The ‌Paleolithic‌ Landscape ‌of ‌North east‌ern ‌Iran: ‌An ‌Introduction‌ to ‌a ‌New ‌Cultural ‌Tradition‌ in ‌Middle ‌Paleolithic ‌era ‌based‌ on‌ Dasht‌-‌e ‌Jam ‌Sites‌

Northeastern Iran’s diverse climatic conditions, as well as its diverse geological structures and environments in its mountains, plains, and deserts, lent itself to human settlements over several historical periods. Hence, this part of the Iranian plateau is expected to lay bare many interesting facts about prehistoric humans in the Paleolithic era, due to its geographical location, situated between the Zagros and Central Asia. The discovery of the first traces of Mousterian culture in Khunik site touches off a series of Paleolithic studies in the last decade, giving credence to the presence of the middle Paleolithic communities in the region. This article examines the stone artifacts discovered in the region, which gives insight into the technical variety of the middle Paleolithic techniques. The tradition of stone tool manufacturing, for example, is well worth studying in the Jam plain. The middle Paleolithic settlers used the shaping technique in addition to the Levallois Knapping technique in order to manufacture their stone tools. Such discoveries suggest that, at least during the middle Paleolithic era, northeastern Iran housed groups of hunter - gatherer humans who practiced a variety of tool - manufacturing traditions.