Sialk is the world's oldest ziggurat (2), tucked away in the suburbs of the city of Kashan, in central Iran. The 7,500-year-old ziggurat is a testament to ancient civilizations that flourished in Iran long before the Egyptian or Greek cultures blossomed. Like many other ruins in Iran, unfortunately, what is left of this per ancient edifice is only a big pile of crumbling bricks.
Sialk is one of four ziggurats built by the Elamite civilization. The other three are: Choqa Zanbil ziggurat (1250 BC), Susa ziggurat (1800BC), and Haft Teppeh zigguirat (1375 BC), making Sialk, the 32nd and most recent ziggurat of Mesopotamia to be discovered. "Teppe Sialk" was first excavated by a team of European archeologists headed by Roman Ghirshman in the 1930s. Like the thousands of other Iranian historical ruins, the treasures excavated here eventually found their way to museums such as The Louvre, The British Museum, The New York Metropolitan Museum, and private collectors.
Sialk, and the entire area around it, is thought to have first originated as a result of the pristine underground water sources that still run today. The Cheshmeh ye Soleiman (or "Solomon's Spring") has been bringing water to this area from nearby mountains for thousands of years. The Fin garden, built to its present form in the 1600s is a popular tourist attraction today. It is here where Persian Kings of the Safavid dynasty would spend their vacations away from their capital cities. It is also here where, Abu Lu Lu, the Iranian assassin of Islam's second Caliph is buried. Kashan is also famous for its outstanding desert architecture.
Sialk is one of only three ancient ziggurats in Iran. Sialk predates the ziggurats of Iraq, but the significance of the other two ziggurats of Iran, particularly the ziggurat of Chogha Zanbil in southwestern Iran, are their relatively well preserved state. (note: the Chogha zanbil website is sometimes unavailable, but works.)
What little is left of the two crumbling Sialk ziggurats is now threatened by the encroaching suburbs of the expanding city of Kashan. It is not uncommon to see kids playing soccer amid the ruins, while only several meters away lie the supposedly "off limit" 5,500 year old skeletons unearthed at the foot of the ziggurat.
The significance of the scientific and cultural achievements of the Elamites and their influence on other civilizations can be better understood when we learn that according to some scholars the first wheeled pitcher (or wheeled roller) is known to have been invented by the Elamites.
Furthermore, the first arched roof and its covering, which are very important techniques in architecture were invented by the Elamites, and used in the mausoleum of Tepti-ahar around 1360 B.C. (unearthed in the excavations made at Haft Tappeh) nearly 1,500 years before such arches were used by the Romans.(note: Link is not in English)
But the painful reality is that Sialk is just one of thousands of structures of antiquity in Iran plundered by colonialists, thieves, present and past incompetent authorities, and time itself. Only the more famous ones come to attention when threatened, and a select few come under the protection or supervision of UNESCO.
Other ancient structures of Iranian heritage are not so lucky. The Sialk ziggurat at least has a guard or two protecting it. Others like the massive Sasani-era citadel of Narin ghaleh in the city of Naeen have turned into a garbage dump by the locals. And many many others fare even worse than that.
See also
