TEHRAN -- A team of Iranian archaeologists have recently returned to the Kelar Tepe conducting an in-depth study of prehistoric black and gray pottery from the region, located in Iran’s northern province of Mazandaran.

They also plan to excavate in the region for Neolithic residential areas, the Persian service of CHN reported on Monday.
The study project entitled “From Cave to Plain” aims to expand upon the archaeological studies previously carried out on the region, team director Mehdi Musavi said.
According to Musavi, over 30 caves and natural chambers located near the Sardab-Rud region contain extensive artifacts from prehistoric periods.
“In the first stage of the project, ‘Rashak 3,’ one of the most important caves of the region, will be studied in strata by a team led by Dr. Hamed Vahdatinasab, a prominent expert on the Neolithic era,” he added.
Covering an area of 6000 hectares, the Kelar Tepe is a mound 10 meters in height located on Kelardasht, a scenic plain in a large valley in the Elborz Mountains.
A team of archaeologists, which carried out the last excavations on the tepe two years ago, found signs of habitation dating back to the 4th millennium BC.
The samples of ancient coal and bone recovered from the site were sent to Oxford University Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU) for carbon-14 dating and they confirmed the results of the studies by the experts.
The excavations also provided new information on the black and gray pottery, which will be examined in detail during the present season of excavation currently underway in the region.
The archaeologists hope the studies on the black and gray pottery discovered in the site would help them to shed light on certain ambiguities of the culture of ancient people in northern Iran.