Nargeh-2004
Recent Finds of Paleolithic Period from Bisotun, Central Western Zagros Mountains Fereidoun Biglari
Abstract: The present paper reports on the survey of a cluster of previously unexplored Paleolithic sites in the Bisotun area carried out in 1986. Bisotun is an escarpment of a calcareous mountain range forming part of the northern boundary of the intermontane valley of Kermanshah. There is a cluster of caves cutting into the basal cliffs on the southeastern face of Bisotun near the confluence of the Gamasi-Ab and Dinawar Rivers. Two of these caves are the Hunter's Cave excavated by Carlton S. Coon in 1949, and Ghar-i Khar tested by Philip E. L. Smith in 1965. In the summer of 1986, the author visited three cave sites between Ghar -i Khar and Hunter's Caves. These caves lie close together at an altitude of 1500 – 1600m above sea level on an almost horizontally fault line, about 250m above the Chamchamal Plain. These caves yielded Zagros Mousterian industry; one also produced a small number of Upper Palaolithic artifacts. The dominant raw material in the collected artifacts is chert (mostly reddish-brown), but there are also small quantities of other types of stone. Of the collected material the richest comes from Mar Tarik, a deep and narrow cave facing southeast. The cave is 25 m deep by 2-3 m wide. The cave floor yielded 55 flint artifacts. Most of these were collected from backdirt left at the rear of the cave by looters. A few artifacts were also collected at the main chamber and near the entrance. The collection consists of 37 retouched tools and 18 pieces of debitage and cores. The relative scarcity of cores, debitage, and debris suggest that primary reduction was not much carried out at the site during Mousterian occupation. Among the retouched pieces, scrapers form the main tool group, mostly consisting of double and convergent forms. There are also some points, burins, piercers, and denticulates/ notches. One of retouched tools shows truncated-faceted retouch. There is an almost high frequency of Levallois technique in the assemblage. The Mar Tarik collection shares many aspects of Zagros Mousterian, including the above-mentioned form of retouch, as well as high percentage of retouched and used pieces with predominance of side-scrapers.
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Nargeh-2004
Two other surveyed cave sites are Mar Aftab and Mar Dodar. Mar Aftab is situated about 150 m to the southwest of Mar Tarik, facing northeast. The cave consists of two chambers, seprated by a large stalagmitic boss. The outer chamber is 26m deep and at the mouth is 10m wide by about 6m high . A total number of 21 flint artifacts were collected from the outer chamber. Of these, 10 pieces are retouched tools, and the rest consist of cores, debitage, and debris. Tools include various sidescraper, notches, inversly retouched flakes, a point, and a piercer. The presence of these tool types and Levallois flakes in the Mar Aftab collection suggest a Middle Paleolithic date for the site. Mar Dodar is the highest cave with Palaeolithic remains in this part of Bisitun. The cave is 20m deep and has two entrances. A total number of 98 pieces of flint artifacts were collected from the cave floor. The collection contains a large number of small flakes, debris, or shatter fragments. Retouched tools comprise both Middle and Upper Paleolithic tool types. Mousterian tools consist of some side-scraper, one raclette, one limace, and a denticulated (Levallois) flake. Upper –Epi Paleolithic tool types include steep-scraper, thumbnail scraper, end scraper, and a truncated backed blade. Lithic industries from Mar Dodar suggest that occupation at the cave may have continued from Middle Paleolithic to later Paleolithic periods. In the Zagros the number of recorded sites with this characteristic is not large. The presence of Mousterian industry at Bisotun caves may point to their importance in the Middle Paleolithic period. It seems that Middle Paleolithic bands of people used these caves for temporary or seasonal occupations. Such compact cluster of sites dating to the Middle Paleolithic period has not been reported elsewhere in the Zagros. The recorded sites have the potential to provide us with more information on subsistance-settlement patterns of the Middle Paleolithic period, and affinities of their assemblages with other Zagros Mousterian assemblages Source: Biglari, F. (2001) Recent Finds of Paleolithic Period from Bisotun, Central Western Zagros Mountains. Iranian Journal of Archaeology and History 28: 50-60. Iranian Center for Archaeological Research, Tehran. (In Persian, with an English abstract)
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