Discovery of new open-air Paleolithic localities in Central Alborz, Northern Iran

Bérillon, Gilles; Khaneghah, Asghar Asgari; Antoine, Pierre; Bahain, Jean‐Jacques; Chevrier, Benoît; Zeitoun, Valéry; Aminzadeh, Narges; Beheshti, Mohammad Taghi Hamidi; Chanzanagh, Hamid Ebadollahi; Nochadi, Sara

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2006.10.004

Cited by 23 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Several studies have indeed proposed that sea level fluctuations in the Strait of Hormuz gave a boost to the diffusion of Homo sapiens populations from the Arabian Peninsula to the Iranian plateau and, from here, to Pakistan, India and Eastern Asia, during the early colonization of the Eurasian landmass [2][3][4] . As a matter of fact, Paleolithic sites have been recently discovered in Western [5] and Northern Iran (Central Alborz) [6] , providing some of the first field evidences of early human settlements in this central area of the Middle East.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discordant Patterns of mtDNA and Ethno-Linguistic Variation in 14 Iranian Ethnic Groups

Farjadian¹,

Sazzini

Tofanelli

et al. 2011

Hum Hered

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Background/Aims: Present-day Iran has long represented a natural hub for the expansion of human genes and cultures. That being so, the overlapping of prehistoric and more recent demographic events interacting at different time scales with geographical and cultural barriers has yielded a tangled patchwork of anthropological types within this narrow area. This study aims to comprehensively evaluate this ethnic mosaic by depicting a fine-grained picture of the Iranian mitochondrial landscape. Methods: mtDNA variability at both HVS-I and coding regions was surveyed in 718 unrelated individuals belonging to 14 Iranian ethnic groups characterized by different languages, religions and patterns of subsistence. Results: A discordant pattern of high ethno-linguistic and low mtDNA heterogeneity was observed for the whole examined Iranian sample. Geographical factors and cultural/linguistic differences actually represented barriers to matrilineal gene flow only for the Baloch, Lur from Yasouj, Zoroastrian and Jewish groups, for which unusual reduced levels of mtDNA variability and high inter-population distances were found. Conclusion: Deep rooting genealogies and endogamy in a few of the examined ethnic groups might have preserved ancestral lineages that can be representative of Proto-Indo-Iranian or prehistoric mitochondrial profiles which survived relatively recent external contributions to the Iranian gene pool.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discordant Patterns of mtDNA and Ethno-Linguistic Variation in 14 Iranian Ethnic Groups

Farjadian¹,

Sazzini

Tofanelli

et al. 2011

Hum Hered

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“…The geographical location of the mentioned sites is shown in Fig. 1B comparison with the chronologies of Upper Palaeolithic assemblages in the Zagros echo some temporal differences between the two areas, which may be also translated into cultural variabilities (Berillon et al, 2007;Chevrier in Berillon et al, 2016;Vahdati Nasab et al, 2019).…”

Section: The Obtained Chronology In the Prehistoric Contextmentioning

confidence: 77%

“…On the contrary, considerable lithic assemblages associated to the Middle Palaeolithic (Zagros Mousterian; Dibble, 1984) and Upper Palaeolithic (Zagros Aurignacian: Olszewski and Dibble, 1994;Baradostian: Solecki, 1958;Rostamian: Conard and Ghasidian, 2011 ) are known to be concentrated in the Zagros foothills (mainly in caves and rock shelters) (e.g., Biglari, 2001;Otte et al, 2007;Shidrang et al, 2016;Bazgir et al, 2017;Heydari-Guran and Ghasidian, 2017). Beyond the Zagros foothills, several open-air sites in stratigraphic context have recently been discovered in the northern and western edges of the Iranian Central plateau, as well as the central Alborz (e.g., see Berillon et al, 2007;Berillon and Asgari Khaneghah, 2016;Conard et al 2009;Heydari-Guran et al 2014;Vahdati Nasab and Hashemi 2016;Vahdati Nasab et al, 2013;2019). Notwithstanding this abundant archaeological evidence, the debate suffers from a lack of chronological data for this area.…”

Section: Mirak Open-air Site In a Prehistorical Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The geographical nearest Upper Palaeolithic site to Mirak for which an absolute chronology is available is Garm Roud 2. This site is located in the southern foothills of the Alborz mountains in the province Mazandaran (Berillon et al, 2007;Berillon and Asgari Khaneghah, 2016 ). Radiocarbon dating results for the site of Garm Roud 2 yielded [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] cal.…”

Section: The Obtained Chronology In the Prehistoric Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Do Bayesian methods lead to more precise chronologies? ‘BayLum’ and a first OSL-based chronology for the Palaeolithic open-air site of Mirak (Iran)

Heydari

Guérin

Kreutzer

et al. 2020

Quaternary Geochronology

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Bayesian inference has been applied extensively to chronologies in archaeological science since it provides several advantages over the (classic) frequentist approach. One of the most important aspects of applying Bayesian methods is their capacity to consider the stratigraphic relationship in the final ages. More specifically, in luminescence dating, a crucial motivation for applying Bayesian modelling is the ability to address the systematic shared uncertainty. The recently deployed R package 'BayLum' was developed to ameliorate luminescence-based chronologies by employing Bayesian modelling. Our contribution aims at estimating the impact of stratigraphic order and systematic shared uncertainty on the age results. In this paper, for the first time, we present a comprehensive luminescence-based chronology for the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic site of Mirak. The open-air site is located in the northern fringes of the Iranian Central Desert, which is considered to be one of the dispersal corridors for hominins (Neanderthal and modern human) living across Western and Central Asia. We compare chronologies derived by frequentist and Bayesian methods to discuss the effect of stratigraphic order and addressing the correlation between samples due to systematic shared

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“…New international programs have been running in the country for more two decades. In addition to new surface discoveries, previously known sites have been revisited and several new stratified settlements have been identified and excavated (e.g., Asgari et al, 2006;Bazgir et al, 2014;Berillon et al, 2007Berillon et al, , 2009Biglari et al, 2009;Conard et al, 2006;Gashidian et al, 2009;Jaubert et al, 2005Jaubert et al, , 2009Roustai et al, 2004;Vahdati Nasab, 2011;Vahdati Nasab, Clark, 2014;Vahdati Nasab et al, 2019). Much more reliable archaeological assemblages and chronological data have thus been obtained and have renewed perceptions of the Palaeolithic in Iran and Central Asia.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Garm Roud 2, Iran: bladelet production and cultural features of a key Upper Palaeolithic site south of the Caspian Sea

Bonilauri¹,

Chevrier²,

Khaneghah³

et al. 2019

Comptes Rendus Palevol

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For more than twenty years, Iran has focused a great deal of research on the emergence and development of Upper Palaeolithic industries. South of the Caspian Sea, the site of Garm Roud 2, dated to 33878 ± 3300 Cal BP, is one of the few sites, with Mirak, to have yielded stratified evidence of occupation during this period. This paper presents the results of the typo-technological analysis of the lithic assemblage collected during the 2006 to 2008 excavation campaigns. The focus here is on a production of straight and twisted bladelets. Very few similarities have appeared between this assemblage and those from sites in the Zagros and the rest of Iran, which are generally older (about 35 to 40 000 Cal BP). Garm Roud 2 yields original evidence and may be seen as a key site for understanding Upper Palaeolithic technocomplexes and the development of bladelet production in this area.

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Discovery of new open-air Paleolithic localities in Central Alborz, Northern Iran

Cited by 23 publications

References 24 publications

Discordant Patterns of mtDNA and Ethno-Linguistic Variation in 14 Iranian Ethnic Groups

Discordant Patterns of mtDNA and Ethno-Linguistic Variation in 14 Iranian Ethnic Groups

Do Bayesian methods lead to more precise chronologies? ‘BayLum’ and a first OSL-based chronology for the Palaeolithic open-air site of Mirak (Iran)

Garm Roud 2, Iran: bladelet production and cultural features of a key Upper Palaeolithic site south of the Caspian Sea

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