Frontiers in Earth Science (Apr 2024)
Initial Upper Paleolithic in the Zagros Mountains
- Mohammad Javad Shoaee,
- Hamed Vahdati Nasab,
- Hamed Vahdati Nasab,
- Michael Storozum,
- Peter Frenzel,
- Mohammad Akhavan Kharazian,
- Ricardo Fernandes,
- Ricardo Fernandes,
- Ricardo Fernandes,
- Ricardo Fernandes,
- Seyed Milad Hashemi,
- Seyed Milad Hashemi,
- Mozhgan Jayez,
- Noel Amano,
- Behrokh Marzban Abbasabadi,
- Mehdi Aalipoor,
- Mary Lucas,
- Sara Marzo,
- Jana Ilgner,
- Robert Patalano,
- Robert Patalano,
- Patrick Roberts,
- Nicole Boivin,
- Nicole Boivin,
- Nicole Boivin,
- Nicole Boivin,
- Michael Petraglia,
- Michael Petraglia,
- Michael Petraglia
Affiliations
- Mohammad Javad Shoaee
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- Hamed Vahdati Nasab
- Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
- Hamed Vahdati Nasab
- Climate Change and History Research Initiative, Princeton University, Princeton, United States
- Michael Storozum
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- Peter Frenzel
- Institute for Geosciences, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany
- Mohammad Akhavan Kharazian
- Université de Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, UNiVPARIS1, Département de Géographie (UFR08), France
- Ricardo Fernandes
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- Ricardo Fernandes
- Climate Change and History Research Initiative, Princeton University, Princeton, United States
- Ricardo Fernandes
- Department of Bioarchaeology, Faculty of Archaeology, University of Warsaw, Warszawa, Poland
- Ricardo Fernandes
- Arne Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno-střed, Czechia
- Seyed Milad Hashemi
- Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
- Seyed Milad Hashemi
- UMR 7194, HNHP, Pré-trop, Musée de l'Homme, Paris, France
- Mozhgan Jayez
- Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
- Noel Amano
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- Behrokh Marzban Abbasabadi
- 0Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Amol University of Special Modern Technologies, Amol, Iran
- Mehdi Aalipoor
- 1Head of Archaeology Department, World Heritage Museum of Chaghazanbil, Shoush, Iran
- Mary Lucas
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- Sara Marzo
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- Jana Ilgner
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- Robert Patalano
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- Robert Patalano
- 2Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, School of Health and Behavioral Sciences, Bryant University, Smithfield, RI, United States
- Patrick Roberts
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- Nicole Boivin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- Nicole Boivin
- 3School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Nicole Boivin
- 4Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
- Nicole Boivin
- 5Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States
- Michael Petraglia
- 3School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Michael Petraglia
- 6Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States
- Michael Petraglia
- 7Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2024.1352099
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 12
Abstract
The Iranian Plateau and the Zagros Mountain chain, located at the crossroads of Africa and Eurasia, occupy a critical geographical position in out-of-Africa scenarios, sitting astride a major dispersal corridor into southern and central Asia. Yet, the region’s role in human population expansions remains under-investigated. Here, we present findings from new excavations at Pebdeh Cave, a site located in the southern zone of the Zagros Mountains. Pebdeh contained a well-defined layer dating to ∼42–40,000 years ago (ka), with Levallois elements alongside laminar reduction. This transitional feature in the Zagros was not dated and recorded before, and, given its similarity to Western and Central Asian industries with respect to chronology and technological features, we define it here as the Zagros Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP). Although Late Middle Paleolithic and Early Upper Paleolithic technologies have been identified in the Zagros in the time period ranging between 50 and 40 ka, suggesting the presence of Neanderthals and modern humans in the mountainous region, the overall abrupt and constrained chronology of the IUP at Pebdeh, together with the penecontemporaneous appearance of other Upper Paleolithic sites in the Zagros Mountains, is compatible with a population expansion of Homo sapiens rather than an autochthonous development.
Keywords
