Sialk, and the entire area around it, is thought to have originated as a result of the pristine large water sources nearby that still run today.

The Cheshmeh ye Soleiman (Solomon's Spring) has been bringing water to this area from nearby mountains for thousands of years.

It is also here that Abu Lu'lu'a Firuz, the Persian assassin of the second caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab (r. 634–644), is popularly believed to have been buried.

[7][8] Excavation was resumed for several seasons between 1999 and 2004 by a team from the University of Pennsylvania and Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization led by Sadegh Malek Shahmirzadi called the Sialk Reconsideration Project.

[9][10][11][12] In 2008 and 2009 an Iranian team led by Hassan Fazeli Nashli and supported by Robin Coningham of the University of Durham have worked at the northern mound finding 6 Late Neolithic burials.

[14] The northern mound (Tepe) is the oldest; the occupation dates back to the end of the seventh millennium BC.

This period is in continuity with the previous one, and sees the complexity of architecture (molded bricks, use of stone) and crafts, especially metallurgical.

[18] At Tappeh Sialk, the oldest evidence of silver production in the world has been found - such as the litharge fragments and cakes.

Some other ancient sites in Iran from the same time have also revealed silver production, such as Arisman, and Tappeh Hissar.

For the oldest sub-periods of the Sialk IV, there are links with the Mesopotamian civilizations of Uruk and Jemdet Nasr.