Zagros Mousterian

Recent prehistoric research, which involved surveys and excavations in the Kermanshah Region, has focused on understanding the nature and timing of the Middle Palaeolithic to Upper Palaeolithic transition. This research, conducted as part of the Human Evolution in the Zagros Mountains (HEZM) project, specifically targets the Nawdarwan area. The Bawa Yawan Rockshelter was selected for further investigation. Over four excavation seasons(2016–2021), evidence of long-term occupation spanning from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Epipaleolithic (EPI) periods has been uncovered. These findings are embedded in five geological horizons, covering a time range from 83,000 years ago to 13,400 years ago. These excavations have yielded more than 11,000 lithic artifacts. As one of the primary goals of the HEZM project which is conducting comprehensive studies on lithic raw materials in the West-Central Zagros region, we have initiated a comprehensive research project centred on the Bawa Yawan site and around it. This short paper presents our preliminary observations on the variety and extension of stone raw resources used in this key location in Zagros.

The recent study of the faunal remains from the Komishan cave in Southeast of the Caspian Sea provided new insight to the final Pleistocene fauna of the region that could be compared to the previously known late Pleistocene faunal assemblages from Belt, Hotu and Ali Tappeh caves. This paper provides a comparative analysis of these remains as a sketch for the definition of faunal exploitation by the Epiplaeolithic populations of this region. The first plausible radiocarbon date indicates an occupation during the 12 millennium B.C. The fauna of Komishan Cave bears many similarities with the other adjacent sites, with the exploitation of gazelles, birds, and marine resources. A common Epiplaelolithic "faciés culturel" can therefore be outlined in the southeast of the Caspian.

Khalil Abad, in the northwestern region of the Iranian Plateau, is an open-air site where recent field studies have been conducted across two phases of research: initial systematic field survey followed by excavation. The results obtained from these two phases indicate the existence of a site that can now be attributed to the Middle Palaeolithic.

Most lithic industries associated with hunter-gatherergroups in Eastern South America, especially the ones with points present, date tothe Early Holocene, with some minor industries and lithic points typologiespersisting until the Middle Holocene and, more rarely, until the Late Holocene.This is the case for the Garivaldinense lithic industry associated pointstypologies. In this article we present the technological analysis of the pointsidentified at the Pororó site, located in central Rio Grande do Sul State,Brazil. The site is an artificial mound dated to around 2,500 BP. We applied anestablished protocol for analysis of stemmed points considering metric,morphological and technological features that allowed us to classify the artefactsin typologies. We identified two types of points associated to theGarivaldinense lithic industry: the Montenegro and Garivaldinense types. Wehave also identified a new type that has never been described before andproposed to refer to it as the Pororó...

Белокузьминовская группа памятников была выделена П. Е. Нехорошевым в 1996 г. Вопрос о количественном и качественном составе группы является предметом дискуссий. В статье обсуждается отнесение к группе только двух памятников-Белокузьминовки в Северо-Западном Донбассе и Шляха на Среднем Дону. Помимо прогрессивной техники первичного расщепления обе каменные индустрии характеризуются значительным количеством тронкированно-фасетированных изделий. Доказывается, что в число этих изделий в индустрии стоянки Белокузьминовка входят не только нуклеусы, но и различные орудия со специфическим порядком оформления и оживления лезвийных кромок. Время существования стоянок, видимо, ограничивается кислородно-изотопной стадией 3. Стоянки Белокузьминовка и Шлях рассматриваются в качестве территориальной группы специфического варианта среднего палеолита, известного в археологической литературе как мустье загросского типа. Для индустрий этого варианта характерны леваллуазская техника, присутствие нуклеусов с торцовым расщеплением, разнообразные тронкированно-фасетированные изделия. В Средней Азии к этому культурному таксону относятся памятники оби-рахматского типа заключительной стадии среднего палеолита и начала позднего палеолита.

Western Asia lies at the crossroad of human migrations out of Africa during the Pleistocene. Here, Neanderthals and their African counterparts - Anatomically Modern Humans (AMHS) met for the first time about 100 Ka (for instance, see the Akazawa et al., 1998 and references therein). Therefore, it is in this region that we can expect the earliest evidence for the successful expansion of our species into new regions and environments. Based on skeletal remains from the Levant at Skhul, Tabun and Qafzeh Caves (Lieberman, 1993: 602), AMHS appear to have first left Africa between 80-120 Ka, although these initial dispersals were not necessarily successful. Despite some early evidence for modern human presence in the Arabian Peninsula by 100 Ka (Armitage et al., 2011), most researchers suggest that it was only between 60-40 Ka that a wave of AMHS from Africa successfully moved into Eurasia (Dennell, 2010, Mellars, 2006, Shea and Bar-Yosef, 2005) thereby replacing and admixing with endemic populations of archaic humans (Green et al., 2010). Recent discoveries of AMHS skeletons in east Asia older than 40 Ka years (for instance, see Liu et al., 2010 and Demeter et al., 2012) and the discovery of genetic evidence for a previously unknown species of archaic hominine in southern Siberia (Krause et al., 2010) suggest that the demographic history of Eurasia was much more complicated than previously assumed.

The authors discuss functional characterization of Mousterian tools on the basis of their use-wear and residue analysis of five lithic tools from Mezmaiskaya cave and Saradj-Chuko grotto in the North Caucasus. The results represent the first comprehensive use-wear and residue analysis carried out on Mousterian stone artefacts in the Caucasus. This study unequivocally confirms the use of bitumen for hafting stone tools in two different Middle Paleolithic cultural contexts defined in the Caucasus, Eastern Micoquian and Zagros Mousterian.

Middle Paleolithic blade production is documented in northwestern Europe as early as 250 ka between the Seine and the Rhine valleys. If Middle Paleolithic blade production is now a well-established fact, it is still unclear whether bladelets-or microlithic blade production-were intentionally produced during the Middle Paleolithic. Evidence suggesting Middle Paleolithic bladelet production is sparse, often debatable, perhaps unrecognized in the old collections and usually dated to MIS 3 and, less frequently, to MIS 4. Here, a detailed chaîne opératoire analysis is applied to more than 100,000 lithic artifacts (including the microlithic elements collected through sieving) excavated in fourteen different layers at the Bau de l'Aubesier rock shelter in southeastern France. The Bau de l'Aubesier contained several Neandertal and (pre) Neandertal remains, and Electron Spin Resonance (ESR), Uranium-Thorium (U-Th), Thermoluminescence (TL), and biostratigraphy indicate that the oldest layers are at least 200,000 years old, while the top of the sequence is ~110,000 years old. We found blade production in several layers, constituting direct evidence for laminar reduction strategies in the south of Europe from MIS 7 to MIS 5d and as early as 200 ka. Blades show distinct morpho-technical features that result from using both volumetric and non-volumetric reduction strategies. We also document the earliest independent bladelet production to date in a sedimentary context (level 4) radiometrically dated to MIS 5d and containing six Neandertal teeth. Bladelet cores on flakes and maintenance bladelets are found in the MIS 5d level only, and only rare irregular bladelets are found in levels older than MIS 5d-suggesting that recurrent bladelet production was not used at the Bau de l'Aubesier before MIS 5d. Our results support the idea that detailed and exhaustive technological analyses of the entirety of lithic assemblages are required to identify Middle Paleolithic bladelet production, which would otherwise go unnoticed. We suggest that Middle Paleolithic bladelet productions still remain to be discovered, especially in the old collections, and that a better understanding of their variability through time and space is a prerequisite to reconstructing the significance of these technologies some 50 to 200 ka and before the proliferation of Upper Paleolithic blade and bladelet technologies.

F a long time in the history of PaleoArchaeological studies in Iran most of the Paleolithic research was largely focused on the western part of the country with the aim of studying lithic materials and settlement patterns of caves and rock shelters of the Zagros Mountains . This focus over Zagros and the northern part of the country somehow, left a vast unstudied area, with a lot of questions regarding Paleolithic settlement patterns. It has only been in recent years that the extent of Paleolithic surveys and excavations have largely been drawn to areas other than the well-known Zagros sites (Biglari et al 2009, Conard et al 2006; 2009). Even during the discovery of new Paleolithic sites in different parts of the country some areas, especially southern and eastern parts, have had a lower chance in attracting the attention of Paleoarchaeologists which has led to a lack of clear understanding of the characteristics of Paleolithic period in these regions. This paper aims to introduce o...

The recent study of the faunal remains from the Komishan cave in Southeast of the Caspian Sea provided new insight to the final Pleistocene fauna of the region that could be compared to the previously known late Pleistocene faunal assemblages from Belt, Hotu and Ali Tappeh caves. This paper provides a comparative analysis of these remains as a sketch for the definition of faunal exploitation by the Epiplaeolithic populations of this region. The first plausible radiocarbon date indicates an occupation during the 12 millennium B.C. The fauna of Komishan Cave bears many similarities with the other adjacent sites, with the exploitation of gazelles, birds, and marine resources. A common Epiplaelolithic "faciés culturel" can therefore be outlined in the southeast of the Caspian.

As a key archaeological site, Kaldar Cave provides evidence of
the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Iran. It is also one of the
earliest sites with cultural materials attributed to early AMHs in western
Asia. Apart from the earlier obtained dates from its Upper Palaeolithic
sequence, we provide here the recently obtained Thermoluminescence
date from layer 5. In this paper, we elaborate and correlate this dating
to a broader discussion within the Zagros Middle and Upper Paleolithic
sites. In this study, we also present brief information on the freshly
recovered lithic industries, Paleontological data, the obtained T.L dating,
and its position in the stratigraphic sequence.

Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) were distributed across a vast region from Europe to western and Central Asia. The Neanderthals’ paleoecology and distribution has been extensively studied in Europe where the species originated. However, very little is known about their paleoecology in south-western Asia. Here, we employed species distribution modelling and 45 Middle Palaeolithic (c. 200,000–40,000 years BCE) sites location associated with fossil and/or lithic artefacts made by the Neanderthals to examine the expansion of the Neanderthals on the Iranian Plateau in south-western Asia. We estimated the niche overlap between Neanderthals and wild goat, wild sheep and Persian gazelle by modelling their past distribution using 200, 143 and 110 occurrence records respectively. The results show that Neanderthals had highest niche overlap with wild goat in the study area. This analysis revealed that the most suitable Neanderthals’ habitats in south-western Asia were located in the Zagro...

In recent decades, the Eurasian Middle–Upper Palaeolithic (M–UP) transition has been a topic of major interest among palaeoanthropologists. Great progress has been made in several domains, particularly palaeogenetics, which have revealed the complex ancestry of early Eurasians. This progress—including the identification of a ghost lineage of Eurasians in the Middle East—is providing important new biogeographical hypotheses. A key region for such topics is the Iranian Plateau—an area that has so far not been subject to intensive research.

Changes in knapping systems are one of the main proxies used to trace the emergence of the Upper Palaeolithic. Blade and bladelet blanks are considered to replace flake-oriented production methods typical of the Middle Palaeolithic. In Western Europe, this technological shift has been linked to techno-economic and cognitive changes, thought to be associated with the arrival of anatomically modern humans. Work at Cova Gran de Santa Linya can contribute to this discussion. Cova Gran contains a sequence with several late Middle Palaeolithic levels overlain by three early Upper Palaeolithic levels. On the basis of available contextual and archaeo-stratigraphic data, it is possible to confidently distinguish between the two chrono-cultural phases. Although the early Upper Palaeolithic lithic assemblages are orientated towards blade and bladelet production, flakes represent over 60 % of blanks. Likewise, side scrapers, notches and denticulates on flakes form an important part of the retou...

Complex social organisation, technological skills and specialised foraging strategies are considered as modernity indicators in the history of Homo sapiens' evolution. However, the timing and nature of these abilities are poorly understood. Research on the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic faunal remains and settlement patterns in the Zagros Mountains of Iran proposed the model of 'game management' for hunter-gatherer societies, reflecting their advanced cultural development affected by their environmantal contxt in this part of the world. Using various methods, including ecological landscape structure analysis, site location and archaeological remains, this paper reveals that the Late Pleistocene's hunters had a considerable focus on strategic corridors. We argue this behaviour improved the hunters game management tactic among the Upper Palaeolithic population in the Dasht-e Rostam area of the Southern Zagros Mountains. We demonstrate how the environmental adaptability accelerated Homo sapiens' modernity around 40 kyr ago. Although this proficiency resulted in increasing meat supply, it required a high level of intra-group communication and fitness, seasonal adaptations and specific technologies to compete with other predators using the same strategy in the Southern Zagros.

F a long time in the history of PaleoArchaeological studies in Iran most of the Paleolithic research was largely focused on the western part of the country with the aim of studying lithic materials and settlement patterns of caves and rock shelters of the Zagros Mountains . This focus over Zagros and the northern part of the country somehow, left a vast unstudied area, with a lot of questions regarding Paleolithic settlement patterns. It has only been in recent years that the extent of Paleolithic surveys and excavations have largely been drawn to areas other than the well-known Zagros sites (Biglari et al 2009, Conard et al 2006; 2009). Even during the discovery of new Paleolithic sites in different parts of the country some areas, especially southern and eastern parts, have had a lower chance in attracting the attention of Paleoarchaeologists which has led to a lack of clear understanding of the characteristics of Paleolithic period in these regions. This paper aims to introduce o...

The recent study of the faunal remains from the Komishan cave in Southeast of the Caspian Sea provided new insight to the final Pleistocene fauna of the region that could be compared to the previously known late Pleistocene faunal assemblages from Belt, Hotu and Ali Tappeh caves. This paper provides a comparative analysis of these remains as a sketch for the definition of faunal exploitation by the Epiplaeolithic populations of this region. The first plausible radiocarbon date indicates an occupation during the 12 millennium B.C. The fauna of Komishan Cave bears many similarities with the other adjacent sites, with the exploitation of gazelles, birds, and marine resources. A common Epiplaelolithic "faciés culturel" can therefore be outlined in the southeast of the Caspian.

La premiere campagne de terrain de la mission franco-iranienne portant sur le Paleolithique a concerne une cavite perchee du massif de Bisotoun, region de Kermanshah (sud du Zagros, Iran) decouverte en 1986. Les sept premiers cosignataires ont participe a la phase terrain (2004) qui a consiste en une etude globale et interdisciplinaire de la petite grotte de Mar Tarik dont le remplissage avait ete malheureusement affecte par des travaux clandestins qui ont detruit l'essentiel du gisement a l'exception de lambeaux de sediments indures et conserves dans la salle du fond. Outre des temoignages de frequentation ou d'occupations d'âge historique, protohistorique (Chalcolithique) qui ne sont pas decrits ici, les vestiges paleolithiques revelent une homogeneite evidente, concernant uniquement (ou presque) le Mousterien du Zagros. Une datation U/Th d'un speleotheme anterieur au niveau mousterien a ete rapporte au Dernier interglaciaire (OIS 5e). Il est possible de distin...

La premiere campagne de terrain de la mission franco-iranienne portant sur le Paleolithique a concerne une cavite perchee du massif de Bisotoun, region de Kermanshah (sud du Zagros, Iran) decouverte en 1986. Les sept premiers cosignataires ont participe a la phase terrain (2004) qui a consiste en une etude globale et interdisciplinaire de la petite grotte de Mar Tarik dont le remplissage avait ete malheureusement affecte par des travaux clandestins qui ont detruit l'essentiel du gisement a l'exception de lambeaux de sediments indures et conserves dans la salle du fond. Outre des temoignages de frequentation ou d'occupations d'âge historique, protohistorique (Chalcolithique) qui ne sont pas decrits ici, les vestiges paleolithiques revelent une homogeneite evidente, concernant uniquement (ou presque) le Mousterien du Zagros. Une datation U/Th d'un speleotheme anterieur au niveau mousterien a ete rapporte au Dernier interglaciaire (OIS 5e). Il est possible de distin...

The southern shore of the Caspian Sea is well known for its great potential in relation to sites of Mesolithic date (e.g. Coon 1951; Jayez & Vahdati Nasab 2016). Situated between two major geographic barriers—the Alborz Mountains to the south, and the Caspian Sea to the north—this area has been considered one of the major hominin dispersal corridors during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition (Vahdati Nasab et al. 2013). Furthermore, the relatively stable and mild climatic conditions, vast and lush temperate forests, and abundance of fauna and water resources have all made this region an attractive niche for human settlement.