Seh Tappeh means three mounds, and the name is a good description of what you see: a trio of low hills rising from the flat fields of the Soltaniyeh plain in Zanjan province. But the mounds are a good way to think about how this plateau was lived in. A tappeh does not appear overnight. A village of mud-brick houses stands for a century or two, the roofs fall in, the walls melt in the rain, and the next generation levels the rubble and builds again, over and over, until the hill is several metres high.
Because mud brick is made from local earth, a mound is in a sense just a small hill of the plain itself, remoulded by people. Scattered across its surface you may see bits of coarse pottery, charcoal and the odd animal bone, the debris of cooking and craft, and archaeologists read these like pages. The dating comes from the style of pots and from radiocarbon tests, and in this part of Iran the story runs from early farming villages in the sixth millennium BC through the Bronze and Iron Ages, with later habitation overlaying the earlier. The trio near Soltaniyeh is probably a small cluster of such settlements.
The mounds are on private farmland, so ask before crossing fields. In a dry year, the crops are thin and the track is dusty, while in a wet spring the plain turns green and the surface can be slippery. The wind is a constant companion, and sometimes a cold one, because the plateau is high. A walk to the top takes a few minutes and gives you a view across the fields to the dome, which seems to rise from the grain.
The nearest big town is Zanjan, thirty-five kilometres to the north-west, where you can find fuel, a hotel and a good meal, and the road there passes through villages with roadside stands selling walnuts and honey. Abhar is also within reach. Carry water, wear a hat and keep to the tracks, and if a farmer waves you over, you may be offered a glass of tea and an apple, which is the proper end to the visit.