http://www.chn.ir/english/eshownews.asp?no=356 - Sialk Ziggurat, the Oldest in the World, Iranian Archeologist

Iranian archeologist Dr. Mohammad Sadeq Malek Shahmirzadi (Shahmirzad is a small town where my father was born) presented the results of his studies on excavations carried out in 2001 in the Sialk hills near Kashan in central Iran in a scientific meeting of the Forum on Ancient Cultural Bonds between Iran and West Asia.
He divided the whole Sialk hills into four areas of south and north of the A and B cemeteries and noted what Grishman achieved some seventy years ago was so considerable that to do it now would take between 10 to 20 years. At that time, he defined six cultural eras in the area. He had discovered a platform in the northern hill in 1937, the Iranian scholar noted.
According to Dr. Shahmirzadi, he was assigned with the task of mopping up the Sialk area now located within the town of Kashan.
However, he had to do some excavations which led to the discovery of extra facilities mounted on a second platform. He called the discovered mud brick structure a ziggurat.
The archeologist put the number of mud bricks used in building the ziggurat at some 1.25 million, adding a huge social, economic and cultural force must have been involved in building the ziggurat since every person could carry only one single piece of mud brick.
Showing a few relics found in the site, Shahmirzadi claimed the Sialk ziggurat built some 4700 years ago was the world�s oldest ziggurat, outdating even the Ur ziggurat thought to have been built some 4100 years ago.

I took these photographs when I was in Kashan last year:

Looks more comfortable than my apartment here in bay area...... v_v

That is so nice when the prefered building material isn't something bio-degratable XD

Thanks all!  Yes, that is me!

This thread is an oldie on the forum. Its already here since 2004, 2 years after Cyrus founded All Empires ( Allempires.com registered 2002)

I have found a reconstruction of the Sialk Ziggurat. Check it with a monument in the western Mediterranean :

Left   : Monte d'Accoddi in Sardinia, Italy, c.3200-2700 BC (for dates, see 1)

Right  : Sialk Ziggurat, Iran, c.2700 BC

Although smaller it does remind of the Sailk Ziggurat.  Interestingly, they are of roughly the same age. Note the very long ramp.

 

 

Actual remains

 

(1)  P. Pili, E. Realini, D. Sampietro, M. P. Zedda, E. Franzoni, G. Magli (2009) “TOPOGRAPHICAL AND ASTRONOMICAL ANALYSIS ON THE NEOLITHIC “ALTAR” OF MONTE D’ACCODDI IN SARDINIA”. Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 61‐69.