| غار وزمه | |
 Entrance of the Wezmeh Cave, view from inside | |
  WezmehShown within Iran | |
| Coordinates | 34°3′30.87″N 46°38′52.62″E / 34.0585750°N 46.6479500°E / 34.0585750; 46.6479500 |
|---|---|
Wezmeh Cave is an archaeological site near Islamabad Gharb, western Iran, around 470 km (290 mi) southwest of the capital Tehran. The site was discovered in 1999 and excavated in 2001 by a team of Iranian archaeologists under the leadership of Dr. Kamyar Abdi. Wezmeh cave was re-excavated by a team under direction of Fereidoun Biglari in 2019.
Late Pleistocene animals
Large numbers of animal fossil remains have been discovered so far. The dated age range of animal remains in the cave spans from 70,000 years BP to 11,000 years BP. Carnivores found in the cave include red fox, the extinct cave hyena, brown bear, wolf, lion, leopard, wildcat, badger, polecat, mongoose and beech martens. Herbivores include wild horse, asses the extinct narrow-nosed rhinoceros, wild boar, red deer, aurochs, wild goat, mouflon and gazelles. Small mammals found in the cave include hedgehogs, Indian porcupines, and the Cape hare. A number of reptiles have also been found, including the spur-thighed tortoise, rock agamas, the Montpellier snake and the blunt-nosed viper. The faunal remains were studied by Marjan Mashkour and her colleagues at the Natural History Museum in Paris and osteological department of National Museum of Iran.
Human remains
Pleistocene
Several fragmented human bones and teeth were discovered in the site. Among these human remains one tooth was studied in detail by paleoanthropologists such as Erik Trinkaus. Wezmeh 1, also known as Wezmeh Child, represented by an isolated unerupted human maxillary right premolar tooth (P3 or possibly P4) of an individual between 6–10 years old. It is relatively large compared with both Holocene and Late Pleistocene P3 and P4. Later, researchers analyzed it by non-destructive gamma spectrometry that resulted in a date of around 25,000 years BP (Upper Paleolithic). But later analysis showed that the gamma spectrometry dates the date was the minimum age and the tooth is substantially older. Endostructural features and quantified crown tissue proportions and semi-landmark-based geometric morphometric analyses of the enamel-dentine junction aligns it closely with Neanderthals and shows that it is distinct from the fossil and extant modern human pattern. Therefore, it is the first direct evidence of the Neanderthal presence in the Iranian Zagros. Given that the cave was a carnivore den during the late Pleistocene, it is probable that the Wezmeh Child was killed, or had its remains scavenged, by carnivores who used the cave as a den.
Holocene
A human metatarsal bone fragment has also been analyzed and dated to the Neolithic period, about 9000 years ago. The DNA from this bone fragment shows that it is from a distinct genetic group, which was not known to scientists before. He belongs to the Y-DNA haplogroup G2b, specifically its branch G-Y37100, and mitochondrial haplogroup J1d6. He had brown eyes, relatively dark skin, and black hair, although Neolithic Iranians carried reduced pigmentation-associated alleles in several genes and derived alleles at 7 of the 12 loci, showing the strongest signatures of selection in ancient Eurasians. Isotopic analysis showed the man's diet included cereals, a sign that he had learned how to cultivate crops. This cave site was sporadically used by later Chalcolithic groups of the region, who used it as pen for their herds. This cave was listed as an archaeological and paleontological site on the National Register of Historic Sites (17843) in 2006.
External links
References
- Farnaz Broushaki (2016). "Early Neolithic genomes from the eastern Fertile Crescent". Science. 353 (6298): 499–503. Bibcode:2016Sci...353..499B. doi:10.1126/science.aaf7943. PMC 5113750. PMID 27417496.
- Biglari, F, M. Mashkour, S. Shidrang 2024. nouvelles découvertes dans la grotte de Wezmeh, Archéologia, 628:16.
- Biglari, F.; Mashkour, M.; Shidrang, S. (2021). Excavation at the Wezmeh Cave and survey of the surrounding area in the Qaziwand Mountains, The Islamabad Plain, Kermanshah, in: A Collection of Archaeological Finds From Excavations in 2019-2020, Pp. 7-16, edited by Masoumeh Mosalla. Research Institute of Cultural Heritage & Tourism (RICHT. pp. 7–16.
- Mashkour, M.; Monchot, H.; Trinkaus, E.; Reyss, J.-L.; Biglari, F.; Bailon, S.; Heydari, S.; Abdi, K. (November 2009). "Carnivores and their prey in the Wezmeh Cave (Kermanshah, Iran): a Late Pleistocene refuge in the Zagros". International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. 19 (6): 678–694. doi:10.1002/oa.997. ISSN 1047-482X.
- Zanolli, Clément, Fereidoun Biglari, Marjan Mashkour, Kamyar Abdi, Herve Monchot, Karyne Debue, Arnaud Mazurier, Priscilla Bayle, Mona Le Luyer, Hélène Rougier, Erik Trinkaus, Roberto Macchiarelli. (2019). Neanderthal from the Central Western Zagros, Iran. Structural reassessment of the Wezmeh 1 maxillary premolar. Journal of Human Evolution, Vol: 135.
- "News - Tooth Confirms Neanderthal Presence in Iran". 20 August 2019.
- Farnaz Broushak; Mark G Thomas; Vivian Link; Saioa López; Lucy van Dorp; Karola Kirsanow; Zuzana Hofmanová; Yoan Diekmann; Lara M Cassidy; David Díez-del-Molino; Athanasios Kousathanas; Christian Sell; Harry K. Robson; Rui Martiniano; Jens Blöcher; Amelie Scheu; Susanne Kreutzer; Ruth Bollongino; Dean Bobo; Hossein Davudi; Olivia Munoz; Mathias Currat; Kamyar Abdi; Fereidoun Biglari; Oliver E. Craig; Daniel G Bradley; Stephen Shennan; Krishna Veeramah; Marjan Mashkour; Daniel Wegmann; Garrett Hellenthal; Joachim Burger. "Early Neolithic genomes from the eastern Fertile Crescent" (PDF). discovery.ucl.ac.uk. pp. 1–169. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
- "G-Y37100 YTree".
- Abdi, K., F. Biglari, S. Heydari,2002. Islamabad Project 2001. Test Excavations at Wezmeh Cave. Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan.34, 171–194.
- Broushaki, Farnaz; Thomas, Mark G.; Link, Vivian; López, Saioa; Van Dorp, Lucy; Kirsanow, Karola; Hofmanová, Zuzana; Diekmann, Yoan; Cassidy, Lara M.; Díez-Del-Molino, David; Kousathanas, Athanasios; Sell, Christian; Robson, Harry K.; Martiniano, Rui; Blöcher, Jens; Scheu, Amelie; Kreutzer, Susanne; Bollongino, Ruth; Bobo, Dean; Davoudi, Hossein; Munoz, Olivia; Currat, Mathias; Abdi, Kamyar; Biglari, Fereidoun; Craig, Oliver E.; Bradley, Daniel G.; Shennan, Stephen; Veeramah, Krishna R.; Mashkour, Marjan; et al. (2016). "Early Neolithic genomes from the eastern Fertile Crescent". Science. 353 (6298): 499–503. Bibcode:2016Sci...353..499B. doi:10.1126/science.aaf7943. PMC 5113750. PMID 27417496.
- Djamali, Morteza; Biglari, Fereidoun; Abdi, Kamyar; Andrieu-Ponel, Valérie; De Beaulieu, Jacques-Louis; Mashkour, Marjan; Ponel, Philippe (2011). "Pollen analysis of coprolites from a late Pleistocene–Holocene cave deposit (Wezmeh Cave, west Iran): Insights into the late Pleistocene and late Holocene vegetation and flora of the central Zagros Mountains". Journal of Archaeological Science. 38 (12): 3394–3401. Bibcode:2011JArSc..38.3394D. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.08.001.
- Monchot, Hervé (2008). "Des hyènes tachetées au Pléistocène supérieur dans le Zagros (grotte Wezmeh, Iran)". Mom Éditions. 49 (1): 65–78.
- Monchot, H., Mashkour, M., Biglari, F., & Abdi, K. (2019). The Upper Pleistocene brown bear (Carnivora, Ursidae) in the Zagros: Evidence from Wezmeh Cave, Kermanshah, Iran. In Annales de Paléontologie (p. 102381). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annpal.2019.102381
- Trinkaus, E.; Biglari, F.; Mashkour, M.; Monchot, H.; Reyss, J. L.; Rougier, H.; Heydari, S.; Abdi, K. (2008). "Late Pleistocene human remains from Wezmeh Cave, western Iran". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 135 (4): 371–8. doi:10.1002/ajpa.20753. PMID 18000894.
- Mashkour, M.; Monchot, H.; Trinkaus, E.; Reyss, J.-L.; Biglari, F.; Bailon, S.; Heydari, S.; Abdi, K. (2009). "Carnivores and their prey in the Wezmeh Cave (Kermanshah, Iran): a Late Pleistocene refuge in the Zagros". International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. 19 (6): 678–694. doi:10.1002/oa.997. eISSN 1099-1212. ISSN 1047-482X.
- Zanolli, Clément, Fereidoun Biglari, Marjan Mashkour, Kamyar Abdi, Herve Monchot, Karyne Debue, Arnaud Mazurier, Priscilla Bayle, Mona Le Luyer, Hélène Rougier, Erik Trinkaus, Roberto Macchiarelli. (2019). A Neanderthal from the Central Western Zagros, Iran. Structural reassessment of the Wezmeh 1 maxillary premolar. Journal of Human Evolution, Vol: 135.