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Projekt Druckansicht

Südkaspischer Korridor: eine biogeographische Ausbreitungsroute der Homininen

Antragstellerin Dr. Elham Ghasidian
Fachliche Zuordnung Ur- und Frühgeschichte (weltweit)
Förderung Förderung von 2018 bis 2023
Projektkennung Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 414357211
 
Erstellungsjahr 2023

Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse

The present research project is the first comprehensive and aimed Palaeolithic targeted research conducted in northern Iranian Plateau. Prior to this, only sporadic research was carried out in the region. The very limited Palaeolithic finds in the region were often side findings of other projects searching other time spans rather than Palaeolithic. The present project aimed to detect the expansion and dispersal of the late Pleistocene hominins in one of the least known areas in the Iranian Plateau. Recent research on the phylogeny of Neanderthals has recognised a division within Neanderthal groups around 150 ka suggesting a population turnover is likely to have occurred in the Caucasus. For instance, Neanderthal remains dated ca. 100 ka associated with fully fledged Levallois lithic industry were confirmed in the Azokh 1 Cave, at the Lesser Caucasus. This exciting finding, however, raises the questions of ‘whether the Neanderthals impacted on the Southern Caspian Corridor (SCC), which is a geo-ecological continuum of the Caucasus? What role did this SSC play in the world of hominin expansion?’ as the main research questions of this project. In his expedition to Iran during 1960s, McBurney considered SCC provided the closest and fastest route connecting Europe and Caucasus to the Central Asia and Siberia and any hominin movement from the west might be expected to pass this region en route to the east. In his excavation at Keyaram Cave located in SCC he documented Middle Palaeolithic (MP) artefacts reminiscent of the Zagros Mousterian which are seen to be closely related to the lithics from Teshik-Tash Cave in Central Asia. McBurney’s conclusion provided grounding for this research project to hypothesize that the SCC, with the dual role of biogeographical corridor of expansion and habitat, witnessed a series of human evolutionary events that occurred at least in MIS 5 and 4. It aimed to go further to suggest the SCC as a potential place of admixture of Neanderthals and Anatomically Modern Humans. The exceptional physiogeographic condition of the SCC provided a milder climatic condition making this region highly attractive as a glacial refugium during the cold episodes of MIS 5 and 4 for different hominins, thereby this research also hypothesized contemporaneous MP assemblages from western- and eastern-most areas of the corridor represent a high degree of cultural affinity. For testing these hypotheses, I re-analysed the lithic artefacts from Azokh 1, together with the analysis of the lithics from new excavation at the neighbouring cave site of Metz Tagher as western-most of the SCC. Unfortunately, excavation at Keyaram was not possible due to its disturbed nature. In return, an intensive survey was conducted in SCC, especially in the areas where McBurney and Coon once conducted limited Palaeolithic investigations. This investigation resulted into the discovery of 29 Palaeolithic sites in the SCC and a promising shelter site located in the southern slopes of the Alborz Mountains associated with the Initial Upper Palaeolithic techno-complex. All lithics have been carefully studied and compared to the contemporaneous sites, especially from the Zagros at the western Iranian Platea to trace any possible cultural exchange between these sites. The comprehensive comparisons revealed that the lithic assemblages from SCC, has less affinities to the Zagros Mousterian cultural group which associated with Neanderthal remains. This issue documents the local development of the lithic industry in SCC during late Pleistocene. These achievements coupled with the discovery of the Initial Upper palaeolithic complex of Eskouldar at the southern slopes of the Alborz gain more significance to enhance the understanding of the implications of the MP and UP in this key region of the Iranian Plateau and to discover its role in the hominin expansion (especially Neanderthals) from Europe towards Central Asia.

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