TY - JOUR

T1 - Archaeological Landscape of Razavar Valley in the Neolithic Period, The survey of the 8th - 6th millennium B.C in the North of Kermanshah Province

AU - Khosravi, Shouku

AU - Pedersen, Patrick Nørskov

AU - Alibaigi, Sajjad

AU - Roe, Joe

AU - Heidary Dastenaei, Mohsen

AU - Miladi, Behzad

AU - Darabi, Hojjat

AU - Richter, Tobias

AU - Mortensen, Peder

PY - 2020/6/28

Y1 - 2020/6/28

N2 - In this article the results of a survey of the Razavar Valley (north of Kermanshah province) undertaken jointly by the University of Copenhagen and Razi University in the framework of the project "Tracking Cultural and Environmental Change: Epipaleolithic and Neolithic in Central Zagros". This part of the Central Zagros has produced some of the earliest evidence of the ‘Neolithic Revolution’ in the eastern Fertile Crescent (e.g. at Asiab, Ganj Dareh, and Sheikhi-Abad), as well as important Middle and Upper Paleolithic remains, but our understanding of the wider landscape context of these sites remains incomplete. We surveyed a part of the Kermanshah plain, otherwise probably the best known area of the Central Zagros that has not yet been systematically explored; the basin of the Razavar River, a tributary of the Qara Su to the north of Kermanshah city. The area is a long but rather wide intermountain with old terraces from the Pleistocene. The abundance of water resources, raw material resources, and fertile agricultural lands has provided the ideal conditions for the formation of human settlements, especially during the Neolithic period. Our aim was to perform a high-coverage, targeted survey with a focus on identifying sites with potential for excavation. We used a tablet-based, “paperless” recording system to map, photograph and document sites,as well as salient natural features such as springs. The survey team was also equipped with GPS tracking watches, to maintain a precise record of which areas were surveyed. In total we identified 59 sites Preliminarily, 19 of these are of potential early prehistoric date, although many are only small surface scatters. 6 of sites belong to the Neolithic including huge Tell sites from PPN period, Teppeh Ghalah B (RZVR67) and Teppeh Salaar Abad (RZVR68), situated in the central part of the valley. A summary of our Neolithic findings at these sites in the Razavar Valley are presented in this article.

AB - In this article the results of a survey of the Razavar Valley (north of Kermanshah province) undertaken jointly by the University of Copenhagen and Razi University in the framework of the project "Tracking Cultural and Environmental Change: Epipaleolithic and Neolithic in Central Zagros". This part of the Central Zagros has produced some of the earliest evidence of the ‘Neolithic Revolution’ in the eastern Fertile Crescent (e.g. at Asiab, Ganj Dareh, and Sheikhi-Abad), as well as important Middle and Upper Paleolithic remains, but our understanding of the wider landscape context of these sites remains incomplete. We surveyed a part of the Kermanshah plain, otherwise probably the best known area of the Central Zagros that has not yet been systematically explored; the basin of the Razavar River, a tributary of the Qara Su to the north of Kermanshah city. The area is a long but rather wide intermountain with old terraces from the Pleistocene. The abundance of water resources, raw material resources, and fertile agricultural lands has provided the ideal conditions for the formation of human settlements, especially during the Neolithic period. Our aim was to perform a high-coverage, targeted survey with a focus on identifying sites with potential for excavation. We used a tablet-based, “paperless” recording system to map, photograph and document sites,as well as salient natural features such as springs. The survey team was also equipped with GPS tracking watches, to maintain a precise record of which areas were surveyed. In total we identified 59 sites Preliminarily, 19 of these are of potential early prehistoric date, although many are only small surface scatters. 6 of sites belong to the Neolithic including huge Tell sites from PPN period, Teppeh Ghalah B (RZVR67) and Teppeh Salaar Abad (RZVR68), situated in the central part of the valley. A summary of our Neolithic findings at these sites in the Razavar Valley are presented in this article.

UR - https://nbsh.basu.ac.ir/article_3704.html?lang=en

U2 - 10.22084/NBSH.2020.21133.2094

DO - 10.22084/NBSH.2020.21133.2094

M3 - Journal article

VL - 10

SP - 7

EP - 32

JO - Bastanshenasi Iran

JF - Bastanshenasi Iran

SN - 2345-5225

ER -