Palaeolithic Study in Western Asia and Its Future Problems

Abstract

During the field season of 1956-57 the Tokyo University Iraq-Iran Archaeological Expedition performed an excavation at a Neolithic site in Northern Iraq. Before and after the excavation all members made their best effort to collect samples, photographs, measurements, literature, and so forth pertaining to their own special interests in several countries of western Asia. I tried to get some information on Palaeolithic studies of western Asia made in both field and laboratory. After the first discovery of the Galilee skull, the Sukhul and Tabun skulls were excavated at the cave-deposits of Mount Carmel. Recently the Hotu man was excavated from the cave-deposits near the southeastern corner of the Caspian Sea. Besides these Palaeolithic or Mesolithic human remains, numerous stone implements have been unearthed by foreign students from many Palaeolithic sites. However with the exception of a few of these sites, which were given preliminary study, most of them were left to be studied in the future. These sites are as follows:IRAN 1) Bistun cave; 2) Tamtama cave near Rezaiyeh; 3) Khunik rock shelter; 4) Belt and 5) Hotu caves near Behshahr; 6) Khurrumabad; 7) near Persepolis; 8) Lake Maharlu near ShirazIRAQ 1) Mukaimin al-Walaj; 2) Haditha; 3) Jebel Sinjar; 4) Al Qosh; 5) Jebel Baradost; 6) Hazar Merd and 7) Zarzi near Sulaimaniya; 8) Shanidar caveSYRIA 1) En-Nebk (Nebek)JORDAN 1) Baka'a; 2) Bair Wells; 3) Jebel Fureidis; 4) Abl; 5) Umm Qatafa; 6) Jebel Kafzeh; 7) Petra; 8) Es-Salt; 9) Midway between the pumping stations H3 and H4 along the Haifa oil pipe lineLEBANON 1) Nahr el-Kelb; 2) Dubayeh, south of Dog river; 3) Jezzine, east of Sidon; 4) Kafr Hatta, Sidon; 5) Umm Kain; 6) Cave Gullsy, south of Beirut; 7) Pigeon Rocks, Beirut; 8) South ravine, south of Beirut; 9) Cave Antelias; 10) Ksar Akil rock shelterISRAEL 1) Magharat ez-Zuttiyeh; 2) Magharat es-Sukhul; 3) Magharat et-Tabun; 4) Magharat el-Wadi; 5) Cave of AdullamSAUDI ARABIA 1) Tell el-Hibr; 2) Al Duhail, Qatar Peninsula; 3) Midway between Dukhan and Umm Said, Qatar PeninsulaBAHRAIN ISLAND 1) Jebel ed-DukhanOMAN 1) Ras-al-Khaimah, Trucial Oman coastEGYPT 1) Wadi Feiran, Sinai peninsulaAmong the human remains which have been found in western Asia, the Palaeoanthropic Galilee, Carmel, and Theshik-Tash skulls have been studied in detail, but those from Shanidar, Tamtama, and Antelias caves have not as yet. In eastern Asia, some Protoanthropic remains, such as Pithecanthropus, erectus, P. robustus, Meganthropus palaeojavanicus, and Sinanthropus pekinensis occurred in the later half of Older Pleistocene deposits. As the differences between Pithecanthropus and Sinanthropus are minor in nature, some considers it to be specific. But others seem to consider it to be only a subspecific difference. Very recently a new Protoanthropic remain, Atlanthropus mauritanicus, which closely resembles Pithecanthropus, was found in the Middle Pleistocene deposits of North Africa with numerous animal remains and Chelleo-Acheulean hand axes. Therefore, Chelleo-Acheulean type of implements, found with animal remains from the caves or rock shelters in Jordan and Lebanon, are of special importance. Accordigly, it seems possible that Protoanthropic man perhaps may be excavated in western Asia, judging from the presence of Chelleo-Acheulean implements and the distribution of Protoanthropic man in eastern Asia and North Africa.