Garm Roud 2, Iran: bladelet production and cultural features of a key Upper Palaeolithic site south of the Caspian Sea

Abstract

For more than twenty years, Iran has focused a great deal of research on the emergence and development of Upper Palaeolithic industries. South of the Caspian Sea, the site of Garm Roud 2, dated to 33878 ± 3300 Cal BP, is one of the few sites, with Mirak, to have yielded stratified evidence of occupation during this period. This paper presents the results of the typo-technological analysis of the lithic assemblage collected during the 2006 to 2008 excavation campaigns. The focus here is on a production of straight and twisted bladelets. Very few similarities have appeared between this assemblage and those from sites in the Zagros and the rest of Iran, which are generally older (about 35 to 40 000 Cal BP). Garm Roud 2 yields original evidence and may be seen as a key site for understanding Upper Palaeolithic technocomplexes and the development of bladelet production in this area.