Overview

The transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture in Southwest Asia remains a key area of research for archaeologists. For many years, little intensive research was possible in the ‘eastern wing’ of the Fertile Crescent. This volume presents the results of the six-year long project Tracking Cultural and Environmental Change: The Late Epipalaeolithic and Early Neolithic in the Seimarreh Drainage, Central Zagros. The project aimed to develop a better understanding of the emergence of Neolithic societies in the central Zagros region, by re-investigating several key Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene sites in the Seimarreh River drainage. Over the course of four fieldwork seasons three key sites – Asiab, Ganj Dareh and Mar Gurgalan – were re-excavated. These three sites collectively cover the crucial timespan between c. 16,000–9,000 years ago during which Epipalaeolithic hunter-gatherers slowly moved towards plant cultivation and herding. This volume provides a comprehensive overview of the excavations and stratigraphy of these sites, their relative and absolute chronology, as well as the finds from the excavations. This evidence is contextualized against the paleoenvironmental evidence from the region, as well as broader debates concerning the emergence of the Neolithic in Southwest Asia. The chapters are written by specialists and experts in their fields and provide a wealth of important new data, and informed discussion about their interpretation and importance.

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9781789259414

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Tobias Richter obtained his BA and MPhil from the University of Wales, Lampeter, and his PhD from the Institute of Archaeology at University College London. He is currently Associate Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology and Director of the Centre for the Study of Early Agricultural Societies at the University of Copenagen. Hojjat Darabi is Associate Professor of Archaeology at Razi University, Iran. He received his BA, MA and PhD from the Department of Archaeology, University of Tehran, between 2002–2011. His main research interest is the Neolithic period in the Zagros region. Peder Mortensen is a former curator at the National Museum of Denmark, lecturer and dean at Aarhus University, director of Moesgaard Museum and inaugural director of the Danish Institute in Damascus. He is now retired and an affiliated professor at the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies at the University of Copenhagen.

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