The MUP Zagros Project: tracking the Middle–Upper Palaeolithic transition in the Kermanshah region, west-central Zagros, Iran

Saman Heydari-Guran & Elham Ghasidian

Abstract

In recent decades, the Eurasian Middle–Upper Palaeolithic (M–UP) transition has been a topic of major interest among palaeoanthropologists. Great progress has been made in several domains, particularly palaeogenetics, which have revealed the complex ancestry of early Eurasians. This progress—including the identification of a ghost lineage of Eurasians in the Middle East—is providing important new biogeographical hypotheses. A key region for such topics is the Iranian Plateau—an area that has so far not been subject to intensive research.


Authors

  • Saman Heydari-Guran
    Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, Dept of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge CB2 1QH, UK AND Diyarmehr Institute for Palaeolithic Research, 1 Awesta Street, Kermanshah, PO 78144-67189, Iran
  • Elham Ghasidian
    Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, Dept of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge CB2 1QH, UK AND Diyarmehr Institute for Palaeolithic Research, 1 Awesta Street, Kermanshah, PO 78144-67189, Iran