TEHRAN – A team of archaeologists has discovered some evidence of Neanderthal habitation during their recent survey conducted in Qamari Cave, located on the outskirts of Khorramabad in Lorestan province, western Iran.

They have uncovered significant evidence of human habitation dating back 40,000 to 80,000 years, as well as from the late prehistoric and historical periods. Lorestan’s department for Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts, and Tourism has announced the findings.

Ata Hassanpour, the director of the department, stated that the excavations began on February, 2024, under the supervision of Fereidoun Biglari from the National Museum of Iran and Sonia Shidrang from Shahid Beheshti University. The project was authorized by the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism. Initial findings reveal a rare cultural sequence in the cave, spanning from the Middle Paleolithic era to historical periods.

According to Biglari, artifacts from the Middle Paleolithic period include stone tools, bones of hunted animals such as wild goats and red deer, and remnants of fireplaces. These findings are likely linked to Neanderthal habitation. Hassanpour added that the discovery of painted buff ware and red ware from the Chalcolithic period (over 5,500 years ago) indicates the cave's continued use by pastoral communities of that era and highlights advancements in pottery technology during that time. Evidence from other periods, such as the Iron Age, Seleucid, and Parthian eras, has also been found.

Shidrang noted the identification of a rock shelter near the cave, containing evidence of habitation from both the Middle Paleolithic and Chalcolithic periods, suggesting it was used concurrently with the cave. She mentioned that Qamari Cave had been excavated twice before: first in 1965 by American archaeologist Frank Hole and again in 2011 by Behrouz Bazgir.

Biglari emphasized that the new findings, particularly the rich evidence of Neanderthal habitation, make the cave a focal point for studying cultural and biological evolution in Lorestan and western Iran over an extended period. He added that continued excavations in the deep archaeological deposits of the cave could potentially uncover Neanderthal skeletal remains and other archaeological evidence from this lesser-known era, opening new horizons for Paleolithic research in Iran and the Middle East.

Qamari Cave was registered as a national heritage site in 2001 under the registration number 4144.

A 2019 study published in the Journal of Human Evolution suggests that Neanderthals were roaming at the Iranian Zagros Mountain sometime between 40 to 70 thousand years ago.

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. They developed a successful culture, with 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.

AM