Six Neolithic sites have been unearthed during archaeological research projects carried out jointly by Danish and Iranian experts in Razavar Valley in Kermanshah Province.
The excavations in the area were aimed at discovering sites containing the remains of Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic periods, identification of strategies developed at the time for environmental exploitation as well as assessing the conditions of the northern valleys of the Central Zagros region at that time, the Research Institute for Cultural Heritage and Tourism reported.
According to Shokouh Khosravi, head of the research team, water sources, river terraces, caves and cliff refuges, prolific plains, enriched soil and lands replete with flint have made the area an ideal study ground.
"The team which comprised Iranian archaeologists and experts from University of Copenhagen, targeted the area to fill the gap of archaeological information in the region, located between Sahneh and Kamyaran counties in Kurdestan Province and among the wrinkles of central Zagros mountains," she added.
However, "due to the vastness of the targeted area, the field research did not cover the whole region, and for the first phase, the work was merely limited to the age-old terraces located south of Razavar River, cliff slopes and parts of arid foothills, as a result of which, the Neolithic sites were discovered."
"One of the layered bulks whose height reaches over six meters contains stone tools, shells, mollusk shells, coal and ash," she said. Khosravi added that the natural high and tough lands, which mostly date back to "Holocene" geological epoch (began approximately 11,650 calibrated years before the present epoch) only made it possible for the team to discover a handful of Neolithic sites.
