Tall-e Bakun is a twin site located in the fertile Marv Dasht plain of Fars, near Persepolis, the Achaemenid ceremonial capital.
The site, continuously inhabited from c. 4200 to c. 3000 BC, is the oldest yet discovered in that area of Iran.
Bakun has played a prominent role in the understanding of the prehistory of Fars, partly because it was the first large-scale excavation of a prehistoric mound there, and primarily for the richness of its finds.
Excavations in 1928 by the University of Berlin and in 1932 by the University of Chicago uncovered several building levels, numerous flint implements, stamp and button seals, and many animal and human figurines.
The painted Pottery found at Tall-e Bakun displays a seemingly inexhaustible variety of geometric patterns and animal motifs and is especially important for the study of early Iranian art.
Tall-e Bakun is divided into two parts, Tall-e Bakun A which is the larger western mound for which the coordinates on this page are given and which dates back from 4000 BC to 3500 BC, and the eastern mound Tall-e Bakun B which dates back from 5000 to 4200 BC.
Tall-e Banuk was excavated in 1932 and 1937. Finds included painted Pottery, stone mace heads, miniature alabaster figures, flint tools and some copper objects including a 25 cm long dagger.
Mound A is reached by walking south across the fields from the village of Vali Asr which is 1.5km south from Persepolis and is reached by a small road off the Persepolis approach road.
The interest here is standing on an ancient site which is sufficiently remote that pot sherds are still lying on the ground although there is little to identify after the trenches and excavations from the archaeological work last century.
You can make a circuitous walk around crops and across country to reach Mound B to the east, or return to the village and follow the clay road out to the site.
References:
https://oi.uchicago.edu
http://www.megalithic.co.uk
http://www.britannica.com
