70,000-year-old human settlement found in northern Iran
A group of archeologists found a human settlement in a cave in Alborz Province, west of Tehran, which dates back to 70,000 years ago.
The cave contained invaluable remains that prove human settlement, said the head of the excavation team Elham Qassidian.

Qassidian said that rock settlement found in the Sorhe area provides priceless data from the Middle Paleolithic age, IRNA reported.

She said that items discovered so far are mostly stone tools, which need more precise investigations, adding that this is the first settlement of Middle Paleolithic humans found in this area.

The other discovered items include stone tools, bones, and coal, said Saman Heydari, an archeology professor, adding that this style of tool-making can be traced back to 125,000 years ago.

Qassidian added that such settlements had already been found in the western parts of the country, like Kermanshah and Lorestan provinces, but this is the first time they are found in the southern parts of the Alborz Mountain range.

Alireza Dehqan-Mehrjui, the deputy head of the province’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization, said that the excavations are being done by an Iranian group in cooperation with Germany. The Neanderthal Museum of Germany is financially supporting the excavations. / ID /