithic farmers
- Purpose
- Agricultural village with intra-mural storage and beverage production kitchen
- Abandoned
- c.4000 BCE (Pisdeli–Kura-Araxes transition)
- Rediscovered
- 1958 survey by Dyson–Voigt; excavated 1958–68
- Excavation
- Excavated
c.5400 BCE
Wine jars with terebinth deposited in kitchen
c.5000 BCE
Hajji Firuz painted ware village climax
1958
Young opens Operation A trench
On the ground
Structures & features
36.9870° N · 45.4680° E · 1330 m · 2 mapped features
Wine kitchen (Operation A)
kitchenMudbrick room with six wine jars in situ along wall
36.9873° N · 45.4683° EHajji Firuz house floor
houseRectangular house with painted orange ware sherds
36.9868° N · 45.4678° E