Qualla: Hajji Firuz Tepe

Hajji Firuz Tepe: Introduction

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Original uploader was Mandana-r at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. Seven thousand years before anyone coined the word 'sommelier,' someone in a mudbrick house in the Zagros Mountains stored grape juice in clay jars, embedded them in the kitchen floor, and let nature take its course. The yeast on the grape skins did what yeast does -- it fermented the sugar into alcohol. Whether the result was intentional or a happy accident, it left behind a yellowish residue of tartaric acid and calcium tartrate that would survive until 1968, when archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania opened those jars and realized they were looking at what was then the oldest known chemical evidence of wine -- a record that held for decades until Georgian sites dated to around 6000 BC surpassed it.

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Image: Original uploader was Mandana-r at en.wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Hajji Firuz Tepe: A Mound in the Gadar Valley

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Uwe Dedering, CC BY-SA 3.0. Hajji Firuz Tepe rises as an oval settlement mound in the Gadar River valley of West Azarbaijan Province, northwestern Iran. The mound measures roughly 200 meters across at its base and stands 10.3 meters above the surrounding plain, though archaeological deposits continue to an ...

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Image: Uwe Dedering | CC BY-SA 3.0

Hajji Firuz Tepe: The Jars in the Kitchen Floor

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Map created from DEMIS Mapserver, which are public domain. Koba-chan, CC BY-SA 3.0. The evidence for winemaking came from six jars, each holding about nine liters, embedded in the floor of what archaeologists believe was a kitchen in a mudbrick building occupied between 5400 and 5000 BC. Chemical analysis of the yellowish deposits inside revealed tartaric acid a...

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Image: Map created from DEMIS Mapserver, which are public domain. Koba-chan | CC BY-SA 3.0

Hajji Firuz Tepe: Where Wild Grapes Grow

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sasan77Abdi, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Zagros Mountains separate modern Iran from Armenia, Iraq, and Turkey, and the range is home to many wild grapevine species in the Vitis family. The Gadar River valley falls within the natural distribution zone of wild grape, Vitis vinifera subspecies sylvestris. Wild vines ha...

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Image: Sasan77Abdi | CC BY-SA 4.0

Hajji Firuz Tepe: From Kitchen Floor to Wine Country

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Original uploader was Mandana-r at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. Hajji Firuz Tepe was not the end of the story. South of the site lies Godin Tepe, inhabited around 3500 to 3000 BC, where archaeologists found even larger wine jars -- 30 and 60 liters -- along with basins containing wine residue that may have served as early treading vats. Resid...

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Image: Original uploader was Mandana-r at en.wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0