Damghan is one of the oldest cities on the Iranian plateau, stretching back 7,000 years, and boasts many sites of historic interest.

The oldest of these is Tappeh Hessar, lying to the southeast of the city, which holds the ruins of a castle dating from the Sasanian Empire.

Archaeological excavation has shown that the history of Damghan starts 4–5 thousand years BCE at Tepe Hissar in the village of Heydarabad.

[citation needed] Recently expansion of Tehran–Mashhad railway into double lanes the body of a woman along with her fetus was discovered with over 7,000 years age.

After Alexander the Great's conquest of Persia, the nearby city of Hecatompylos ("hundred gates"), now called Šahr-e Qumis (Persian: شهر قومس) was the population centre.

Historiographers ascribe the construction of Damghan to Hooshang, Keyumars' great-grandson and the founder of the legendary Pishdadi dynasty.

The historical town was called Qumis, which was located in a region of the same name, stretching from Sabzevar to Garmsar, from north up to the Alborz mountain range and to the Lut Desert in the south.

[citation needed] It still preserves its original shape, with a number of massive columns and wood carvings and two minarets of the 11th century.

This mosque was built during the eighth century AD by imitating Roman, Byzantine, Iranian and Arabic architecture.

[citation needed] Walls or fortifications and battlements have survived in many parts in Damghan, some dating from the Sasanian era.

[citation needed] Gunbad-i Chihil Dukhtaran is a mausoleum at the centre of Damghan and behind the Imamzade Ja'far, both of which belong to the Seljuk period.

The building which used to be a family vault is 14.8 m high and in its famous inscription the deceased have sought divine mercy in their lasting residence.

[citation needed] The first one is 5 km away from the city, on the peak of Gerdkuh, one of the main Ismaili Hashshashin fortresses once used by Hassan Sabah.

On an eminence in the western part of the city are the ruins of a large square citadel with a small whitewashed building, called Molud Khaneh ('the house of birth'), in which Fath-Ali Shah Qajar was born (1772).

[11] Beside these, Damghan is close to the Gonbade Zangol, Toghrol's Tower, Qoosheh Amirabad Caravansary (a building from the time of Abbas the Great), historical hills and hazel-shaped castles around the city as well as Gerdkuh and Masoumzadeh Mehmandoust fortifications.