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Ganj Dareh

Coordinates: 34°16′20″N 47°28′33″E / 34.2721°N 47.4758°E / 34.2721; 47.4758
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For other places with the same name, see Ganj Darreh.
Ganj Dareh
تپه گنج دره
The early village site of Ganj Darreh near Kermanshah
The early village site of Ganj Darreh near Kermanshah
Location in Iran
Location in Iran
Location in Iran
LocationKermanshah Province, Iran
RegionGamas-Ab Valley
Coordinates34°16′20″N 47°28′33″E / 34.2721°N 47.4758°E / 34.2721; 47.4758
Altitude1,400 m (4,593 ft)[1]
Typemound settlement
History
Foundedca. 10,000
PeriodsNeolithic
Associated withpastoralists
Site notes
Excavation dates1967-1974[1]
Map showing location of Ganj Dareh and other locations of early herding activity.

Ganj Dareh (Persian: تپه گنج دره; "Treasure Valley" in Persian,[2] or "Treasure Valley Hill" if tepe/tappeh (hill) is appended to the name) is a Neolithic settlement in the Iranian Kurdistan portion of Iran. It is located to the east of Kermanshah, in the central Zagros Mountains.[2]

First discovered in 1965, it was excavated by Canadian archaeologist, Philip Smith during the 1960s and 1970s, for four field seasons.[2][3]

The oldest settlement remains on the site date back to ca. 10,000 years ago,[4] and have yielded the earliest evidence for goat domestication in the world.[5][6][7] The only evidence for domesticated crops found at the site so far is the presence of two-row barley.[1]

The remains have been classified into five occupation levels, from A, at the top, to E.[8]

Genetics

Researchers sequenced the genome from the petrous bone of a 30-50 woman from Ganj Dareh, GD13a. mtDNA analysis shows that she belonged to Haplogroup X. She 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. [1]

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. Her population did not contribute very much genetically to modern Europeans.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Gallego-Llorente, M.; et al. (2016). "The genetics of an early Neolithic pastoralist from the Zagros, Iran". Scientific Reports. 6: 31326. doi:10.1038/srep31326. PMC 4977546. PMID 27502179. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
  2. ^ a b c Smith, Philip E.L. Architectural Innovation and Experimentation at Ganj Dareh, Iran, World Archaeology, Vol. 21, No. 3 (February, 1990), pp. 323-335
  3. ^ Smith, Philip E.L., Ganj Dareh Tepe, Paleorient, Vol. 2, Issue 2-1, pp.207-09 (1974)
  4. ^ Zeder, Melinda A.; Hesse, Brian (2000). "The Initial Domestication of Goats (Capra hircus) in the Zagros Mountains 10,000 Years Ago" (PDF). Science. 287: 2254. doi:10.1126/science.287.5461.2254.
  5. ^ 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.")
  6. ^ Harris, David R. (ed.) The origins and spread of agriculture and pastoralism in Eurasia, pp. 208, 249-52 (UCL Press 1996) (Reprint ISBN 978-1-85728-538-3)
  7. ^ Natural History Highlight: Old Goats In Transition, National Museum of Natural History (July 2000)
  8. ^ Yelon, A., et al. Thermal Analysis of Early Neolithic Pottery From Tepe Ganj Dareh, Iran, in Materials issues in art and archaeology III (1992)

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)
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