“…18). Similar examples are known from surveys in East Chia Sabz (Darabi 2015: 63, fig. 5.46), Gurān (Mortensen 2014: fig.…”
Section: Tapeh Noshirwān8supporting
confidence: 69%
“…The outer surface is decorated with ochre-colored filled circular motifs. Similar examples are known from Tapeh Sarāb in Kermanshāh (Darabi 2015: 46, fig. 5.21) and the Neolithic settlement at Umm Dabaghiyah in Mesopotamia (Kirkbride 1972: pl.…”
Section: Tapeh Noshirwān8supporting
confidence: 62%
“…Western Iran has long been recognised as one of the key regions of the Neolithic Middle East (Braidwood 1960a, 1960b, 1961; Braidwood et al 1961; Darabi, 2015; Darabi et al . 2013; Matthews et al 2010, 2013a, 2013c; Matthews and Fazeli Nashli 2013; Mortensen 2014).…”
A recent survey in the western foothills of the Zagros Mountains has located five new Neolithic sites. We present here the occupational features and finds of this period in the Sar Pol-e Zahāb region, along with an interpretation of their distribution and associated settlement patterns. Our research indicates that the visible distribution of Neolithic sites is highly influenced by geomorphological factors. All sites are located on natural outcrops or on the edge of alluvial plains. Many others have certainly been buried beneath layers of later sedimentation. All of the sites identified by our survey are small and of modest elevation, with cultural remains, particularly ceramics, similar to Neolithic sites such as Guran and Sarāb in the central Zagros region and Jarmo and Tamarkhan in Mesopotamia. Based on the ceramic evidence and the location of the region, between the central Zagros mountains on the east and Mesopotamia on the west, we suggest that this vast area maintained an integrated ceramic tradition, which suggests an overall cultural homogeneity of these areas during the seventh and early sixth millennia B.C. In other words, these recent discoveries indicate that similarities in Neolithic material culture in the Māhidasht, Kermanshāh and Hulailan plains with material culture of regions in Mesopotamia are not accidental or random but indicative of a large coherent zone with unique ceramic and cultural traditions (the patterned ceramic tradition of Sarāb-Jarmo), extending from Iraqi Kurdistan east into the central Zagros range. Regarding the lack of eighth and seventh millennium B.C. sites in the northern reaches of the Iranian part of the Zagros range, we may consider the pathway of Sar Pol-e Zahāb a primary route for transporting obsidian to upland areas of the central Zagros. This also suggests a lasting network of cross-regional communications, since archaeological discoveries prove this pathway was the main node connecting these two cultural regions for a long period of time.
“…18). Similar examples are known from surveys in East Chia Sabz (Darabi 2015: 63, fig. 5.46), Gurān (Mortensen 2014: fig.…”
Section: Tapeh Noshirwān8supporting
confidence: 69%
“…The outer surface is decorated with ochre-colored filled circular motifs. Similar examples are known from Tapeh Sarāb in Kermanshāh (Darabi 2015: 46, fig. 5.21) and the Neolithic settlement at Umm Dabaghiyah in Mesopotamia (Kirkbride 1972: pl.…”
Section: Tapeh Noshirwān8supporting
confidence: 62%
“…Western Iran has long been recognised as one of the key regions of the Neolithic Middle East (Braidwood 1960a, 1960b, 1961; Braidwood et al 1961; Darabi, 2015; Darabi et al . 2013; Matthews et al 2010, 2013a, 2013c; Matthews and Fazeli Nashli 2013; Mortensen 2014).…”
A recent survey in the western foothills of the Zagros Mountains has located five new Neolithic sites. We present here the occupational features and finds of this period in the Sar Pol-e Zahāb region, along with an interpretation of their distribution and associated settlement patterns. Our research indicates that the visible distribution of Neolithic sites is highly influenced by geomorphological factors. All sites are located on natural outcrops or on the edge of alluvial plains. Many others have certainly been buried beneath layers of later sedimentation. All of the sites identified by our survey are small and of modest elevation, with cultural remains, particularly ceramics, similar to Neolithic sites such as Guran and Sarāb in the central Zagros region and Jarmo and Tamarkhan in Mesopotamia. Based on the ceramic evidence and the location of the region, between the central Zagros mountains on the east and Mesopotamia on the west, we suggest that this vast area maintained an integrated ceramic tradition, which suggests an overall cultural homogeneity of these areas during the seventh and early sixth millennia B.C. In other words, these recent discoveries indicate that similarities in Neolithic material culture in the Māhidasht, Kermanshāh and Hulailan plains with material culture of regions in Mesopotamia are not accidental or random but indicative of a large coherent zone with unique ceramic and cultural traditions (the patterned ceramic tradition of Sarāb-Jarmo), extending from Iraqi Kurdistan east into the central Zagros range. Regarding the lack of eighth and seventh millennium B.C. sites in the northern reaches of the Iranian part of the Zagros range, we may consider the pathway of Sar Pol-e Zahāb a primary route for transporting obsidian to upland areas of the central Zagros. This also suggests a lasting network of cross-regional communications, since archaeological discoveries prove this pathway was the main node connecting these two cultural regions for a long period of time.
“…Feasting on Wild Boar in the Early Neolithic 'Round House Horizon' with a geographical range along the Taurus-Zagros Arc. Going on lithic typology, the site can be grouped under the Pre-or Early M'lefaatian lithic industry of the tenth and mid ninth millennium BC (Darabi 2015;Kozlowski 1999;Nishiaki & Darabi 2018). Peasnall (2000) suggested that during the Late Round House Horizon, settlements incorporated a large open area or plaza forming a focal point for food production and ritual activities.…”
Section: Recovery Contextmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Peasnall (2000) grouped these sites under the cultural label ‘Round House Horizon’ with a geographical range along the Taurus-Zagros Arc. Going on lithic typology, the site can be grouped under the Pre- or Early M'lefaatian lithic industry of the tenth and mid ninth millennium bc (Darabi 2015; Kozlowski 1999; Nishiaki & Darabi 2018). Figure 2.Plan and photogrammetry model of the structure at Asiab showing the part of the structure exposed by Braidwood's team to the west and the new excavation trench to the east.…”
The contents of a pit located in the centre of a large communal structure at Asiab in the central Zagros mountains provides rare evidence for ritual food practices during the Early Neolithic (~9660–9300 cal.bc). This pit contained the skulls of at least 19 wild boars carefully placed inside and subsequently sealed. Antler from red deer and the skull of a brown bear were also concealed within the pit. The boars included both male and female animals varying in age and some of the larger canines were deliberately removed. Such a unique collection of remains is unlikely to be the result of day-to-day activities; instead, this represents a group of ritually interred bones. This new evidence strengthens views that activities reinforcing social cohesion were important as human society was approaching a juncture leading towards agricultural subsistence strategies.
The scarcity of high‐resolution palaeoclimate records from the interior of West Asia has limited our understanding of the mechanisms of past climate change and their potential impacts on early human societies of the Eastern Fertile Crescent. Here, we present a multiproxy sedimentological, geochemical and palynological record from the Hashilan Wetland in the central Zagros Mountains, spanning the time interval from 22 to 2.2 kcal bp. Our results indicate a cold, dry climate for the last deglaciation (22 to 10 kcal
bp) with amplified aridity during the Last Glacial Maximum, Heinrich Stadial 1, the Younger Dryas and the 8.2 and 3.2 ka events. The Early Holocene (11.6 to 7.8 kcal
bp) is characterised by prolonged dry summers, frequent spring/summer dust storms and restricted oak woodlands that gradually expanded as summers shortened toward the second half of the Holocene (<6 kcal
bp). We show an out‐of‐phase Holocene moisture variation between the interior of West Asia and the Indian Summer Monsoon domain and conclude that summer insolation‐driven latitudinal shifts of the Hadley cell played a key role in seasonality changes in the interior of West Asia by modulating the strength and pathway of the subtropical high‐pressure cells. Finally, we explore possible impacts of these changes on regional prehistoric human communities.
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