(ORDO NEWS) — A joint team of Iranian and French archaeologists have discovered traces of human presence in the Kal-e-Kord cave. The dating made it possible to establish that these traces were left about 400 thousand years ago.
According to Tehran Times, the discovery was made by a team led by Iranian archaeologist Hamed Wahdati and French paleoanthropologist Gilles Berillon. The researchers worked in the Kal-e-Kord cave, located in the Awaj district of Qazvin province.
Traces of human presence were found in the cave. Moreover, they turned out to be so old that it was not possible to date them using the traditional radiocarbon method.
The fact is that this method allows you to determine the age of organic matter within 45 thousand years. And the traces found clearly exceeded this age threshold.
Therefore, scientists have applied more modern technologies. In particular, the method of electron spin resonance was used for dating.
Preliminary data showed that the distant ancestors of modern man first settled in this cave for more than 400 thousand years. This fact alone makes this cave the oldest human settlement found on the territory of Iran.
Archaeologists have found quite a few different stone tools. According to them, it was possible to partially restore the chronology of the settlement of the cave. It is established that its last inhabitants were Neanderthals.
And before them, the cave was alternately inhabited by earlier species of hominids, including Heidelberg man and even Homo erectus, that is, “upright man.”
Numerous bones of various animals were also found in the cave, including deer, brown bears and rhinos. Bones and two species of extinct prehistoric horses have been identified. The remains of animals are evidence that people lived in the cave for some time and brought their prey here.
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