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Map showing the location of some of the main Paleolithic sites in the intermountain valleys of Kermanshah and Khorramabad in West Central Zagros.
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This paper presents a typo-technological analysis of the lithic assemblages from the 1965 test excavation of Khar Cave in Kermanshah region of Central Zagros, Iran. Khar Cave is one of the rare excavated Paleolithic sites in Zagros region with a stratifi ed sequence encompassing archaeological materials from both MIS 2 and MIS 3. The research is ba...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... sites in Southern Zagros, are the main sources of our information concerning Paleolithic cultural changes during the Late Pleistocene. Among the different regions of Zagros, Kermanshah has traditionally played an important role in Iranian Paleolithic research, and has contributed signifi cantly to establishing the Paleolithic sequence of Zagros (Fig. 1). Kermanshah Province, in the west of Iran, with its high intermountain river valleys, lies in Central Zagros, and from the west is connected to the lowlands of Mesopotamia. Its relatively Mediterranean environmental conditions, which are considerably influenced by Zagros's mountainous climates and permanent rivers, have formed several ...
Context 2
... deposits between the depths of 4.45 and 4.65 m under the cave fl oor have yielded 24 lithic artifacts presenting both Mousterian and Baradostian elements (Fig. 7, B1-B6). While most of the Baradostian elements are quite distinguishable on the basis of their choices of raw material (in particular, increasing use of medium-grained chert in variable colors), Mousterian pieces display the same frequent use of high-quality Gakia and Harsin chert (Biglari, 2007). Apart from choice of raw material, several ...
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Citations
... In contrast, the Upper Pleistocene from the Zagros Mountains to the northern part of the ICP and the Alborz Mountains is relatively well documented by decades of excavations and discoveries. In the Zagros chain, these data allow one to address the existence of local facies of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic and how the Upper Paleolithic originated (e.g., for early fieldworks: Coon, 1951;Solecki, 1963;Braidwood et al., 1961;Hole and Flannery, 1967;McBurney, 1964;see Vahdati Nasab, 2010, for a synthesis; e.g., for more recent works: Otte et al., 2009Otte et al., , 2011Otte et al., , 2012Jaubert et al., 2009;Tsanova, 2013;Shidrang et al., 2016;Bazgir et al., 2017;Becerra-Valdivia et al., 2017;Ghasidian et al., 2017Ghasidian et al., , 2019Heydari-Guran et al., 2021). In the northern part of the ICP and the Alborz chain, discoveries address the diversity of Middle and Upper Paleolithic cultures and their relationships to those of the Zagros (e.g., Chevrier et al., 2006;Berillon et al., 2007Berillon et al., , 2016Bonilauri et al., 2019;Vahdati Nasab et al., 2019). ...
The Iranian Central Plateau (ICP) with the Alborz and the Zagros Mountains is located at the crossroads between the Levant and the Caucasus to the west and Central Asia and East Asia to the east. These two regions yielded key paleoanthropological and archaeological sites from the Middle Pleistocene period. These discoveries highlight a large human biological and cultural diversity in this area during the Middle Pleistocene and raise questions about the interactions these humans had. Yet, despite decades of field research, no Middle Pleistocene assemblage in a clear chronological and stratigraphic context was known in the ICP, the Zagros, and the Alborz Mountains that could contribute to this debate; so far, the earliest of the area is dated of 80 ka. The Joint Iranian and French Paleoanthropological Project reinvestigated the cave of Qaleh Kurd (Qazvin). The Qaleh Kurd cave is located at 2137 m asl at the very western limit of the ICP, at its boundary with the Zagros Mountains. Here, we report on the discovery of in situ Middle Pleistocene archaeological assemblages, including a human deciduous first upper molar associated with a rich lithic and faunal material, and a first description of the chrono-stratigraphic framework of the deposits. The excavation and the archaeological and geoarchaeological analyses show that humans occupied the site during the Middle Pleistocene, during a period ranging from ca 452 ± 32 and 165 ± 11 ka. This chronology pushes back the earliest dated evidence of human settlement in the ICP by more than 300 ka. The human deciduous first upper molar comes from the upper part of the Middle Pleistocene sequence. The crown of the tooth is widely impacted by wear and carries that limit taxonomic inferences. The study of the three upper archaeological assemblages shows that the cave was recurrently occupied by humans of early Middle Paleolithic cultures. These assemblages recall some traits of sub-contemporary assemblages known in the Caucasus and the Levant but also the later Middle Paleolithic of the Zagros. The faunal assemblage is mainly composed of horse remains. The remains are very fragmented and show numerous anthropogenic stigmata that indicate significant butchery activities on site. From a large regional and chronological perspective, these findings make Qaleh Kurd Cave a key site for the knowledge of early human settlements and dispersals between the Levant and Asia.
... Furthermore, in recent Paleolithic research, we encounter one of the oldest New Paleolithic chronologies in the Southwestern Asian region (Bazgir et al., 2017). Nevertheless, most studies conducted so far have been concentrated in the Zagros mountain range and the central regions of the Iranian Plateau (Alibaigi et al., 2011;Bahraminia et al., 2022;Bazgir et al., 2014;Bewley et al., 1984;Biglari et al., 2009;Conard et al., 2009;Conard and Zeidi, 2019;Ghasidian, 2010;Ghasidian et al., 2019;Heydari-Guran et al., 2015, 2021Hole and Flannery, 1967;Hume, 1976;Olszewski, 1993;Otte et al., 2007Otte et al., , 2011Shidrang et al., 2016;Smith, 1986;Solecki and Ralph, 1963;Vahdati Nasab et al., 2013;Vahdati Nasab and Hashemi, 2016). Indications of human burial from Teshik-Tash Cave in Central Asia provide reliable evidence on the active presence of Neanderthals in Central Asia (Okladnikov, 1949). ...
... In terms of lithic typology composition, the lithic artifacts obtained from these two sites (Table 2) include chopper-core, core fragments, cortical flake, semi cortical flake, retouched piece, large flake, massive scrapers, knives, and debriss. It is possible to compare the compositional characteristics of these artifacts with other Paleolithic assemblages from the Iranian Plateau and certain regions of the Central Asia (Ranov, 1995;Ranow & Davis, 1979;Biglari and Shidrang et al., 2016;Biglari & Jahani, 2011) The prominent presence of chopper tools in these two assemblages as indicative elements of lower Paleolithic tools in northeastern Iran underscores the significance of these findings. ...
... Later, Smith (1986) excavated another cave (Ghār-e Khar) representing the continued assemblages from the Middle, Upper to Epipalaeolithic (Shidrang et al., 2016). Mar-Tarik, Mar-Aftab, and Mar-Dodar caves were other key sites that opened doors to buried Mousterian culture in the Central Zagros in the Bisotun Massif (Biglari, 2001;Jaubert et al., 2006Jaubert et al., , 2009. ...
... This scholarly journey has progressed to the stage of international collaborations, advancing even further in its partnership endeavors (e.g., Biglari et al., 2009;Jaubert et al., 2009;Otte et al., 2009). Today, research on Zagros Palaeolithic holds a recognized scientific status (Shidrang et al., 2016;Ghasidian, 2020, 2022;Doronicheva et al., 2023). While the Mousterian classified as ''Group A'', and is characterized by lithic assemblages featuring a moderate use of the Levallois technique, various types of scrapers, and a lack of bifacial artefacts (Skinner, 1965;Mc Burney, 1970), technological assessments have the capacity to encompass supplementary facets in its definition. ...
The primary emphasis of this study is placed on the “déjetés” flakes within the context of the Zagros Mousterian industry. The objective is to explore how various knapping gestures and positions of the upper limbs may influence the attributes of these blanks. The hypothesis proposed establishes a potential correlation between the probale more limited abduction range in Neanderthals, the altered direction of force applied during the impact, and the flakes that are released diagonally.
... Typical Epipalaeolithic (Zarzian) elements, especially in its first stage, are thumb nail scrapers and backed bladelets. Out of 150 lithic artefacts related to this phase and among the few geometries available, it seems that the existing small amount of geometric seems to be irregular to overcome with triangles and trapezoidal tools (Shidrang et al. 2016). ...
... No other industries that would be similar both in terms of production techniques and chronological affiliation have been found in the western part of Central Asia. In the Iranian Plateau (Zagros), sites of the developed Middle Paleolithic industries (MIS 4 to fi rst half of MIS 3) are known, characterized by a high proportion of convergent side-scrapers, Mousterian points, and a relatively low proportion of Levallois products (The Paleolithic Prehistory…, 1993;Shidrang et al., 2016). In the southeast of Transcaucasia, the earliest Levallois-blade assemblages are associated with MIS 4. For example, in Khovk-1 Cave, the OSLdate for the lowermost unit of layers 12-8, generated on a sample from layer 8 (~104 ka BP), is over 100 ka BP. ...
We describe fi nds from layer 24 of Kulbulak, Western Tien Shan, excavated in 2018–2019. On the basis of the age of layer 16 (MIS 5e) and the geological context of the deposits, the profi le of the site was subdivided into paleogeographic stages. Layers 25–22 likely correlate with the warming period in the second half of MIS 7. Primary reduction in layer 24 industry was based on parallel uni- and bidirectional techniques, with wide and narrow-faced cores, and following the Levallois strategy. Tools include various side-scrapers, a point on a heavily retouched blade, a retouched blade, an atypical angular end-scraper, and blanks of bifaces. Parallels are found between those fi nds and contemporaneous industries of the Near East. Technologically and likely chronologically, layer 24 is intermediate between Late Amudian and Early Middle Paleolithic assemblages of the Tabun D stage. This is evidenced by a combination of non-Levallois and Levallois fl aking (the latter being predominant), by different types of blanks within the same reduction sequence, by a high share of blades among blanks, by bifacial pieces, by an elongated heavily retouched point, and by an atypical end-scraper.
... Finds of endscrapers, round scrapers, blades and bladelets, and notched tools lead Shidrang to attribute the site to the UP period. Recent studies by Shidrang et al. (2016) show that burins dominated the most recent Upper Paleolithic layers. Faunal remains were similar to Yafteh's, with relatively high exploitation of goats and sheep. ...
... Archaeological studies of the area began in 1949 with excavations by Carlton Coon from the University of Pennsylvania at Bisotun Cave (Coon 1951). The most recent Paleolithic studies in the area have focused on the Ghar-e Bisotun, Ghar-e Khar, Martarik, Mardodar, and Maraftab caves and especially excavations in the Martarik cave (Coon 1951;Young and Smith 1966;Dibble 1984;Biglari 2001;Jaubert et al. 2006;Trinkaus and Biglari 2006;Shidrang et al. 2016). Paleolithic studies in the Harsin intermountain valley began in 1977 when a joint delegation led by Philip Smith and Peder Mortensen surveyed the intermountain valleys leading to the city of Harsin and introduced two sites from the Paleolithic period (Smith 1975: 179;Mortensen and Smith 1980;Smith 1986: 21;Mortensen and Smith 2014: 4). ...
... However, the majority of the research carried out in the region is case studies. The major excavation reports and contextual studies within the Iranian Zagros consist (Hole and Flannery 1967;McBurney 1969McBurney , 1970; Bewley 1980Bewley , 1984Speth 1971;Baumler and Speth 1993;Jaubert et al. 2009;Trinkaus and Biglari 2006;Biglari et al. 2009;Conard et al. 2009;Otte et al. 2007;Otte et al. 2011;Ghasidian et al. 2009;Ghasidian 2010;Conard and Ghasidian 2011;Mashkour et al. 2012;Tsanova 2013;Allué et al. 2018;Ollé et al. 2014;Becerra-Valdivia et al. 2016;Shidrang et al. 2016;Bazgir 2016;Rey Rodríguez et al. 2015;Ghasidian et al. 2017;Bazgir et al. 2017;Becerra-Valdivia et al. 2017;Heydari-Guran et al. 2021;Reynolds et al. 2022). ...
... All rights reserved. Lindly, 1997;Biglari, 2001;Kozlowski, 2004, 2007;Jaubert et al., 2006Jaubert et al., , 2009Borde and Shidrang, 2009;Bazgir et al., 2014;Shidrang et al., 2016;Kozlowski and Otte, 2021). While the territories of the central Zagros in Iran have, from the 1930s-1950s and then from the 2000s onwards, been largely invested by multiple research programs (e.g. ...
... Further, if the Middle Paleolithic is fairly well-represented by the lithic assemblages, those potentially attributable to the Lower and especially the Upper Paleolithic and Epipaleolithic have not as yet been identified. Yet sites with original Baradostian/Aurignacian sequences, for example, are broadly present (Hole and Flannery, 1967;Smith, 1986;Olszewski, 1993;Olszewski andDibble, 1994, 2006;Kozlowski, 2004, 2007;Jaubert et al., 2006;Bordes and Shidrang, 2009;Shidrang et al., 2016). Are equivalent sites to be found on the plain but inaccessible beneath the Holocene terrace deposits? ...
Between 2012 and 2019, the surveys conducted by the French archaeological mission of the Soulaimanih Governorate in the Rania and Peshadar plains of Iraqi Kurdistan, previously devoid of Paleolithic records, have yielded numerous lithic assemblages from open-air sites, caves and rock-shelters. We present here six lithic assemblages from the three districts surveyed, Rania, Peshdar and Dukan. Despite the absence of chronostratigraphic contexts and the still fragmentary data, the first typo-technological analyses carried out allow us to propose a first techno-cultural attribution to the Paleolithic and, more specifically for some assemblages, to the Middle Paleolithic. Among the sites uncovered, it is certainly the Paleolithic shelter of Sarsyan-Rostam Agha that was the most distinctive and which represents, with the Shanidar cave, one of the rare Paleolithic sites preserved in the northwestern Zagros. Its preserved Paleolithic sequence, rich in archaeological remains, and explored in a test-pit conducted in 2018, shows clear affinities with the Mousterian Zagros industries, a well-defined entity based on sites such as Shanidar, Bisitun, Warwasi and Mar Tarik.
