Sounding works in order to delimit the area of Chough Tepe in Mazandaran province (Iran), has resulted in identifying architectural layers. Based on historical evidence, archeologists give the possibility that they have succeeded to trace a small village dating back to 8000 years ago. "Our researches led into identifying stone tools belonging to almost the 6th millennium BCE which indicate the settlement of human beings in the region during Neolithic epoch," said Ali Mahforouzi, head of excavation team in Chough Tepe.
     Evidence shows that the discovered stone tools must have belonged to the period prior to appearance of agricultural activities in the plain. Mahforouzi explained: "We faced with some rough and low-qualified earthenwares during our next round of researches which must have belonged to the advent of clay industry when clay wheels were not still invented." Head of excavation team further said that sounding works on the hill continued in an attempt to clarify the limits of the area which resulted in unearthing the remains of a clay wall, 2 meters in height and 70 centimeters in width, which revealed long-term settlements in the area during ancient times.
     The discovery of this clay wall and the architectural evidence as well as the discovery of a number of stone and clay fragments, gave archeologists the idea that most probably they have succeeded in tracing the evidence of a small village inhabited by a few number of families some 8000 years ago. Identified clays in this hill resemble those Neolithic clays previously discovered in Gohar Tepe historic site in Mazandaran and in Damgan in Semnan province.
 
Sources: CHN (6 October 2007)