Iranian, Danish archeologists discover 6 Neolithic sites in western Iran
The Public Relations Office of the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism (RICHT) quoted Khosravi as saying that the research work was conducted in line with a survey on tracing environmental and cultural changes of Central Zagros in the mentioned periods for which later a team of Iranian archeologists accompanied by archeologists from the Copenhagen University was dispatched to the area, IRNA reports.
Archeologists also understood and analyzed patterns for environmental exploitation and finally assessed the situation of the northern valleys of the Central Zagros region at that time, she said.
Khosravi went on to say that due to the importance of the area and lack of archeological information in the region, exploration and sound identification of the areas in the valley that are scattered in the landscape of the region was put on the agenda.
The area under study is located between the city of Sahneh in the east, the city of Kamyaran in Kurdestan Province in the north, and among the folds of the Central Zagros and is a long but not so wide plain which is placed in a mountainous and rugged terrain with long, sometimes high, valleys, she noted.
The archeologist noted that water resources, the old terraces of the river, the caves and rocky sanctuaries, the fertile plain with good soil and the scattered flint resources on the northern slopes of the highlands in the south of the Razavar valley have turned the area into an ideal place for following up the research subject.
Khosravi continued by saying that with regard to the span of the region, the explorations in the current season were limited to the old terraces of the Razavar river, parts of the barren lands of the foothills, rocky slopes, highlands in the southern side of the river and some of the old terraces as a result of which six Neolithic sites were identified.
She stated that one of the sites, based on the excavations and diggings, has more than six pre-pottery Neolithic deposits, and is located on the old river terrace with its rich layers of stone artifacts, shells, snails, charcoal and ash.
The head of the archeology team further added that lack of agricultural lands, the rocky condition of the foothills and presence of extensive terraces of the Holocene period have resulted in the formation and identification of only six Neolithic sites throughout the region.
She further remarked that exploration and identification of a number of caves and rocky sanctuaries in the northern section of the highlands of the southern basin resulted in no discovery as all the caves were rocky and devoid of any cultural artifacts and it seems that most of them are young caves that were not formed in the Pleistocene era rather their age dates back to the Holocene period.