The 40 hectares estimate comes from an aerial photograph of the site taken in 1936 by archaeologist Eric Schmidt before Chogha Gavaneh was engulfed by the city.

[1] The site was first excavated in 1967 when a team from the Archaeological Service of Iran opened a step trench on the northeast side of the high mound.

A 0.8 hectare area was opened on the high mound revealing an architectural complex, partly destroyed by modern activities, and finding a number of cuneiform tablets.

[2] A short season of work was conducted in 1980 by a team from the Iranian Center for Archaeological Research as destruction by locals had continued.

In a second trench there were four Bronze Age occupation levels and below that Uruk period pottery including bevelled rim bowls (also found in a surface survey).

[3][4][5][6] Small finds included 35 zoomorphic figurines (sheep, goat, cattle, dog, wild donkey/horse, and gazelle), 34 geometric objects, and 18 sling bullets (egg shaped and spherical).

[10][14] The theophoric elements are Mesopotamian (primarily Sin but also Istar, Amurrum, Samas, and Adad, Ea, Gula, Ishara, Lahma, Mama, Namar, Tispak, and Tutu) and the month names (Kinunu(m), Tamhlrum, and, Saharatu) match those used at Eshnunna and Tell Ishchali in the Diyâla region.

Based on that, and an onomastic analysis, it has been proposed that in the Old Babylonian period Chogha Gavaneh was an outpost of Eshnunna, at that time a powerful polity in the Diyâla.