Ancient Gold-Mercury Mining in the Takht-e Soleyman Area, Northwest Iran

The world heritage ancient site of Takht-e Soleyman and its assemblage of metal objects, together with the geological wealth and the vast ancient mining relics of the Takab area motivated the authors to conduct the investigation that led to this article. The ancient mining and ore processing sites of the Takht-e Soleyman area were surveyed and investigated in an area of 5000 km2. This contribution introduces briefly the geology and mineral resources together with the traces of ancient mining and ore processing in the area of Takht-e Soleyman. Some archaeological sites were found and documented for the first time during this investigation.