Metallic mineral resources of Iran mined in ancient times; A brief review

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Metallic mineral resources of Iran,

mined in ancient times.

A brief review

Introduction

The Iranian plateau is one of the earliest parts of the world in whichmetal is mined and gained. A general view on the ancient miningand metallurgy in this archaeologically critical part of the world ismissing which generally suggests a bi-lateral international projectfor studying the temporal-geographic-commercial and cultural rela-tionships between mining-metallurgy industries in ancient miningsites and the neighbouring and regional archaeological settlements.The present work is indeed a very preliminary example and can beconsidered as a proto-type of a suggested program. The examplesabout commercial-cultural relationships between some ancientmining districts and the ancient civilization settlements which arediscussed in this paper show that such a program is capable tobring about unexpectedly important information, which can explain“old questions” in the field of archaeology.

Of course it is a difficult task to compact the information aboutgeological and mineral resources of a country, being three times big-ger than a country like France, in a few pages without missing a lotof important data. Therefore the author tries to concentrate on thevery important geological elements and on a few metallic mineralswhich have been used in prehistoric times. It is also a difficult taskto present a complete list of ancient mines, even for a few metallicminerals in a country with more than six millennia history of miningand thousands of ancient mining sites. Although several types ofmineral resources have been exploited in prehistoric times, butmetallic minerals, especially Cu, Au, Ag, and Fe are of more impor-tance for the purpose of the present volume. Therefore the prove-nance of raw materials like flint, clay, building stones, salts, fuels,asphalt, plaster, decorative stones and gemstones as well as soap-stone, mica, talc, onyx, jasper, etc. are not mentioned.

Metallogeny

The temporal-spatial distribution of mineral resources in nature isa result of the tectono-magmatic events of the earth’s crust“orogenic movements”. Such events occur in definite periods of theearth’s history (tectono-magmatic episodes) and in definite parts ofthe earths crust (tectono-magmatic zones). Hence the tectono-magmatic zonation and episodes of the Iranian crust is brieflyreviewed. Meanwhile the evolution of Cu, Au, Fe, and Pb, Zn, Agis reviewed (Fig. 1 & Tab. 1).

The Iranian plateau, excluding folded Zagros belt in southwest andKoppeh Dagh range in northeast, makes up the central part of theAlp-Himalayan orogenic-metallogenic belt (Fig. 1). Numeroustectono-magmatic episodes, have affected this part of the Earthsince one billion years ago, i.e. from late Proterozoic to the presenttime (Tab. 1).

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Morteza Momenzadehunter Mitarbeit von: Ali Hajisoltan & Mahsa Momenzadeh

Tab. 1: Major tectono-magmatic episodes.

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1 Uppermost Proterozoic-lower Cambrian episode (Assyntic)2 Early Palaeozoic episode (Caledonian)3 Late Palaeozoic-early Triassic episode (Early Cimmerian)4 Late Jurassic-early Cretaceous episode (Late Cimmerian)5 Late Cretaceous-Palaeocene episode6 Oligocene plutonism7 Young magmatism

The Assyntic tectono-magmatic episode of latest Proterozoic-earlyCambrian age has caused generation of big iron and zinc-lead-silverresources in central, northwest and southeast Iran.

The Caledonian and Variscan tectono-magmatic episodes of earlyand late Palaeozoic times, as well as the early Cimmerian episode

of early Mesozoic time have caused the generation of hundreds ofgold, zinc-lead-silver, iron and some copper, copper-gold, andcopper-tin-tungsten-gold mineral resources. The hostrocks of themineral resources of all these episodes are the plutono-metamor-phic belts, extending E-W wards in Alborz Mountains, NW-SEwards along Sanandaj-Sirjan belt and N-S wards in east Iran zone

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METALLIC MINERAL RESOURCES OF IRAN, MINED IN ANCIENT TIMES. – A BRIEF REVIEW

Fig. 1: Tectono-magmatic zonation of Iran; after Stöcklin 1968; revised by the author.��

(Fig. 1). Similar hostrocks are exposed in east central Iran along aN-S extending arc (ECI arc in Fig. 1). The eastern extension of theAlborz Mountains of Palaeozoic plutono-metamorphic belt is thehost of similar mineral resources in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan andTadjikistan.

Except zinc-lead-silver resources, which are mainly hosted bycarbonates and shales, other resources are hosted mainly byphyllites, schists, meta-volcanics, meta-volcanogenic sediments andoccasionally by the plutons. Iron resources are mostly associatedwith submarine meta-volcanic rocks and intrusives. Gold, copperand gold-copper, (as well as Au, Cu, Sn, W association) resourcesare mainly hosted by metamorphic rocks, more frequently close tothe contacts of plutons. The copper-tin-tungsten-gold resources,although hosted by metamorphic rocks, almost in all cases areclose to the granite-granodiorite plutons.

The late Cimmerian orogenic episode in early Cretaceous times ischaracterised by zinc- lead-silver mineralization in almost all overthe Iranian plateau. The abundance of Pb, Zn, Ag-resources ismore along Malayer-Isfahan area (M.E. area in Fig. 1). But manyother similar resources are scattered in central Iran. Iron ore is thenext frequent mineral which has been formed in early Cretaceoustime. The hostrocks of zinc-lead-silver, as well as iron are lowerCretaceous carbonates and shales.

The younger stages of Alpine tectono-magnetic episodes have cau-sed the most intensive and extensive resources of numerous typesof minerals including copper, gold, lead-zinc-silver, iron and tur-quoise in the Iranian plateau. Hundreds of occurrences of theseminerals, especially copper are hosted by Eocene submarine volca-nic-pyroclastic rocks, mainly the andesite-basalt layers. A majorityof the copper occurrences have different amounts of gold, silver,lead, zinc, nickel and cobalt. The ore bodies are generally veins,which are indeed fracture-fillings. There are occasionally stratiformresources as well. The mineral association is characterised by chal-cosite and copper oxides, with lesser amounts of native copper.Chalcopyrite is not a common mineral in this group of copperresources. The veins contain usually high grade copper. Thereforethey were very attractive for ancient miners, who wanted to digless and gain more. The ratio of copper/lead-silver (zinc) and cop-per/gold may vary in different occurrences, as a function of varia-tion in lithology, tectonics and the age of the hostrocks. Thereforea percentage of the total number of volcanic hosted Eocene occur-rences may be considered, not as a copper occurrence, but as acopper bearing lead-silver mineralization and some may be consi-dered as gold-silver rich copper mineralization. The well knownNishapur turquoise deposit is hosted by the Eocene submarineandesites.

The Eocene submarine volcanic rocks and their mineral resourcesare extended along the Orumieh-Dokhtar belt, as well as in cen-tral, east and southeast Iran. Similar mineral resources are hostedby the Eocene submarine rocks in the southern foothills of theAlborz Mountains.

The youngest Alpine tectono-magmatic episode is the late Tertiary-Quaternary episode “young magmatism”. This can be considered

as the most important episode concerning generation of gold andcopper resources in the Iranian plateau. During this episode anintensive and extensive magmatic activity affected vast areas ofIran. The outstanding manifestation of this magmatism is asequence of subaerial volcanoes, especially in upper Miocene-Pliocene to the present times. The volcanoes are indeed the surfacemanifestations of domal structures. A chain of such domalstructures occurs along the NW-SE Orumieh–Dokhtar and SE Iranvolcanic belts (Fig. 1). These belts extend from the Turkish borderat northwest to the Pakistani border at southeast. The well knownArarat, Sahand and Sabalan volcanoes in Azarbaidjan provinceand Bazman and Taftan in Baluchistan province are someexamples of these domal structures. Another chain of domalstructures and volcanoes extends E-W wards from Azarbaidjanthrough south Alborz to northeast Iran.

Distribution of copper, gold, silver,iron, and turquoise

Copper, gold, silver, and iron are the main metals which have beenused in ancient times. Some other metals and non-metallicelements like tin, arsenic, nickel, cobalt, tungsten, lead, zinc,mercury, antimony etc. may be associated in different quantitieswith the ore minerals of copper, gold, silver, and iron. In the caseof copper the presence of tin, arsenic, antimony, zinc and lead inthe natural ores may have caused different types of natural alloys,without especial intention of the ancient miners and metallurgists.Therefore describing the distribution of copper resources in Iran themineral association is also considered. On this basis the copperoccurrences with copper-tin-tungsten (with or without gold)association are described in a separate group. Silver beingassociated with lead in lead-zinc-silver mineralization is discussedunder the lead-zinc-silver group of minerals.

Copper: Natural resources andancient mining

Natural resources

Copper is one of the metals which have a higher geological poten-tial per square kilometre in the Iranian crust in comparison with theaverage of the world potential. The number of porphyry copperdeposits of Iran which enter the world rank of big and medium por-phyry copper deposits is growing by recent exploration activities.Sar Cheshmeh is known as a big porphyry copper deposit of worldscale since 30 years. Sunghun and Meduk are under mobilization.There are at least four other porphyry deposits under exploration.Besides these there are more than 400 known copper deposits and

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occurrences, some of which may come out as big and medium por-phyry type deposits (Fig. 2).

Copper in Tertiary igneous rocksAs noted in chapter “metallogeny episodes” most of the copperresources of Iran, both in number and in total metal volume are ofthe Tertiary age. They are distributed along the Orumieh-Dokhtarvolcanic belt, south central Iran (Anarak), north central Iran, andsouthern Alborz foothills (Abbasabad-Toroud) and east Iran areas(Fig. 1, 2). Within these zones, the Orumieh-Dokhtar volcanic beltis by far the most important Tertiary copper belt of Iran. The mostimportant sectors in the Orumieh-Dokhtar belt are Kerman andAhar areas (Fig. 2). The next areas along this belt are Tarom-Hashtjin and Qom-Kashan-Natanz. Concerning genesis the coppermineralization of Tertiary age can be categorised to two types:

1.) Mineralization which is hosted by Eocene submarine volcanicsand pyroclastics; the volcanics are mainly andesites and andes-ite-basalts. The morphology of ore bodies is mainly veins, which

have usually sharp contacts with host rocks. The mineralassociation is usually simple and is characterised by chalcosite,copper oxides and occasionally native copper. The copper gradeis usually high, i.e. in the order of several percent Cu. Theabsence or rareness of chalcopyrite is also a characteristic fea-ture of this type. The hydrothermal alteration is either absent orrare and if present, is limited. This type of mineralization wasmuch desired by ancient miners due to high grade ore, simplemineralogy and simple extraction metallurgy, especially copperoxides and native copper. Although the reserves of vein typedeposits are usually limited, hence not much attractive formodern mining but the ancient miners were not sensitive to thereserve factor because of their limited production per year.Therefore hundreds of such occurrences are mined in prehistoricand historic periods (Talmessi, Meskani, Damanjala andVeshnaveh are typical examples of this type).

2.) Mineralization which is in relation to hydrothermal activities oflate Tertiary time; the alteration and mineralization are in asso-

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Fig. 2: Distribution of copper deposits and occurrences; after Ghorbani 2002.��

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Fig. 3: Distribution of ancient copper mines.1) QARACHILAR (GULAN), Cu (Mo), 2) CHESHMEH KHAN (ASTMAL), Cu, 3) AYNELU, Cu, 4) SUNGHUN, Cu (Mo, Au), 5) ANJERT, Cu (Mo), 6)MAZRAEH (GOWDEL), Cu (Fe, W, Bi, Au, Ag), 7) DAVA YATAGHI, Cu, 8) DIZEJIN, Cu (Au, Fe), 9) ZARRIN KHANI (ALAMUT), 10) BIARJO-MAND, Cu, 11) DAMANJALA, Cu, 12) MADEN-E-BOZORG, (ABBASABAD), Cu, 13) CHAH MESI, Cu, 14) BAGHALU, Cu, 15) RUGHERU CHAH,Cu, 16) ABBASABAD-E-NARBAGHI, Cu, 17) TAKHT-E-CHAMAN, Cu, 18) BATO, Cu, 19) CHESHMEH GAZ, Cu, 20) TAKNAR, Cu (Pb, Zn, Au,Ag), 21) SORKHDARREH, Cu, 22) VESHNOVEH, Cu, 23) GHAMSAR, Cu, (MADAN-E-LAJEVARD), Cu, (Co, Fe), 24) TALKHEH, Cu (Pb, Ag), 25)MESKANI , Cu (Ni, Co), 26) TALMESI, Cu (Ni, Co), 27) CHAH MILEH, Cu (Pb, Zn), 28) BAGH GHOROGH, Cu (Pb), 29) CHAH PALANG, Cu (Au,W), 30) KALATEH AHANI, Cu (Pb), 31) KAKHK, Cu (Zn), 32) GAZU, Cu (Tq), 33) MIR-E-KHASH, Cu, 34) SHIKASTEH SABZ, Cu, 35) DARMIAN,Cu, 36) LOTFABAD, Cu, 37) HOWZ-E-RAIIS, Cu (Pb, Zn), 38) SEH CHANGI, Cu (Zn, Pb, Mo, Ag), 39) DEH-E-MADAN(KARUNRUD), Cu (Co), 40)KHANEGAH (RAVAK), Cu, 41) KHUT (MAZRAEH), Cu (W), 42) TANG-E-CHENAR, Cu (Mn), 43) KHOSHUMI, Cu (Pb, Zn), 44) NARIGAN, Cu (Fe),45) KHANUK, Cu, 46) GHALEH ZAR, Cu, (Au, Pb, Zn, Ag), 47) GHOLLEHA, Cu, 48) KUHN-E-MES, Cu, Tq, 49) TEZARJ (TIZARK), Cu, 50) DAR-BIDU, Cu, 51) LACHAH (MEDUK), Cu, (Tq, Au), 52) CHAH MESI, Cu (Pb, Ag, Zn), 53) ADEA BAGH, Cu (Tq), 54) DEH SIAHAN, Cu (Tq), 55)SARCHESHMEH, Cu (Mo, Au, Tq), 56) BOLBOLU (SOLTAN HOSEIN), Cu, 57) GHALEH NARP, Cu, 58) ALLAH ABAD, Cu, 59) TALL-E-MADAN,Cu, 60) BAGHRAII, Cu (Au), 61) GERDU KULU, Cu, 62) KAMADURAN, Cu, 63) DARBINI (BIDE SORKH), Cu, 64) SHEIKH ALI, Cu, 65) CHEHELKOUREH, Cu (Zn, Pb), 66) SIAH JEKUL, Cu, 67) HAJI KOSHTEH, Cu, 68) CHAH DOUST, Cu, 69) SHEIKH AHMAD, Cu (Pb, Ag), 70) ISHPASH,Cu, 71) MEHGUII (BORJAK), Cu, 72) PIRUZAKI (BAZMAN), Cu, 73) SHIRVANEH, Cu, 74) CHAHAR GONBAD, Cu (Au, Ag), 75) SARSOW, Cu,76) TANGASHKUN, Cu, 77) KALLE GUN, Cu (Au?, Ag?), 78) KONAR GABON, Cu (Au?), 79) KISH PATIEL, Cu.

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ciation with subaerial volcanism and their shallow intrusiveroots. This type of mineralization has generated porphyry andscarn type, as well as vein type copper in association withextended alteration zones. Gold is present in association withcopper in many deposits. The copper-gold association in lateTertiary mineralization is very variable in different areas. Gold insome areas (like Tarom-Hashtjin and Kerman areas) and insome individual deposits (like Qaleh Zari and Chahar Gonbad)may be high enough to increase the economic value of thecopper product. The variation in Cu/Au ratio may be so muchin some areas that some deposits can be considered as copper-gold and some as gold-copper. Even in a single deposit theCu/Au ratio may change so much in short distances that a sectorof deposit being mined for Au and another sector for Cu (QalehZari is mined in a sector as Au in ancient times and is mined inthe present time as copper in another sector). Concerningzonation of Cu and Au in the Orumieh-Dokhtar belt it is ofinterest to note that the gold content of copper in the Ahar areais the lowest and in the Tarom-Hashtjin area is the highest. Thenumber of gold occurrences (with or without copper) in theAhar area is also not so plenty as in the Tarom-Hashtjin area.The ratio of Au/Cu in individual copper deposits in the westcentral Iran and Kerman areas is moderate in comparison to theAhar and Tarom-Hashtjin areas. The Tertiary copper mineraliza-tion, both the Eocene hosted type and late Tertiary porphyryand vein types are more abundant in the Orumieh-Dokhtarvolcanic belt than in other parts of Iran.

Copper-tin-tungsten-gold association in Cretaceous plutono-metamorphic terrains

The Cu, Sn, W, Au element association is not well known in Iran.But the metallogenic evidence, like wide extension of Caledonian,Variscan and early Cimmerian plutono-metamorphic terrains(chapter metallogeny episodes) implies more unexplored Cu, Sn, W,Au resources. The available information about this association islimited to four metallogenic fields in the central part of the Sanan-daj-Sirjan belt and central, northeast and east Iran zones. The“first field”, i.e., the central part of the Sanandaj-Sirjan belt is insouthwest of Arak. The Astaneh gold deposit and Nezamabad-Bamsar-Revesht axis, as well as the Deh Hosein deposit are theknown examples of Cu, Au, Sn, W association in the Sanandaj-Sir-jan belt. The “second field” is in the Chahpalang deposit in cen-tral Iran. This deposit which is known as a tungsten deposit seemsto be a copper-tin ancient mine. The “third field” is in the Mokh-taran-Sahlabad-Basiran triangular area south of Birjand and nor-theast of the Qaleh-Zari gold mine. The recent geochemical surveyby the Geological Survey of Iran showed W-Sn anomalies in theShakuh at southeast of Qaleh Zari mine in east Iran. The “fourthfield” is situated in northeast Khorasan. The Tarik Darreh occur-rence, east of Mashhad is an example of this type. The Cu, Au, Sn,W association is proved to be extended in the Mashhad granitepluton and its aureole by geochemical surveying (Geological Surveyof Iran, 1970-73). The Torqabeh gold deposit (Fig. 7) and severalgold indications and W, Sn, Cu anomalies were discovered in theMashhad granite and its enclosing metamorphic complex.

Ancient mining

Mining for copper in the Iranian plateau is one of the oldest in theworld. This subject has been the topic of research by archaeologistssince last century. In the last decade the attempts are intensified,especially by the performance of the Arisman project. Theprovenance of raw materials for the production of the Lurestanbronzes is the next subject of interest by archaeometallurgists. Bya review of geographical distribution of natural resources of copper(Fig. 2) and copper associated Sn, Au, As elements and presenta-tion of the list of some known ancient copper mines the authorseeks the provisions and pre-requisitions for a better approach tothese two problems.

The geographical distribution of ancient copper mines, the age andlithology of country rocks, the element association of ore minerals,and the correlation of this information (Fig. 3) with the geographicdistribution of major archaeological sites (Fig. 4) provide the leastnecessary requirements to approach to these two questions.Although the inferred period is neither reliable nor precise enoughfor a chronological correlation between the mining period of theconcerned mine and the nearest major archaeological site but suchcorrelation brings about the first logical impression about theprovenance of metal objects found in the nearest archaeologicalsite. As copper, gold and tin resources may occur together in na-ture the production of copper may be accompanied by gold or tinas by products. On the other hand as most of the late Tertiary cop-per resources of Iran carry variable amounts of gold and some goldresources carry copper the ancient copper-gold and gold-coppermines are clustered in the areas of the late Tertiary copper-goldmineralization. The Cu, Au ancient mines of late Tertiary in theAhar, Tarom-Hastjin, central Iran, Kerman and east Iran areas areof this type (see Fig. 2 & 3). The copper-tin-tungsten-gold as-sociation in pre Cretaceous plutono-metamorphic terrains althoughnot well known to the modern miners has been widely mined inancient times. Chahkalap and Chah e Chaharnafari in the Mokhta-ran-Sahlabad-Basiran triangular area south of Birjand, in east Iranare two examples of Cu, Au, Sn, W association which have beenmined in ancient times. In these localities several ancient workingsare scattered along the contact of marble and schist in the Palae-ozoic metamorphic complex. Some slag piles (20 km north of Basi-ran and elsewhere) indicate ancient metal mining and metallurgyin this area.

The plutono-metamorphic complex of Palaeozoic (to early Meso-zoic?) age in Iran hosts Cu, Sn, Au, W element association in theSanandaj-Sirjan belt, central Iran, east Alborz Mountains and eastIran zone (Fig. 1). The same metamorphic complex hosts similarelement associated mineralization in the north-eastern and easternneighbouring countries, i.e., Uzbekistan, Tadjikistan and Afgha-nistan. The modern geochemical surveying, geological explorationsand archaeological studies revealed that this mineral associationhas been feasible for mining and has been mined by ancient minersin prehistoric and historic periods (Fig. 3). But the vast extensionof plutono-metamorphic hostrocks and abundance of unstudiedancient mining and metallurgy relicts (slags, furnaces, and settle-ment sites) and abundance of place names which have inheritedtheir meaning from mining-metallurgy activities indicate that these

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Fig. 4: Major archaeological sites in Iran.1) SHEIKHLAR TAPPEH, ?, 2) AGHCHE GHALEH, Sasanian, 3) TALL-E-PALANG, ?, 4) GOY TAPPEH, Prehistoric, 5) DINKHAH TAPPEH, Prehis-toric, 6) HASANLU, Prehistoric, 7) HAJI FIRUZ, Prehistoric, 8) PESIDELI, Prehistoric, 9) DALMA TAPPEH, Prehistoric, 10) ZIWIYE, Median, 11)KARAFTU(GHAR), Prehistoric, 12) TAKHT-I-SULEIMAN, Parthian-Sasanian, 13) ZENDAN-I SULEIMAN, Prehistoric, 14) CHERAGH TAPPEH, Par-thian-Sasanian, 15) TAPPEH NIZA, Parthian, 16) AMLASH, Prehistoric, 17) MARLIK, Prehistoric, 18) DEILAMAN, Prehistoric, 19) KALAR-DASHT, Prehistoric, 20) YARIM TAPPEH, Prehistoric, 21) SHAH TAPPEH, Prehistoric, 22) TURENG TAPPEH, Prehistoric, 23) HUTU (GHAR),Prehistoric, 24) KAMARBAND (GHAR), Prehistoric, 25) ALI TAPPEH (GHAR), Prehistoric, 26) TAPPEH ZAGHEH, Prehistoric, 27) TAPPEH GHA-BRISTAN, Prehistoric, 28) SAGZABAD, Prehistoric, 29) TAPPEH OZBAKI, Prehistoric-Median, 30) TAPPEH KHORVIN, Prehistoric, 31) RAY(CHESHMEH ALI), Prehistoric, 32) TAPPEH MAMOURIN, Prehistoric, (FORUDGAH-E-EMAM KHOMEINI), 33) TAPPEH HESAR, Prehistoric, 34)RAYBAND, ?, 35) GHARE-E-MOGHAN, ?, 36) HAKMATANEH, Median-Achaeminidian, 37) BANZARDEH, Sasanian, 38) TAPPEH ASIAB, Prehis-toric, 39) TAPPEH SARAB, Prehistoric, 40) GHAR-E-KHAR, Prehistoric, 41) TAPPEH GANJDARREH, Prehistoric, 42) KANGAVAR, Parthian-Sasa-nian, 43) GOWDIN TAPPEH, Prehistoric, 44) TAPPEH ABDOLHOSEIN, Prehistoric, 45) TAPPEH BABAJAN, Median, 46) NUSHIJAN TAPPEH,Median, 47) DEH HOSEIN, Prehistoric, 48) TAPPEH GURAN, Prehistoric, 49) BORDBAL, Prehistoric, 50) DARREH SHAHR, Sasanian-Islamic,51) TAPPEH ALI KOSH, Prehistoric (TAPPEH MUSIAN), 52) QOMROUD, Prehistoric, 53) TAPPEH SIALK, Prehistoric, 54) ARISMAN, Prehistoric,55) NAKHLAK, Sasanian, 56) SHUSH (SUSA), Prehistoric-Historic-Islamic, 57) HAFT TAPPEH, Prehistoric, 58) CHOGHA MISH, Prehistoric, 59)TCHOGHA ZANBIL, Elamides, 60) QALEH ZARY CASTLE, Sasanian, 61) SHAHR-E-SOKHTA, Prehistoric, 62) KUH-E-KHAJEH, Sasanian, 63)TALL-E-NOKHODI, Prehistoric, 64) TALL-E-BAKUN, Prehistoric, 65) TAKHT-E-JAMSHID, (PERSPOLIS), Achaeminidian, 66) BISHAPUR, Sasanian,67) TALL-E- MUSHAKI, Prehistoric, 68) SARVESTAN, Sasanian, 69) FIRUZABAD, Sasanian, 70) DARAB, Sasanian?, 71) SHAHDAD (KHABIS),Prehistoric, 72) TALL-I-IBLIS, Prehistoric, 73) TAPPEH YAHYA, Prehistoric, 74) SHAHR-E-DAGHYANOUS, Prehistoric.

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terrains are excellent targets for Cu, Sn, Au resources, as well astargets for archaeometallurgical studies for the detection of pro-venance of Lurestan bronze. The southwest Arak and Sahlabad-Mokhtaran-Basiran triangular areas are the most promising areasfor archaeological studies in order to discover the provenance ofraw materials for production of bronze. The mineral associationlikely is proper to produce bronze without any blending of ore or

mixing Cu, Sn metals. The south Arak area, being closer to Meso-potamia and being a part of ancient Lurestan territory is more likelyone of the main suppliers of Cu, Sn ore in production of Lurestanbronze. The recently found relicts of tin mining in second to firstmillennium BC in Deh Hosein and Nezamabad-Bamsar-Reveshtareas (Momenzadeh et al. 2002) are exciting due to their probableprovenance of Lurestan bronze.

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Fig. 5: Distribution of ancient lead-silver-zinc mines.1) ANGURAN, Zn, Pb (Ag), 2) SHAKIN, Pb, Ag, Zn (Ba), 3) KALARDASHT (GROUP), Zn, Pb, Ag (Ba, F), 4) DUNA, Pb, Ag, Zn ( Ba), 5) TUY-EH-DARVAR (GROUP), Pb, Ag, Zn (Ba, F), 6) ANARU, Pb, Ag, Zn (Ba), 7) RESHM (KHANJAR), Pb, Ag, Zn, 8) NORTH NEYSHABOUR (GROUP),Pb, Ag, Zn, 9) PIVEZHAN, Pb, Ag, Zn, 10) AHANGARAN, Pb, Ag, Zn, Fe (Au, Ba), 11) EMARAT-SHAMSABAD (GROUP), Pb,Zn, Ag, (Fe), 12)LAKAN, Pb, Zn, Ag (Fe, Ba), 13) KHUGAN, Pb, Zn, Ag (Fe, Ba), 14) DARREH NOGHREH, Pb, Ag, Zn (Ba), 15) RAVANJ, Pb, Ag, Zn (Ba), 16)PINAVAND, Pb, Zn, Ag (Cu, Ba), 17) NAKHLAK, Pb, Zn, Ag (Ba), 18) OZBAKKUH (GROUP), Zn, Pb, Ag, 19) TIRAN (GROUP), Pb, Zn, Ag (Ba),20) KHAN-E-SORMEH, Pb, Ag, Zn (Ba), 21) IRANKUH (SHAHKUH), Zn, Pb, Ag (Ba), 22) HAFTAR (AGHDA), Pb, Zn, Ag, 23) KOHRUYEH, Zn,Pb, Ag, 24) DARREH ZANJIR, Pb, Ag, Zn (Ba), 25) ANJIREH (YAZD), Pb, Ag, Zn (Ba), 26) ZIREKAN (ZARIGAN), Pb, Ag, Zn, 27) PUDANU, Zn,Pb (Ag?), 28) AHMADABAD, Pb, Zn, Ag (Ba, Fe), 29) KUSHK, Zn, Pb (Ag), 30) MEHDIABAD, Zn, Pb, Ag (Fe), 31) TAJKUH, Zn, Pb (Ag?), 32)GOWJAR, Zn, Pb (Ag), 33) TARZ, Zn, Pb, Ag, 34) NAYBAND, Pb, Zn, Ag, 35) KUH SORMEH, Zn, Pb, Ag (Ba).

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Silver, lead, and zinc: naturalresources and ancient mining

The Iranian plateau is the oldest or one of the oldest areas wheresilver is mined and used. As the main natural source of silver isthe lead-zinc ore minerals almost all silver mines are knownindeed, not as silver mines but as lead-zinc mines by geoscientists.This fact may have affected fluent exchange of informationbetween these two groups of researchers. Due to this reason manyof the ancient mines may come to production in modern times asPb, Zn mines without being known as ancient silver mine.

Lead as a by product of silver mining has been mined and used inancient times in many of the Pb, Zn, Ag deposits for production of“Sormeh”1. There are even Pb, Ag deposits in which mining of Pb,Ag ore was likely for production of “Sormeh” (not necessarily for

silver?) because of the today’s name of many of the ancient mininglocalities (e.g. Kuh “Sormeh” and Khan-e-“Sormeh”).

Although zinc, as a metal was not produced and used in ancienttimes but zinc ore has been wildly mined for production of Tutti(“Tutia” in Persian and “Tuthia” in Latin languages)2. Tutti wasproduced, used and exported, especially from south central Iran,i.e., Kuhbanan area (Fig. 5) in medieval times.

Natural resources

The lead-zinc and silver resources are distributed almost all overthe Iranian plateau. Even in the Zagros Mountains, which is knownas missing metallic mineral resources, there is one lead-zinc-silverdeposit (Kuh Sormeh deposit). A general view of the geographicdistribution of Pb, Zn, Ag deposits and indications of Iran is shownin Fig. 5. Almost all Pb, Zn, Ag resources of Iran are hosted bycarbonates with a few exceptions. The country rocks, which hostthese resources are of lower Cambrian, Devonian, Permian, Trias-

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Fig. 6: Distribution of lead-zinc-silver deposits and occurrences; after Ghorbani 2002.��

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sic, Cretaceous and Tertiary ages. The lower Cambrian resourcesare hosted by shales and carbonates. The ratio of Zn/Pb is high.The Kushk and Anguran deposits, which are among the biggestzinc producing mines of Iran are the best examples of this group.The country rock of resources, rather than lower Cambrian age iscarbonates with some exceptions in Jurassic and Eocene. The gene-tic type of Pb, Zn, Ag resources is mainly Irish and Mississippi Val-ley type. The ratio of Zn/Pb varies in different horizons and diffe-

rent geographic settings but it is almost always over 2 and in somecases it may reach over 5. The Zn/Pb ratio is considerably high inthe resources hosted by Triassic carbonates almost all over Iran.The Ag content, being a function of Pb content is considerablyhigh in the resources, hosted by Permian carbonates (Duna andShakin are two examples). The Triassic carbonate hosted resourcesare the most frequent and geographically the widest spreaddeposits in Iran. The Cretaceous hosted ores are next frequent. The

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Fig. 7: Distribution of ancient gold, iron and turquoise mines.Gold (red): 1) KHOYNARUD, Au, 2) AGHDARREH, Au (As, Sb, Hg, Pb, Zn), 3) ZARSHURAN, Au (As, Sb, Hg, Pb, Zn), 4) DASHKASAN, Au (As,Sb), 5) KUHZAR (DAMGHAN), Au, Cu, Tq, 6) TORGHABEH, Au, 7) KUHZAR (KASHMAR), Au, 8) ASTANEH, Au, 9) MUTEH, Au, 10) KHUNI,Au, 11) ZARRIN, Au, 12) GHALEH ZARI, Au, Cu, 13) ZARTOROSHT, Au.Iron (lilac): 1) MASULEH, Fe, 2) KAVAND (DAMIRLI GROUP), Fe, Au?, 3) PIVEZHAN, Fe (Pb, Zn), 4) AHANGARAN (EAST MALAYER), Fe, Pb,Zn, Ag, (Au, Cu, Ba), 5) SHAMSABAD, Fe, (Pb, Zn, Ag, Cu), 6) KHUGAN, Fe, Pb, Ag, (Ba), 7) SANGAN, Fe, 8) AHANGARAN (EAST IRAN), Fe,Cu, Pb, Zn, Ag , 9) GOLEGOHAR, Fe, 10) NEIRIZ, Fe.Turquoise (turquoise): 1) NEYSHABOUR (MADAN), Turquoise (Cu, U), 2) KUHZAR (DAMGHAN), Turquoise Au, (Cu), 3) GAZU, Turquoise, Cu, 4)LACHAH (MEDUK), Turquoise Cu, (Au, Mo), 5) ADEABAGH, Turquoise, Cu, 6) SARCHESHMEH (CHAH FIRUZEH), Turquoise, Cu, Au, (Mo), 7)KUHN-E-MES (RUNIZ), Turquoise, Cu.

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Eocene hosted Pb, Zn, Ag resources are characterised by elementassociation of Cu, Ba, and Au. The element association of Ba, Cd,Ge, Ga, and Cu varies as functions of Zn/Pb ratio, geographic situ-ation and type and age of country rocks.

Ancient mining

The Pb, Zn, Ag resources have been mined in Iran from prehistoricperiods to the modern times. The mining of these resources wasmainly for extraction of silver from lead, but lead has been alsoproduced as by product. Zinc ore was also mined for production ofTutti. Galena was produced and used directly (without anysmelting or reduction) for production of “Sormeh”. The ancientmining of Pb, Zn, and Ag deposits is extremely extended in the Ira-nian plateau. The relicts of ancient mining can be found in andaround almost all known Pb, Zn, Ag deposits of Iran. The relictsof mining, like the shape of waste dumps, digging tools, haulingimplements, waste material and pottery fragments are more or lessavailable in the mining sites. The relicts of metallurgy works likeslags, occasionally crucible fragments, blowing pipe fragments,ruined furnaces etc. can be occasionally found close to the miningsites. Ancient ruined settlements being the miners’ and metal-lurgists’ living sites can be easily recognised in some cases. Theplace name of some of the Pb, Zn, Ag deposits reflects the ancientmining for silver and lead sulfide “Sormeh”.

The number of deposits with ancient mining relicts is much morethan 35 whose geographic distribution is shown in Fig. 5.

Gold: natural resources andancient mining

The natural resources of gold in Iran are of two types, first: goldas the main product of mining, second: gold as a by product ofcopper mining. From the total 113 known gold- and gold bearingcopper deposits and occurrences only 13 are mined for gold (Fig.7). In the rest cases gold is an associated element with copper(Fig. 3).

Concerning metallogeny and the type and age of country rocks thegold deposits of Iran are of two categories, first: those hosted by apre-Cretaceous plutono-metamorphic complex (mainly Palaeozoic),second: epithermal gold of late Tertiary age which is hosted byvolcanic, volcanogenic and sedimentary rocks. Many of the goldoccurrences are at the aureoles of the porphyry copper systems inthe Kerman and Ahar areas. All 13 known gold deposits have beenexploited in ancient times. There are a few gold occurrences whichhave been explored in recent years in which the relicts of ancientmining are not found.

Ancient gold mining and metallurgy has been intermittently con-tinued from prehistoric to the present time. The modern goldmining in Iran is in its first steps of development. The only modern

gold mine is Muteh in west central Iran (no. 9 in Fig. 7). There aretwo other gold producing mines in which gold is a by product ofcopper production, i.e., Sar Cheshmeh and Qaleh Zari (Fig. 3).

Iron: Natural resources andancient mining

Iron mining and metallurgy, as a modern industry is running in Iransince 35 years. Although the number of known iron ore depositsand resources is plenty (Fig. 8) so the main volume of iron orecomes from three mining fields in east central, northeast andsoutheast of Iran (Choghart-Chadormalu axis, Sangan and Golego-har mines). Several other smaller mines are in operation for con-sumption and production of steel, cement, heavy media etc. Fromthese main iron ore mines only Golegohar is known to be mined inancient times. The Choghart-Chadormalu axis of iron deposits ineast central Iran which covers several big iron ore deposits and theSangan deposit in Khorasan may have been mined in ancienttimes, but no archaeological studies have been conducted in thisrespect as yet.

There are several iron occurrences, which have been mined for ironore. But some of the ancient workings in the iron ore bodies maynot be worked for iron but for silver (Ahangaran, Shamsabad andKhugan, numbers 4, 5, 6 in Fig. 7). Masuleh and Kavand are wellknown for their iron production in ancient times. The names ofthese two mines appeare in the archaeological and historical texts.Ahangaran, in east Iran has been likely worked in ancient times foriron due to the name of the village east of the mine. Ahangaranmeans “site of ironsmith”. The place name “Ahangaran” isfrequent in Iran. It is a valuable indication for hunting ancientmining sites for iron.

Turquoise: Natural resources andancient mining

Turquoise is a typical mineral at the top and aureoles of theporphyry-epithermal systems. The Nishapur, Kuhzar, Lachah(Meduk) and Sar Cheshmeh ancient turquoise mines are all locatedin the alternation zones of porphyry-epithermal systems with Cu,Au mineralization.

Turquoise mining in Iran (Fig. 7) has been discontinuouslycontinued from prehistoric to the present time. The most important,best known and long living mine is the Nishapur turquoise mine. Butsome other mines have been producing turquoise in west of Kerman,south of Damghan, and southeast of Tabas. Turquoise from Kerman

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area is well known in the history and archaeology of Iran. Theprovenance of the “Kerman turquoise” is at least partly from the SarCheshmeh and Meduk (Lachah) porphyry copper deposits.

Archaeological sites

The most important and best known archaeological sites of Iranare plotted on a general map of Iran (Fig. 4). The main purpose ofpresentation of the archaeological sites is to compare their geogra-

phic situation to the situation of the ancient copper, gold and silvermines. Another intention is to highlight the question if it is possi-ble that some of the ancient settlements have been formed andexpanded due to mining of mineral resources specially copper, goldor silver. The author confesses that there are many ambiguities inanswering this question, for example: 1) Mining-metallurgy sitesare usually small sites, whereas the prepared list presents only themain sites. 2) The chronological coincidence of living periods inancient sites with the periods of mining is a decisive parameter forsuch a comparison, which has not been investigated. Thereforegeographical correlation of mining-metallurgy sites (with the majorarchaeological sites) is not merely sufficient for any conclusion

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Fig. 8: Distribution of iron deposits and occurrences; after Ghorbani 2002.��

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about the cultural and technical relationships. Despite theseconstraints and many others there is a rough correlation betweenthe archaeological sites, the ancient mining-metallurgy sites andthe geographical distribution of copper and lead-zinc resources.

Correlation of geographic locationof ancient mines and major archaeo-logical sites

The chronological-geographical correlation between the position ofancient mining-metallurgy sites and archaeological settlements isan ideal method for interpretation and comprehension of thecommercial-cultural relationships between these sites and a betterunderstanding of the cultural history of a given civilization. But aprecise correlation depends on the function of a precise knowledgeabout archaeology of mining activities and living periods in therelevant sites. The state of the art of knowledge about ancientmines in Iran is too far from the least requirements for such acorrelation. The list of known ancient mines is far from being com-plete. The knowledge about known ancient mines, specially theperiod or periods of mining-metallurgy in each mine is almostnothing. Therefore a chronological correlation is almost impossible.But the geographical correlation, although not very effective ininterpretation, is still important as one of the first attempts in ap-proaching to the question of such commercial-cultural relationships.

Conclusions

This paper is indeed an introduction to the subject of ancientmining in Iran. The presented list of ancient mines can be con-sidered as some examples of a long list of the unknown, unvisitedand unstudied ancient mines of Iran. This list is too short to becomplete. The number of ancient mines for copper, gold, lead--sil-ver, zinc, and iron can be estimated to several times more thanwhat is presented here. Besides these there are many metals, non-metals, industrial minerals, gems, salts, chemicals etc. which havebeen mined and used in ancient times but are not considered inthis paper. The main purpose of presenting this paper is to showthe critical importance of our knowledge about ancient mining inanswering of many questions in archaeological investigations.Where are the provenances of raw materials for gold, copper andsilver objects, where are the provenances of raw materials for theLurestan bronze? Where are the provenances for products andobjects found in several archaeological sites? The presented infor-mation has to be considered as illustrating and justifying “a ques-tion” rather than an answer.

From more than 400 copper deposits and occurrences and aboutthe same number of lead-silver ones which are known until now

only 79 copper and 35 lead-silver mines are listed as ancientmines. The reason is that almost no organised and planned archae-ological investigations have been performed for a documentation ofancient mining in these deposits. The very short list, 79 cases ofancient copper mines (Fig. 3) out of more than 400 known de-posits (Fig. 2) and 35 cases of ancient lead-zinc-silver mines (Fig.5) out of several hundred known Pb, Zn, Ag deposits (Fig. 6) ismainly prepared by non professional volunteers like the presentauthor without any defined program. Therefore the lists of ancientcopper and silver mines are too short for a reliable interpretationabout the commercial-cultural correlation between the majorarchaeological sites and ancient copper and silver mines. Accordingto personal experience the author believes that it is very unlikelyto meet any exposed copper or lead-silver deposit in Iran withoutrelicts of ancient mining. This means that the number of ancientmines in Iran is at least equivalent to the number of known Cu andPb-Ag deposits. Hence a correlation of geographic distribution ofmajor archaeological sites with the distribution of known depositsis more meaningful than a correlation with known ancient mines.Concerning the commercial-cultural relationships between ancientmining sites and archaeological settlements the following examplesare outstanding:

1) The clusters of major archaeological sites in Kurdestan andsouth of Urumieh lake do not fit well with the clusters of ancientPb, Ag mines in the neighbouring areas.

2) The geographic distribution of major archaeological sites fitssomehow well in central Alborz and southwest and central Iran.

The author anticipates that this paper may be a motive for the initi-ation of an international research project in order to recordthoroughly the ancient mining-metallurgy sites of Iran, study thearchaeological mining methods, the periods of mining activities andthe cultural relationships to their contemporaneous living settle-ments and cultural centres. This study is expected to answer manyquestions about the provenance of metallic and non-metallicobjects found in archaeological sites.

Acknowledgement

The author is indebted to several colleagues who have given con-tribution in data collection, scientific statements and editing of thepresent work. Dr. Mohammad Rahim Sarraf has contributedsincerely in giving advice for the archaeological periods of themajor archaeological sites of Iran. Mr. Mohammad Amin Emamihas prepared the geographical distribution map and the list ofmajor archaeological sites of Iran. Dr. Th. Stöllner and ProfessorDr. G. Weisgerber have stimulated the author’s interest to preparethis article. Zaryaban and Zarnab Consultant Engineers, especiallyMr. B. Ojaghi supported some expenses of preparation of thearticle. The author’s colleagues in the Zarnab Research Grouphelped the author in typing and drafting and computer works. Theauthor’s co-workers, Ali Hajisoltan and Mahsa Momenzadeh havemanaged the preparation of maps and tables, digitising the maps

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and collecting data, as well as editing partly the text. Without theirhelp, this work could not have been prepared. The author appre-ciates the efforts of all colleagues who he named above or heneglected to name.

Notes

1 “Sormeh” is a black powder, made of crushed and milled galena, mixedwith some oils and additives, used as cosmetics and/or medicine. It wasrubbed on eyelashes as cosmetics because of its black colour and as medi-cine because of lead being a toxic and a mild poison, useful for curing oftrachoma. “Sormeh”, as many other cosmetics was used by women, butalso by men. “Sormeh” is mentioned in literature to be made of silver,antimony and iron, but the observed facts, specially the place names ofthe Pb, Zn, Ag old mines and the inquiry in a few cases from the sellersof “Sormeh” mainly “Attars” in remote markets in Iran convinced theauthor that “Galena” is the original material for the production of “Sor-meh”. The author has not met any ancient mining in Iran in the sites ofantimony mineralizations. Therefore it is unlikely that antimony ore wasused for production of “Sormeh”. “Kohl” is used to be the synonym of“Sormeh” in literature.

2 “Tutti” is a delightful white zinc oxide powder. It was produced in ancienttimes (well popular in Medieval) by sublimation of zinc ore (natural oxideand/or sulfide?) in special furnaces. The process is described by a fewscientists including Marco Polo. It was practiced in Iran, India and elsew-here in the Middle East. The vapor of zinc oxide was precipitated on wetclay bars, which were put on a meshwork of iron bars in the furnace.“Tutia” was precipitated on bars as a rim. When the furnace was cool thezinc oxide was separated from the clay bars as tubes, like scabbard ofsword. Then it was powdered and mixed with some other media and usedas cosmetics and/or medicine for beauty of eyelashes and/or curing of eyes(curing of trachoma).

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Metallic mineral resources of Iran mined in ancient times; A brief review

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