The earliest Neolithic lithic industries of the Central Zagros: New evidence from East Chia Sabz, Western Iran

Abstract

The processes of Neolithization that occurred in the Zagros region have been less understood than their counterparts from the western half of the Fertile Crescent in southwest Asia. One reason is the absence of a well-delineated chronological framework as intensive research on cultural development at stratified sites has been relatively rare in the Zagros. The aim of this paper is to present new data from East Chia Sabz in western Iran, which refines the cultural chronology of the earliest Neolithic in the Central Zagros. Although early Neolithic lithic assemblages from the Zagros have been collectively assigned to the Early Mlefatian, results of this analysis highlight a major industrial change around 8200/8000 BCE, which could be used to divide the “Early Mlefatian” into two, the Pre- and Early Mlefatian. This division aids refinement of the earliest Neolithic cultural chronology in the Central Zagros region, especially because establishment of the Early Mlefatian seems to signal the emergence of a developed form of the Neolithic socio-economy in the East Wing of the Fertile Crescent according to our research premise.