Initial Upper Paleolithic in the Zagros Mountains
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 rem...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2024-04-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Earth Science |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2024.1352099/full |
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| author | 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 |
| author_facet | 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 |
| author_sort | Mohammad Javad Shoaee |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T07:45:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fa525014ab39458b82ae2dec4e9cc570 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-6463 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T07:45:14Z |
| publishDate | 2024-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Earth Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-fa525014ab39458b82ae2dec4e9cc5702024-04-19T05:02:51ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Earth Science2296-64632024-04-011210.3389/feart.2024.13520991352099Initial Upper Paleolithic in the Zagros MountainsMohammad Javad Shoaee0Hamed Vahdati Nasab1Hamed Vahdati Nasab2Michael Storozum3Peter Frenzel4Mohammad Akhavan Kharazian5Ricardo Fernandes6Ricardo Fernandes7Ricardo Fernandes8Ricardo Fernandes9Seyed Milad Hashemi10Seyed Milad Hashemi11Mozhgan Jayez12Noel Amano13Behrokh Marzban Abbasabadi14Mehdi Aalipoor15Mary Lucas16Sara Marzo17Jana Ilgner18Robert Patalano19Robert Patalano20Patrick Roberts21Nicole Boivin22Nicole Boivin23Nicole Boivin24Nicole Boivin25Michael Petraglia26Michael Petraglia27Michael Petraglia28Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, GermanyDepartment of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, IranClimate Change and History Research Initiative, Princeton University, Princeton, United StatesDepartment of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, GermanyInstitute for Geosciences, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, GermanyUniversité de Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, UNiVPARIS1, Département de Géographie (UFR08), FranceDepartment of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, GermanyClimate Change and History Research Initiative, Princeton University, Princeton, United StatesDepartment of Bioarchaeology, Faculty of Archaeology, University of Warsaw, Warszawa, PolandArne Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno-střed, CzechiaDepartment of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, IranUMR 7194, HNHP, Pré-trop, Musée de l'Homme, Paris, FranceDepartment of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Tehran, Tehran, IranDepartment of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany0Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Amol University of Special Modern Technologies, Amol, Iran1Head of Archaeology Department, World Heritage Museum of Chaghazanbil, Shoush, IranDepartment of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, GermanyDepartment of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, GermanyDepartment of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, GermanyDepartment of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany2Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, School of Health and Behavioral Sciences, Bryant University, Smithfield, RI, United StatesDepartment of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, GermanyDepartment of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany3School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia4Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada5Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States3School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia6Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States7Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, AustraliaThe 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.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2024.1352099/fullZagros Paleolithicmodern humanspaleoecologysouthern ZagrosPebdeh Cave |
| spellingShingle | 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 Initial Upper Paleolithic in the Zagros Mountains Frontiers in Earth Science Zagros Paleolithic modern humans paleoecology southern Zagros Pebdeh Cave |
| title | Initial Upper Paleolithic in the Zagros Mountains |
| title_full | Initial Upper Paleolithic in the Zagros Mountains |
| title_fullStr | Initial Upper Paleolithic in the Zagros Mountains |
| title_full_unstemmed | Initial Upper Paleolithic in the Zagros Mountains |
| title_short | Initial Upper Paleolithic in the Zagros Mountains |
| title_sort | initial upper paleolithic in the zagros mountains |
| topic | Zagros Paleolithic modern humans paleoecology southern Zagros Pebdeh Cave |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2024.1352099/full |
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