Investigating the Neolithisation of Society in the Central Zagros of Western Iran

Matthews, Roger; Mohammadifar, Yaghoub; Matthews, Wendy; Motarjem, Abbass

doi:10.2307/j.ctvh1dp0q.6

Cited by 9 publications

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“…and bone tools and beads [ 6 ]. The technological affinities of the Zawi Chemi B microlithic component with the lithic sample retrieved from the disturbed upper part of Howe’s trench have long been treated in the literature as indicative of a ‘final Zarzian’ phase, possibly dated to the terminal Pleistocene and/or the beginning of the Holocene [ 2 , 26 ]. A different approach to the question of the ‘end’ of the Epipalaeolithic horizon in the NW Zagros and what succeeded it on the putative path to ‘Neolithisation’ entails focusing on reconstructing the ways in which Zarzian habitation patterns and cultural practices that we now know had persisted on the piedmont zone for millennia since the LGM, were transformed coevally with widely shared conceptions of community identity and coherence.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The purported gap between B1 and B2 might thus represent at best sporadic episodes of seasonal habitation inside the cave (instead of its abandonment during the Lateglacial and its re-occupation at a later time) or, at worst, an artefact of the inherently flawed radiocarbon chronology and the stratigraphic ambiguities observed in B1 related to the intrusive burials [25]. Overall, the ambiguity plaguing the interpretation of the Shanidar B1-B2 sequence and of Zawi Chemi B means that on presently available evidence it is not possible to assess whether Shanidar B1 and Zawi Chemi B overlap, at least in part, with the terminal Pleistocene or they date mostly to the early Holocene as proposed by some authors [26].…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

“…If the dating of the 'end' of the Zarzian horizon in the northern Zagros is contested, the same applies to its beginning. The impression that the northern Zagros Epipalaeolithic was largely confined to the Lateglacial is widespread in the literature, due to the perceived inhospitality of the region for human habitation during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) [26,27]. Two lines of evidence have been invoked in support this argument: (a) at Shanidar the~20,000 year gap that separates the Baradostian Layer C, dated between~42,000-35,000 cal BP [28] from the base of the Zarzian Layer B2, and (b) the late onset of the Zarzian at the two excavated type sites, Zarzi and Palegawra.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

“…No tree pollen was found in the Zarzi strata E-F, which contained very low densities of cultural materials. Thus, taking also into account the radiocarbon dates already available from Palegawra, the start of the Zarzian horizon in the NW Zagros has been considered to date sometime around 15,000 cal BP with some authors accepting a date as early as~17,000 cal BP [26].…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

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The Zagros Epipalaeolithic revisited: New excavations and 14C dates from Palegawra cave in Iraqi Kurdistan

et al. 2020

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Palegawra cave, alongside its neighbouring Zarzi, has been an emblematic site of the Epipalaeolithic (Zarzian) cultural horizon in the NW Zagros of Southwest Asia ever since its first exploration in 1951 by Bruce Howe and Robert Braidwood in the context of the Iraq-Jarmo project. At the time scientific excavation, sampling and analysis methods were either underdeveloped or did not exist. In this paper we present the first results of new excavations at Palegawra conducted in 2016-2017 by the Eastern Fertile Crescent (EFEC) project, a research collaboration of the University of Liverpool and the Sulaymaniyah Directorate of Antiquities and Heritage. Our research has produced the first radiometric evidence pushing back the chronology of the NW Zagros Epipalaeolithic to the Last Glacial Maximum, thus fully aligning it with Epipalaeolithic facies until now known only from the Levant and the south Anatolian coast. We have also unearthed, for the first time in the Palaeolithic of the Zagros, direct archaeobotanical evidence for hitherto elusive Zarzian plant exploitation and the vegetation of the NW Zagros piedmont zone from the LGM to the end of the Lateglacial (~19,600-13,000 cal BP). The new Palegawra chronology alongside our detailed studies of its material culture and faunal and botanical assemblages suggest that the prevailing Epipalaeolithic habitation pattern in the NW Zagros (centred on generalised persistent occupations of small caves and rock-shelters alongside task-oriented ephemeral open-air campsites) remained an enduring characteristic of the Zarzian horizon throughout this period. The Palegawra data clearly show that neither resource levels and climate conditions nor geographic and/or cultural isolation provide adequate explanations for the stability and longevity of Zarzian lifeways during this long timespan. More fieldwork is required, including the discovery, excavation and intensive sampling of other Zarzian sites, for reaching a datainformed understanding of the nature and evolution of the NW Zagros Epipalaeolithic.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

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The Zagros Epipalaeolithic revisited: New excavations and 14C dates from Palegawra cave in Iraqi Kurdistan

et al. 2020

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“…Western Iran has long been recognised as one of the key regions of the Neolithic Middle East (Braidwood 1960a(Braidwood , 1960b(Braidwood , 1961Braidwood et al 1961;Darabi, 2015;Darabi et al 2013;Matthews et al 2010Matthews et al , 2013aMatthews et al , 2013cMatthews and Fazeli Nashli 2013;Mortensen 2014). Past research has provided us with a much more complete and comprehensive archaeological record from this period than what is available from elsewhere in Iran.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Archaeological Landscape of the Neolithic Period in the Western Foothills of the Zagros Mountains: New Evidence From the Sar Pol-E Zahāb Region, Iran-Iraq Borderland

Alibaigi¹,

Salimiyan²

2020

Iraq

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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.

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The cultivation and domestication of wheat and barley in Iran, brief review of a long history

2021

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Investigating the Neolithisation of Society in the Central Zagros of Western Iran

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

The Zagros Epipalaeolithic revisited: New excavations and 14C dates from Palegawra cave in Iraqi Kurdistan

The Zagros Epipalaeolithic revisited: New excavations and 14C dates from Palegawra cave in Iraqi Kurdistan

The Archaeological Landscape of the Neolithic Period in the Western Foothills of the Zagros Mountains: New Evidence From the Sar Pol-E Zahāb Region, Iran-Iraq Borderland

The cultivation and domestication of wheat and barley in Iran, brief review of a long history

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