Prehistoric Evidence of Sonqor Koliyaie Plain in Central Zagros

Abstract

Sonqor Koliyaie is a mountainous plain in central Zagros that has attracted the attention of human societies because of its appropriate environmental characteristics from long ago. Generally, the findings obtained from systematic archaeological surveys show that human settlements have been established in this area from Middle Paleolithic period through contemporary period. Three seasons of survey in this area have shown that among 301 discovered archeological sites, many belonged to Paleolithic, Epipaleolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze, and Iron Age. The present study attempts to study the prevalent prehistoric cultures and traditions of the region since the beginning up to the first millennium BC. The research method is descriptive-analytic and the materials are cultural artifacts such as pottery and stone tools. The obtained results prove that although the number or size of the settlements has decreased during some periods, the common pottery traditions such as Dalma, Seh Gabi, Godin VII, VI, IV, III, and II in West of Iran show the presence of a continuous sequence of cultural settlements from the start of the human settlement in the valleys. Regarding the distribution of the sites, it should be noted that the distribution and size of the discovered settlement patterns have been different indifferent periods and have been influenced by various environmental factors such as height, water access, pasture, and communicative roads.