Ganj Dareh

Ganj Dareh ( Persian: تپه گنج دره; "Treasure Valley" in Persian,Smith, Philip E.L
Architectural Innovation and Experimentation at Ganj Dareh, Iran
'' World Archaeology'', Vol. 21, No. 3 (February, 1990), pp. 323-335 or "Treasure Valley Hill" if tepe/tappeh (hill) is appended to the name) is a Neolithic settlement in western Iran. It is located in the Harsin County in east of Kermanshah Province, in the central Zagros Mountains.

Research history

First discovered in 1965, it was excavated by Canadian archaeologist, Philip Smith during the 1960s and 1970s, for four field seasons.

The oldest settlement remains on the site date back to ca. 10,000 years ago, and have yielded the earliest evidence for goat domestication in the world.What's Bred in the Bone
''Discover (magazine)'', July 2000 ("After investigating bone collections from ancient sites across the Middle East, she found a dearth of adult male goat bones—and an abundance of female and young male remains—from a 10,000-year-old settlement called Ganj Dareh, in Iran's Zagros Mountains. This provides the earliest evidence of domesticated livestock, Zeder says.")Natural History Highlight: Old Goats In Transition
, National Museum of Natural History (July 2000) The only evidence for domesticated crops found at the site so far is the presence of two-row barley.

The remains have been classified into five occupation levels, from A, at the top, to E.

Ceramics

Ganj Dareh is important in the study of Neolithic ceramics in Luristan and Kurdistan. This is a period beginning in the late 8th millennium, and continuing to the middle of the 6th millennium BC. Also, the evidence from two other excavated sites nearby is important, from Tepe Guran, and Tepe Sarab (shown on the map in this article). They are all located southwest of Harsin, on the Mahidasht plain, and in the Hulailan valley.Peder Mortensen (2011)
CERAMICS: The Neolithic Period in Central and Western Persia.
iranicaonline.org

At Ganj Dareh, two early ceramic traditions are evident. One is based on the use of clay for figurines and small geometric pieces like cones and disks. These are dated ca. 7300-6900 BC.

The other ceramic tradition originated in the use of clay for mud-walled buildings (ca. 7300 BC). These traditions are also shared by Tepe Guran, and Tepe Sarab. Tepe Asiab is also located near Tepe Sarab, and may be the earliest of all these sites. Both sites appear to have been seasonally occupied. Another site from the same period is Chia Jani, also in Kermanshah. Chia Jani is located about 60 km southwest from Ganj Dareh.

Ali Kosh is also a related site of the Neolithic period.

Genetics

Researchers sequenced the genome from the petrous bone of a 30-50 year old woman from Ganj Dareh, ''GD13a''. mtDNA analysis shows that she belonged to Haplogroup X. She is phenotypically similar to the Anatolian early farmers and Caucasus Hunter-Gatherers. Her DNA revealed that she had black hair, brown eyes and was lactose intolerant. The derived SLC45A2 variant associated with light
skin was not observed in GD13a, but the derived SLC24A5 variant which is also associated with the same trait was observed.

''GD13a'' is genetically closest to the ancient Caucasus Hunter-Gatherers identified from human remains from Georgia (Satsurblia Cave and Kotias Klde), while also sharing genetic affinities with the people of the Yamna culture and the Afanasevo culture. She belonged to a population that was genetically distinct from the Neolithic Anatolian farmers. In terms of modern populations, she shows some genetic affinity with the Baloch people, Makrani caste and Brahui people, in actuality they are the closest to modern Zoroastrians in Iran. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
license.

The oldest sample of haplogroup R2a was observed in the remains of a Neolithic human from Ganj Dareh in western Iran.Lazaridis et al. (2016)

Gallery

File:Ganj Dareh site.jpg, Ganj Dareh site
File:Clay human figurine (Fertility goddess) Tappeh Sarab, Kermanshah ca. 7000-6100 BCE Neolithic period, National Museum of Iran.jpg, Clay human figurine (Fertility goddess) Tepe Sarab, near Ganj Dareh, Kermanshah ca. 7000-6100 BCE, Neolithic period, National Museum of Iran
File:Ganj Dareh objects.jpg, Ganj Dareh objects
File:Boar, clay figurine, Neolithic Period, Sarab, National museum of Iran.jpg, A clay boar figurine from the Neolithic period, found at Tepe Sarab, kept at the Museum of Ancient Iran.

References

Bibliography

* Agelarakis A., The Palaeopathological Evidence, Indicators of Stress of the Shanidar Proto-Neolithic and the Ganj-Dareh Tepe Early Neolithic Human Skeletal Collections. Columbia University, 1989, Doctoral Dissertation, UMI, Bell & Howell Information Company, Michigan 48106.
* Robert J. Wenke: "Patterns in Prehistory: Humankind's first three million years" (1990)

External links

*Peder Mortensen (2011)
CERAMICS: The Neolithic Period in Central and Western Persia.
iranicaonline.org

Natural History Highlight: Old Goats In Transition
, National Museum of Natural History (July 2000)

Relative chronology

{{Authority control

1965 archaeological discoveries
Tells (archaeology)
Archaeological sites in Iran
Neolithic settlements
Harsin County
Buildings and structures in Kermanshah Province
Prehistoric Iran