A tappeh is a mound, and Iran is dotted with them. The word describes a low hill formed by thousands of years of settlement, as mud-brick houses collapsed and were rebuilt on top of their own remains, so that the mound grows slowly upward like a layered cake. Tappeh Nur Kuchak, which seems to mean little Nur mound, is one of a cluster of such hills on the plain of Soltaniyeh, in Zanjan province, and it is set among wheat fields a short distance from the great dome.
The Zanjan plateau has a record of human settlement that goes back to the Neolithic, because the plain was fertile and the streams from the surrounding hills provided water. Over the millennia farmers, herders and traders left pottery, tools and burials, and the mounds around Soltaniyeh are the surface trace of that. When the Ilkhans chose the plain for their capital in the fourteenth century, they were choosing a place with a very long history of use. In that sense the mounds and the dome belong to the same landscape.
A mound like this is not much to look at, and a visitor may see only a grassy rise with a few sherds on the surface. The reward is the view from the top, a wide sweep of plain with the dome in the distance and the hills on either side. Please do not pick up artefacts, since removal damages the archaeology, and be aware that digging and metal detecting are illegal. Farmers use the land, and tracks cross it, so ask before entering fields.
The rough tracks are fine for a light bike in dry weather but turn to sticky mud after rain, so take care. The main roads are paved and fast, and fuel is in Abhar or Zanjan, each about thirty-five to forty kilometres away. A flask of tea and some bread are worth bringing, as there are few places to stop. Spring is the best time, when the grass is green and larks sing over the wheat, and the evenings are mild enough to sit on the mound and watch the sunset.