The Public Relations Office of the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism (RICHT) quoted Zahed Karimi, head of the explorations operations in Tarkhanabad Hill in Marivan, Kurdestan Province, as saying on Monday that the margin of the hill is currently under the use of the urban architecture and with regard to the conditions of the area and development of the urban texture and human interferences on a large scale, the plan to conduct exploration operations over the hill with an aim of determining the condition of cultural layers and carrying out archeological survey was launched there.

According to the archeologist, based on the surface survey of Tarkhanabad Hill and study of its research history, it became clear that the cultural layers over the surface of the natural heap have been formed with a rocky bed.

He further remarked that in most parts of the hill, in particular the entire surface, the outcrop of the rocky bed is clearly visible.

Karimi noted that according to the residents and with regard to the common borders of the city with Iraq, during the imposed war, the surface of the hill and its slopes were levelled by the military machinery and the debris were poured into the slopes.

Referring to the exploration of seven trenches in different dimensions and in all directions, he said the trenches which were made on the slopes in the eastern and southern edges were devoid of cultural remains which characterizes the natural rock bed.

Karimi stated that the results of the current season of explorations show that Tarkhanabad Hill with a natural bed embraces the remains of a temporary and seasonal settlement in the Middle Islamic centuries which has been completely destroyed due to the excavations as such that the cultural materials of that period are visible in the form of debris on the slopes of the hill.

He said clay pieces representing the historical era and the Iron Age in the area were obtained in limited amount from the disturbed texture of the hill with the study of which more views could be expressed about the hill.

Referring to the fact that there is currently no trace of the cultural layers in the Tarkhanabad Hill, he said among the cultural works representing the historical and Islamic era close to the Tarkhanabad Hill, Tappeh Galin Kaboud, located in about 1/5 km northwest, and the historic-Islamic area known as Qaleh Imam, in 2/5 km south of Tarkhanabad Hill could be mentioned.