TEHRAN — Archaeological excavation of Baratesh Hill, a prehistoric site in Hormozgan Province dating back at least to the fifth millennium BC, has been placed among the province’s research priorities, a cultural heritage official said.
Hussein Shahabi, acting deputy for cultural heritage at the Hormozgan Department of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts, said the decision followed an initial assessment of the site by Muhammad-Hussein Azizi Kharanqi, a faculty member of the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism and deputy head of its Archaeological Research Center.
The assessment was conducted at the suggestion and with the support of the Behdeh Village Development and Construction NGO to evaluate the site’s scientific and research potential and examine the possibility of archaeological excavation.
Baratesh Hill was registered on Iran’s National Heritage List in 2009 under No. 28155. Surface evidence and archaeological finds indicate that the site dates back at least to the fifth millennium BC and is among the Chalcolithic sites in the northern hinterland of the Persian Gulf.
The distribution of pottery fragments and worked stone artifacts across the hill points to human settlement and activity in the area during prehistoric periods. 
Detailed study of these remains could provide valuable information about the emergence and development of early settled communities, settlement patterns and cultural interactions
 among prehistoric populations along the northern shores and hinterland of the Persian Gulf.
Shahabi emphasized the site’s distinctive geographical position, noting that Baratesh lies in the northern hinterland of the Persian Gulf, in an area that historically served as a route connecting southern Iran with territories around the Persian Gulf.
“Given the scientific importance and position of Baratesh Hill, archaeological excavation of the site will be among the research priorities of the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism and the Hormozgan Department of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts,” Shahabi said.
Future fieldwork will include exploratory surveys to determine the site’s extent and boundaries, followed by stratigraphic excavations aimed at establishing its cultural sequence, identifying settlement structures and examining the cultural changes that took place at the site.
The studies are expected to clarify the position of Baratesh Hill within the Chalcolithic cultural sequence of southern Iran and contribute to a better understanding of the role of the northern hinterland of the Persian Gulf in the emergence, expansion and interaction of prehistoric communities.
Shahabi said the protection, study and introduction of Hormozgan’s prehistoric sites would not only contribute to archaeological research in southern Iran but also deepen understanding of the province’s cultural and historical heritage.