Academic Article
Rethinking the Upper Paleolithic of the Zagros Mountains
- Title
- Rethinking the Upper Paleolithic of the Zagros Mountains
- Creator(s)
- Ghasidian, Elham
- Date
- 2019
- Is Part Of
- PaleoAnthropology
- Pages
- 240-310
- Language
- eng
- Abstract
- The Upper Paleolithic (UP) assemblages from the Zagros Mountain range were traditionally assigned to the Baradostian cultural group based on the original definition from Layer C at Shanidar Cave. New chronological information from three UP core areas of the Zagros—the Northern, West-Central and Southern Zagros—points to the roughly simultaneous appearance of UP technological traits in at least the Northern and Southern Zagros, while techno-typological analysis suggests a significant degree of variability among the UP assemblages from different parts of the region. On the other hand, there is considerable evidence that colonization of the Iranian Plateau occurred by different groups of hunter-gatherers that simultaneously occupied different parts of the Zagros and developed their own cultural identity as reflected in their lithic assemblages. This paper describes five UP sites, including Shanidar in the Northern Zagros Mountains, Yafteh, Pasangar, and Warwasi in the West-Central Zagros, and Ghār-e Boof in the Southern Zagros Mountains. Lithic techno-typological analysis from these UP assemblages reveals a more dynamic and complex nature of the UP populations in the Zagros than once thought. This paper hypothesizes that the variability among the UP assemblages indicates a limited interaction between UP populations throughout the Zagros. While Shanidar Baradostian techno-typological characteristics and raw material economy indicate more interaction towards the North, the Rostamian of the Southern Zagros stands in contrast to the UP assemblages from the Lorestan and Kermanshah (LaK) regions of West-Central Zagros. As Shanidar was culturally less connected to the southern parts of the Zagros, the question of the Baradostian as a widespread technocomplex diffusing towards the West-Central and Southern Zagros is debatable. The same appears to be true for the Rostamian cultural tradition in terms of connectivity to the West-Central Zagros, as the Rostamian is widespread throughout the Southern Zagros. Therefore, the homogeneity model of the UP that presented the Baradostian as typical for the entire Zagros is no longer valid and should be reconsidered.
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