Huto and Kamarband Caves

Huto and Kamarband Caves or Belt Caves are prehistoric, archaeological sites in Iran. They are located 100 meters apart, in a cliff on the slopes of the Alborz mountains in the village of Tarujen (currently called Shahid Abad), 5 km. south west of Behshahr.

Hotu cave, Upper entry

Excavations took place led by Carleton S. Coon and were reported on between 1949-1957.

Huto Cave is approximately 30 m. x 20 m. The site produced pottery shards, stone tools and samples for radio-carbon dating. Twenty-two samples were dated from Huto Cave and grouped into eight different cultures. The 2 earliest cultures, dating to c. 9910 B.C. - 7,240 B.C. were thought to be seal hunters and vole eaters. The bones of a dog have been cited as an example of exceptionally early animal domestication.[1]

Sub-Neolithic finds date to c. 6120 B.C.

Kamarband cave is notable for three human skeletons discovered there, dating to approximately 9000 years B.C. Other finds included flint blades, walrus and deer bones, giving valuable information about human development from the ice age in the Mazandaran area.[2]

At Hotu Cave dweller picked Y-chromosome haplogroup J (xJ2a1b3, J2b2a1a1).[3][4]

Literature

References

  1. ↑ Animal Domestication in the Prehistoric Middle East by Charles A. Reed
  2. ↑ GAR - Encyclopaedia Iranica
  3. ↑ Iosif Lazaridis et al. The genetic structure of the world's first farmers, 2016.
  4. ↑ First ancient J2 from Iran (Mesolithic, Copper Age) and Levant (Bronze Age) – Lazaridis et al. first farmers
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