title: Understanding the emergence of modern humans and the disappearance of Neanderthals: Insights from Kaldar Cave (Khorramabad Valley, Western Iran).
abstract: Kaldar Cave is a key archaeological site that provides evidence of the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Iran. Excavations at the site in 2014-2015 led to the discovery of cultural remains generally associated with anatomically modern humans (AMHs) and evidence of a probable Neanderthal-made industry in the basal layers. Attempts have been made to establish a chronology for the site. These include four thermoluminescence (TL) dates for Layer 4, ranging from 23,100 ± 3300 to 29,400 ± 2300 BP, and three AMS radiocarbon dates from charcoal samples belonging to the lower part of the same layer, yielding ages of 38,650-36,750 cal BP, 44,200-42,350 cal BP, and 54,400-46,050 cal BP (all at the 95.4% confidence level). Kaldar Cave is the first well-stratified Late Palaeolithic locality to be excavated in the Zagros which is one of the earliest sites with cultural materials attributed to early AMHs in western Asia. It also offers an opportunity to study the technological differences between the Mousterian and the first Upper Palaeolithic lithic technologies as well as the human behaviour in the region. In this study, we present a detailed description of the newly excavated stratigraphy, quantified results from the lithic assemblages, preliminary faunal remains analyses, geochronologic data, taphonomic aspects, and an interpretation of the regional paleoenvironment.
authors.affiliation: Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Zona educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edif. W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain.|Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili. Fac. de Lletres, Avinguda Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain.
authors.forename: Behrouz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bazgir
authors.affiliation: Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Zona educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edif. W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain.|Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili. Fac. de Lletres, Avinguda Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain.
authors.forename: Andreu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ollé
authors.affiliation: Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Zona educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edif. W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain.|Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili. Fac. de Lletres, Avinguda Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain.
authors.forename: Laxmi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tumung
authors.affiliation: Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, OX1 3QY Oxford, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Lorena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Becerra-Valdivia
authors.affiliation: Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, OX1 3QY Oxford, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Katerina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Douka
authors.affiliation: Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, OX1 3QY Oxford, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Higham
authors.affiliation: CSIC, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, c. José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van der Made
authors.affiliation: Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Zona educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edif. W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain.|Bereich für Ur- und Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie, Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena, Löbdergraben 24a, Jena, 07743 Germany.|Neanderthal Museum, Talstrasse 300, D40822, Mettmann, Germany.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Picin
authors.affiliation: Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Zona educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edif. W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain.|Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili. Fac. de Lletres, Avinguda Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain.|GQP-CG, Grupo Quaternario e Pre Historia do Centro de Geociencias (uI&D 73 e FCT), Portugal.|Unit Associated to the Centro Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), 28006, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Palmira
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Saladié
authors.affiliation: Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Zona educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edif. W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: López-García
authors.affiliation: Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Zona educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edif. W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain.|Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili. Fac. de Lletres, Avinguda Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain.
authors.forename: Hugues-Alexandre
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Blain
authors.affiliation: Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Zona educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edif. W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain.|Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili. Fac. de Lletres, Avinguda Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain.|GQP-CG, Grupo Quaternario e Pre Historia do Centro de Geociencias (uI&D 73 e FCT), Portugal.
authors.forename: Ethel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Allué
authors.affiliation: Sezione di Scienze Preistoriche e Antropologiche, Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università degli Studi di Ferrara (UNIFE), C. so Ercole I d'Este 32, 44121, Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Mónica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fernández-García
authors.affiliation: Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Zona educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edif. W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain.
authors.forename: Iván
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rey-Rodríguez
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Internacional Isabel I de Castilla, c. Fernán González 76, 09003, Burgos, Spain.
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Arceredillo
authors.affiliation: Iran's Research Institute for Cultural Heritage and Tourism, Emam's square, 11369-13431, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Faranak
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bahrololoumi
authors.affiliation: Iran's Research Institute for Cultural Heritage and Tourism, Emam's square, 11369-13431, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Moloudsadat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Azimi
authors.affiliation: University of Liège, Service of Prehistory, place du 20-Août 7, A1, 4000 Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Otte
authors.affiliation: Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Zona educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edif. W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain.|Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili. Fac. de Lletres, Avinguda Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain.
authors.forename: Eudald
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Carbonell
mesh_terms: D000663:Amphibians / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001106:Archaeology / Q000379:methods*; D001188:Artiodactyla / Q000502:physiology; D001717:Birds / Q000502:physiology; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D060435:Carnivory / Q000502:physiology; D059552:Caves; D005580:Fossils; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D059125:Neanderthals / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D010527:Perissodactyla / Q000502:physiology; D055110:Radiometric Dating / Q000379:methods*; D012104:Reptiles / Q000502:physiology; D012377:Rodentia / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes