TY - JOUR

T1 - Early Neolithic occupation of the lowlands of south-western Iran: new evidence from Tapeh Mahtaj

AU - Darabi, Hojjat

AU - Bangsgaard, Pernille

AU - Arranz-Otaegui, Amaia

AU - Ahadi, Golnaz

AU - Olsen, Jesper

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - The lowlands of south-western Iran have been studied archaeologically since the mid nineteenth century. The Neolithic period, however, was mostly investigated in the 1960s and 1970s, when Early Neolithic settlements were reported in the western plains, positing the idea that the rest of the lowland plains had been populated after the Neolithic period. The excavation at Tapeh Mahtaj in 2015, however, has changed this view. This article provides inter-disciplinary results and discusses the nature of the Early Neolithic in the Iranian south-western lowlands, thereby enabling a better understanding of the emergence of early domestication and sedentism in the region specifically and in the Eastern Fertile Crescent.

AB - The lowlands of south-western Iran have been studied archaeologically since the mid nineteenth century. The Neolithic period, however, was mostly investigated in the 1960s and 1970s, when Early Neolithic settlements were reported in the western plains, positing the idea that the rest of the lowland plains had been populated after the Neolithic period. The excavation at Tapeh Mahtaj in 2015, however, has changed this view. This article provides inter-disciplinary results and discusses the nature of the Early Neolithic in the Iranian south-western lowlands, thereby enabling a better understanding of the emergence of early domestication and sedentism in the region specifically and in the Eastern Fertile Crescent.

KW - lowland south-western Iran

KW - Tapeh Mahtaj

KW - Early Neolithic

KW - Persian Gulf rising

U2 - 10.15184/aqy.2020.215

DO - 10.15184/aqy.2020.215

M3 - Journal article

VL - 95

SP - 27

EP - 44

JO - Antiquity

JF - Antiquity

SN - 0003-598X

IS - 379

ER -