TEHRAN – A group of Iranian archaeologists and researchers have found that farming and animal breeding were practiced some 9,000 years ago around the historical Tepe Ahranjan in Salmas, northwestern Iran.

The discovery was made during a demarcation project aimed to protect the ruined archaeological site of Tepe Ahranjan, ISNA quoted Afrasyab Geravand, head of the project, as saying on Tuesday.

Evidence suggests that Ahranjan hill and its surroundings were one of the first and most important human settlements in the 7th millennium BC in northwestern Iran, Geravand said, adding, it showed that the inhabitants of this area were farmers and animal breeders.

Presence of “mother rocks” and obsidian tools in seven different colors, sabers, mortars, and stone utensils are amongst objects found in the region, a local tourism official said.

Previously, Geravand had said that the northwest of Iran, as a connection bridge between the Iranian plateau, the Caucasus, Asia Minor, and Mesopotamia, has always played an important role in the relations and cultural exchanges.

The region has long been a suitable place for settlement since ancient times due to the presence of permanent rivers, springs, animal and plant resources, fertile land and pastures, he explained.

The history of agriculture is the story of humankind’s development and cultivation of processes for producing food, feed, fiber, fuel, and other goods by the systematic raising of plants and animals. Prior to the development of plant cultivation, human beings were hunters and gatherers. The knowledge and skill of learning to care for the soil and growth of plants advanced the development of human society, allowing clans and tribes to stay in one location generation after generation. Archaeological evidence indicates that such developments occurred 10,000 or more years ago.

Experts say that by 7000 BC, sowing and harvesting reached Mesopotamia and there, in the super fertile soil just north of the Persian Gulf, Sumerian ingenuity systematized it and scaled it up. By 6000 BC farming was entrenched on the banks of the Nile River. About this time, agriculture was developed independently in the Far East, probably in China, with rice rather than wheat as the primary crop.

Because of agriculture, cities, as well as trade relations between different regions and groups of people, developed, further enabling the advancement of human societies and cultures. Agriculture has been an important aspect of economics throughout the centuries prior to and after the Industrial Revolution. Sustainable development of world food supplies impact the long-term survival of the species, so care must be taken to ensure that agricultural methods remain in harmony with the environment.

AFM/MG