Conny Waters - AncientPages.com - Explorations have been continued in the ancient Liar San Bon, an archaeological site in Amlash, located in Iran's Gilan province at the southwestern coast of the Caspian Sea.
As reported in 2018, as many as 39 tombs and catacombs dating back to Parthian (247 BC–224 CE) and Sassanid (224 -651 CE) eras were unearthed in Liar-Sang-Bon. Radiocarbon dating tests indicated that the tombs, which have been come in various shapes, date from mid-Sassanid to mid-Parthian times.
Both excavations and exploration of Amlash cave region seek answers about the ancient peoples who used to live at the site. Amlash is home to some historical and archaeological sites such as Liar-Sang-Bon, filled with ancient and prehistoric settlements and cemeteries. Numerous ancient caves (both in a forest and in the vicinity of a river) may have been used by the earliest hominids as shelters.
Based on preliminary studies on the potteries unearthed at four newly discovered caves in Amlash, the researchers inform that Neanderthals used the caves as shelters, according to Tehran Times.
In 2016, the archaeologists discovered at Liar-Sang-Bon (initially identified in March 2012-March 2013) funerary and stone architectural objects, which have been dated to the Parthian and Sassanid eras.
A 2019 study published in the Journal of Human Evolution, suggests that Neanderthals were roaming at the Iranian Zagros Mountain sometimes between 40 to 70 thousand years ago. It was reported that Neanderthal tooth was unearthed near Iran’s Zagros Mountain.
Discovered in 1999 in a cave called Wezmeh near Kermanshah, west of Iran, this human tooth was believed to belong to a modern human individual but as it was later determined, belongs to a Neanderthal child.
Therefore, this tooth is the first direct evidence of the Neanderthal presence in the Iranian Zagros.
Until the late 20th century, Neanderthals were regarded as genetically, morphologically, and behaviorally distinct from living humans. However, more recent discoveries about this well-preserved fossil Eurasian population have revealed an overlap between living and archaic humans.
Neanderthals lived before and during the last ice age of the Pleistocene in some of the most unforgiving environments ever inhabited by humans. Their culture developed a complex stone tool technology, that was based on hunting, with some scavenging and local plant collection.
Their survival during tens of thousands of years of the last glaciation is a remarkable testament to human adaptation.
Written by Conny Waters - AncientPages.com Staff Writer
