New research on the Palaeolithic of Lurestan, West Central Iran. (News & Notes).

New research on the Palaeolithic of Lurestan, West Central Iran. (News & Notes). Prior to the 1980s, research in Palaeolithic archaeology in Iranwas primarily conducted by Western scholars who focused their efforts inthe Zagros Mountains Zag��ros Mountains?A range of western Iran forming the western and southern borders of the central Iranian plateau and rising to 4,550.6 m (14,920 ft). in western Iran (for references see Smith 1986).The attraction was highly justified. The highlands of western Iran arepart of the so-called Fertile Crescent Fertile Crescent,historic region of the Middle East. A well-watered and fertile area, it arcs across the northern part of the Syrian desert. It is flanked on the west by the Mediterranean and on the east by the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, and includes all or parts , where small bands of humans madea living by collecting food and hunting animals for thousands of yearsprior to the advent of agriculture. Western Iran was also a locus wherethe initial steps in domesticating certain species of plants and animalswere taken. The cessation of fieldwork by foreign expeditions after 1979 inthis region prompted some Iranian archaeologists to continue research onthe pre-Neolithic archaeology of western Iran (see e.g. Biglari 2000;Biglari & Abdi 1999; Biglari & Heydari 2001). However, it wasnot until September Until September is a 1984 romantic drama set in France. It stars Karen Allen as an American tourist in Paris who falls in love with a married Frenchman (Thierry Lhermitte). External links 2000 that the Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization(ICHO) established a programme to integrate sporadic Palaeolithicresearch in Iran. The members of the new Center for PalaeolithicResearch at ICHO took the opportunity not only to consolidate theirefforts, but also to prepare a framework for systematic andgoal-oriented research in Iran. As our first systematic archaeologicalcampaign we chose the province of Lurestan in central Zagros. Our goalswere to evaluate the characteristics of Palaeolithic sites in theregion, and to understand their relations with their natural settings.We began our survey in late December 2000 and continued to work untilearly January 2001. During our survey we discovered, mapped and sampled21 sites. In addition, we revisited and mapped the sites sounded earlierby Hole & Flannery (1967). Flint artefacts were used to estimate theage of the sites, which ranged from the Middle Palaeolithic to theNeolithic periods, some continuing to be occupied even later. The sites we discovered fall into three major types: caves,rock-shelters, and open-air sites. They can also be divided into threegroups according to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. their geographical distribution the natural arrangements of animals and plants in particular regions or districts.See under Distribution.See also: Distribution Geographic . All the 10 sitesfound near Khorramabad are located within a 10-km stretch on thesouthern slope of the Yafte Mountain. In this cluster of sites, nineyielded Zagros Aurignacian and Zarzian industries (c. 40,000-12,000 BP),and only one, Gachi Rockshelter (FIGURE 1), dates to the Mousterianperiod, the largest site in this cluster, with an area of 185 sq. m; thesmallest, Tang Barik 3 Rockshelter, has an area of 10 sq. m. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] The second group consists of three sites, one cave and tworockshelters; they were clustered at the foot of the Mapel Mountain,northeast of Kuhdasht (FIGURE 2). The small lithic lith��ic?1?adj.Consisting of or relating to stone or rock.Adj. 1. lithic - of or containing lithium2. lithic - relating to or composed of stone; "lithic sandstone" samples collectedfrom these sites do not contain diagnostics and therefore the sites aredated by the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age Bronze Age,period in the development of technology when metals were first used regularly in the manufacture of tools and weapons. Pure copper and bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, were used indiscriminately at first; this early period is sometimes called the potsherds associated with thestone tools. [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] The third group consists of eight sites, out of which one is anopen-air site, one is a cave, and six are rockshelters. Of these, twosites, Takht-e Shir A (an open-air site) and Takht-e Shir B (arockshelter) may be dated to the late Epipalaeolithic or earlyNeolithic. The third site, the rockshelter of Vare Zard Complex, showscharacteristic features of Neolithic chipped stone industry, namelybullet cores, reamers and various kinds of retouched bladelets. Theother sites, Fare Kash 1 and 2, Toul Kash 1 and 2 and Dare Eshkaft(FIGURE 3) yielded an unidentifiable flake industry with a few retouchedtools. Lithic assemblages with the same characteristics were found atsome rockshelters during two seasons of archaeological survey in theneighbouring region of the Islamabad Plain (Abdi 1999). Because theindustry is known only from surface collection, in the absence ofstratified stratified/strat��i��fied/ (strat��i-fid) formed or arranged in layers. strat��i��fiedadj.Arranged in the form of layers or strata. materials the chronological position of the sites will remainuncertain until further investigation. Nevertheless, the possibilityremains that the lithic industry of these sites may date to the postPleistocene era. [FIGURE 3 OMITTED] In general, the lithic assemblages found in our survey can bedivided into four groups: 1 The Palaeolithic, comprising Mousterian, Zagros Aurignacian, andprobably Zarzian industries; 2 possible late Epi-Palaeoloithic and early Neolithic industries; 3 possible Chalcolithic and Bronze Age lithic assemblages; and 4 unidentified flake industry. Our preliminary analysis of the data suggests two differentenvironmental settings for the Palaeolithic and post-Palaeolithic sites.The older sites are primarily located in what is known as the ZagrosThrust Zone in central Lurestan. The younger, post-Palaeolithic sitesare located in the geologically Folded Zone in southwestern Lurestan.Once our research is completed, we should be able to attribute thevarious environmental niches of these sites to their chronologicalpositions. Acknowledgement. We would like to thank Abbas Alizadeh (Universityof Chicago) who provided a thoughtful evaluation of the manuscript,andMazyar Ashrafian (ICHO) for his support and encouragement. We also wishto thank Jalil Golshan, Research Deputy of the ICHO, and MasoudAzarnoush, Director of the Centre for Archaeological Research of theICHO, for financial support and permission for publishing our results. References ABDI, K. 1999. Archaeological research in the Islamabad PlainCentral Western Zagros Mountain: preliminary results from the firstseason,Summer 1998, Iran V.37: 33-4. BIGLARI, F. 2000. Recent finds of Paleolithic period from Bisotun,Central Western Zagros Mountains, Iranian Journal of Archaeology andHistory 28: 50. (Iin Persian, with an English abstract.) BIGLARI, F. & K. ABDI. 1999. Paleolithic artifacts from Cham-eSouran, the Islamabad Plain, Central Western Zagros Mountains, Iran,Archaologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan 5(31): 1-8. BIGLARI, F. & S. HEYDARI. 2001. Do-Ashkaft: a recentlydiscovered Mousterian cave site in the Kermanshah Plain, Iran, Antiquity75: 487-8. HOLE, F. & K.V. FLANNERY. 1967. The prehistory prehistory,period of human evolution before writing was invented and records kept. The term was coined by Daniel Wilson in 1851. It is followed by protohistory, the period for which we have some records but must still rely largely on archaeological evidence to of southwesternIran: a preliminary report, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 33:147-206. SMITH, P.E.L. 1986. Paleolithic archaeology in Iran. Philadelphia(PA): The University Museum, University of Pennsylvania (body, education) University of Pennsylvania - The home of ENIAC and Machiavelli.http://upenn.edu/.Address: Philadelphia, PA, USA. . K. ROUSTAEI, F. BIGLARI, S. HEYDARI & H. VAHDATINASAB * * Roustaei, Biglari, Heydari, Center for Paleolithic Research,National Museum of Iran, Si-ye Tir St., Imam Khomeini Avenue, Tehran,Iran. Vahdatinasab, Department of Anthropology/Institute of HumanOrigins, Arizona State University Arizona State University,at Tempe; coeducational; opened 1886 as a normal school, became 1925 Tempe State Teachers College, renamed 1945 Arizona State College at Tempe. Its present name was adopted in 1958. , Tempe AZ 85287-2402, USA.Hamed.vahdatinasab@asu.edu