TEHRAN—Chogha Golan region in Mehran county, Ilam province, is the oldest cradle of agriculture across Iran and West Asia, Habibollah Mahmoudian, a specialist in prehistoric archaeology, has said.

He told ISNA that numerous artifacts have been identified in human settlements in the Chogha Golan area, which pertain to the various eras of human life. Due to the constant flow of the Konjan Cham River, human settlement and life in this region have continued, he added.

He noted that archaeological research shows that the late Ali Mohammad Khalilian investigated Mehran county in the 1980s to 2000s and succeeded in identifying the sites of Chogha Golan I, and Chogha Golan II in the Golan region.

The archaeologist said that in addition to the Golan sites and its ancient aqueduct, the Ghaloveh caravanserai, the ancient hill, and the remains of Islamic-era settlements were discovered and identified in 2003, which have been documented for registration in the National Heritage List.

He added that in the same year, Mohsen Zeidi, an archaeologist, surveyed the eastern and buffer zone between the Mehran and Dehloran plains and identified sites from the early writing period to the historical period.

Mahmoudian further noted that excavations began at Golan Hill for its mapping in 2010. The excavations continued in two seasons, and the dating of carbon-14 samples indicates a long-term habitation in this area from about the middle of the 10th Millennium to the late 8th Millennium BCE.

He explained that in the excavations of the Chogha Golan site, evidence of early plaster baking and remains of ancient architecture have been discovered. Chogha Golan, which dates back 12,000 to 9,500 years, is known as one of the oldest sites associated with the beginning of agriculture and rural settlement in Iran and the world, he added.

He continued that in the second season of excavations, architectural remains were found, including angular rooms with layered and adobe walls and plastered floors.

The prehistoric archaeologist said that thousands of samples of wild barley, wild wheat, lentils, peas, beans and fodder were found in this excavation site, and carbon isotope studies have determined the age of these findings to be between 9,800 and 11,700 years.

He added that the important point is that such a long-term settlement in one place was unprecedented in the Neolithic Age. Neolithic man moved from the stage of hunting and collecting wild plant seeds to the stage of planting seeds and domesticating plants and animals, he pointed out.

Mahmoudian stated that Golan is located in the marginal plains of the Zagros Mountains, where the first human attempt to domesticate wild plants took place. In terms of botany, this research has yielded an unprecedented 30,000 plant remains from 75 groups over a 2,000-year period, he added.

He said that about 2,200 years of cultivation of wild plants and the emergence of the first domesticated plant species have been observed in Chogha Golan region. Wild specimens of various types of barley, wheat, lentils, chickpeas, beans and fodder, and other agricultural products that are the mother of today's consumer products, were cultivated and consumed in Chogha Golan for a long period, he added.

KD