TEHRAN -- A joint team of German and Iranian archaeologists along with a number of Polish experts in interdisciplinary fields are currently studying 13,000 years of habitation at the archaeological site of Gohar-Tappeh near the city of Behshahr in Iran’s northern province of Mazandaran.

The research project, named “Cave to City”, aims to scrutinize human habitation from the Paleolithic era to urbanization in Mazandaran, the Persian service of CHN reported on Wednesday.
The team plans to determine how humans left the caves to establish early urban areas in the region.
A 5000-year-old city has previously been discovered in the region and signs of habitation dating back 13,000 years have been found in nearby caves of Komishan, Huto, and Kamarband during the earlier studies.
This is the first instance since the victory of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution that such a large-scale research project is being carried out in Iran, the director of the Iranian archaeological team Ali Mahforuzi said.
“The project has been planned solely by Iranian scholars and the archaeologists from the University of Munich and the Polish interdisciplinary experts are only participants in its fulfillment,” he added.
The study of the Paleolithic era is currently underway at the Komishan Cave by an Iranian team led by Hamed Vahdatinasab and a number of German and Iranian experts are working on site of Gohar-Tappeh, Mahforuzi explained.
The Stone Age and the Copper Age will be studied during other phases of the project that will also be pursued in Iran’s northern neighbors of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan.
“The project also aims to help the archaeological structures of the Caspian Sea countries,” said Mahforuzi.
“To that end, a stratigraphic study will be carried out in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to complete the research project and a similar study will also be conducted in Tajikistan if necessary,” he explained.
The results of the studies are to be published in a book soon.
Gohar-Tappeh is the most important ancient site discovered in Iran’s Caspian Sea region so far. Signs of urbanization dating back 5000 years have been identified there.
Studies show that people left the caves and pursued a rural existence at the sites of Toq-Tappeh, Abbasi Tepe, and Yaqut-Tappeh. Later, they settled in Gohar-Tappeh during the Bronze Age at the time of the onset of urbanization.
Photo: Skeletons of two people buried along with some artifacts have been discovered during previous seasons of excavation at the prehistoric site of Gohar-Tappeh near the city of Behshahr in Mazandaran Province.