The sixth chapter of the archaeological excavation of the Patpeh Site(Malayer - dam catchment of Kalan Dam)

The sixth chapter of the archaeological excavations of the Patapeh Site (Gonespan Hill), was the last effort to save this hill, before the full dive of the dam was completed. Patapeh contains works from the Bronze Age (Yanigh) to the Safavid period. During the sixth season, in addition to exploring the remnants of the architecture of the Islamic period and the Parthian period left behind by previous excavations, Remains of a huge architecture also appeared.
This architecture belongs to the remnants of a castle from the Iron III or Median period, parts of which were explored in the fourth and fifth chapters. The most important reasons for assigning this castle to the Medes are the similarities in the architectural style and the cultural foundations in it with other structures related to Median such as Noshijan, Babajan and Godin. The works of this period include wavy walls that have created rectangular halls. From the Parthian period, there were also works of brick and stone walls. The walls and floor of some of the spaces related to this period were plastered. The works of the Islamic period also included remains of stone walls and wells of water and sewage.
The history of the archeological activities of the Patapeh Hill dates back to 1381; When during the Malayer archaeological surveys, the hill was identified and introduced and The beginning of the construction of the Kalan Dam has brought a new season for Patapeh's archeological activities. For the first time in 2002, Ali Khaksar supervised the first chapter of the archaeological excavations of Patapeh, The excavation that led to the identification of the establishment of the Safavid period and the effects of an earlier settlement that probably belonged to the Seljuk period. The second chapter of the Patapeh archaeological excavations continued under the supervision of Hasan Rezvani in 2007; Exploring the layers of the Islamic era and finding remnants of a Parthian fortress with stone walls and buried bricks under the Islamic layer was the achievement of this chapter of exploration.
In the direction of the excavations of the previous seasons, signs of the presence of older cultures, especially the Iron Age, became apparent, the most important goal of the third chapter of the archaeological excavation of this hill. In this chapter, the exploration of Patapeh under the supervision of Mehrdad Malekzadeh in 2008 revealed evidence of an architectural structure that dates back to the Iron Age III. The fourth and fifth chapters of the archaeological exploration of Patapeh were conducted by Reza Naseri in 2009 to liberate the remains of median architecture.
The exploration results of these two seasons led to the liberation of several architectural spaces from the median fortress. Identifying part of an architecture of the Iron Age III era in the fourth and fifth seasons of patapeh exploration and its similarity to the well-known buildings of the Iron Age III, known as median fortresses, increased the importance of continuing to explore the site.
Hence the search for rescue on a large scale, in order to remove the remains of the architecture, especially the structure, before the waterfall of the dam and the burial ground in the lake water, was the first and most important target of this chapter.