Zawi Chemi Shanidar

Village site in northern Iraq near Shanidar Cave with a terminal epi-Palaeolithic under Iron Age levels. Storage pits and a circular stone structure are dated to the 9th millennium BC. Large numbers of sheep bones are claimed to show signs of domestication at that time. Sickles, grinding stones, and querns testify to the gathering of vegetable products. Occupation was probably seasonal. Other artifacts include stone axes and non-utilitarian objects such as worked bone with incised or notched decoration. Obsidian from the Lake Van area of Anatolia indicates far-ranging contacts. Burials were associated with a stone platform.

A site of the Karim Shahir culture near the Zab River in northern Iraq, 6 km from the Shanidar cave. This openair site provides important evidence of early stock control, associated with a radiocarbon date of c8640 be. High proportions of immature sheep, especially in the upper levels, were originally interpreted as indicating incipient domestication, but today this evidence is more often taken to indicate stock manipulation, perhaps herding, rather than domestication. Occupation was probably seasonal and plant resources were clearly exploited, as indicated by the occurrence of querns, grinding stones and storage pits. Other artefacts include stone axes and non-utilitarian objects such as worked bone with incised or notched decoration. Obsidian from the Lake Van area of Anatolia indicates far-ranging contacts. The site also produced remains of a circular stone structure, perhaps a hut, and 28 burials, 26 of which were associated with a stone platform.